The Stillness of the Wind is an adventure game with a strong narrative focus. There is little gameplay, and it’s primary purpose is to facilitate storytelling.
The Stillness of the Wind is decidedly niche. Frankly, the gameplay is downright bad. It’s a small scale farming simulator that requires plenty of walking and micromanagement with very little reward. As the game progresses, you realize that this is completely intentional. You are meant to feel the boredom of living on a farm by yourself, where you simply work to survive. You periodically receive mail and have the opportunity to trade your farm goods for other things. Even this is used to drive home the feeling of scarcity. You can trade, but you won’t have enough of a surplus to get everything you want. Usually, you will get just enough supplies to last the next day. For many players, this will ruin the game for them. A game that purposefully takes away all the elements of farming games that people enjoy will always be polarizing. On the other hand, this style of gameplay serves a purpose in the storyline.
Without getting into spoilers, the game’s story is depressing. The basic premise is that you are an elderly woman living alone on a farm. You have family, but they have all moved away. You get updated on their lives through letters, but you don’t have any human interaction, aside from the trader who visits daily. It’s an intriguing narrative that unfolds slowly, so it won’t be for everyone. When combined with the gameplay, the goal is for the player to empathize with the main character by feeling the same boredom and isolation that she does. For some people, this will be effective storytelling and they may love this game. For others, the game will be too boring and slow-paced.
While sadness and loneliness are two of the strongest themes in the game, the presentation adds some joy to it. The game looks beautiful thanks to its simple, yet colorful visuals. You can explore the surrounding area and find some unique landmarks that bring life to your modest farm. The music changes with the events of the game and it always feels fitting. It isn’t a soundtrack that you can easily listen to outside of the game, but with the context of gameplay it’s fantastic.
I can’t recommend this game to everyone, simply because of how specific of a genre it is. If you enjoy games that focus on emotional storytelling, even at the expense of engaging gameplay, then you may enjoy this game. Otherwise, it will be an uphill battle. For me, I enjoyed it more than I disliked it, but I still had a hard time getting into the story, most likely because of the boring, repetitive gameplay. Still, it is worth a shot if you like the “games as art” genre and don’t mind some minor annoyances.
