When the Past Was Around | PC Review

December 28, 2020 Alyssa White

I will freely admit that a lot of things can trigger my tear ducts. Emotional films, books, even sad animal commercials have me sobbing like a baby. Games, on the other hand, don’t really affect me in that way. Mojiken Studio’s and Toge Productions’ When the Past Was Around changed that completely. I frequently wept as I observed the tale of two lovers unfold in front of my eyes. I’ve never been this moved by a game’s narrative, and I can only applaud the studios for making me feel so deeply.

Grief Is a Thing with Feathers

As soon as you start the game, you’re placed in the middle of the relationship between Eda and Owl. Eda is a human and Owl is, well, an owl. They’re both musicians who have fallen in love, and things are joyful between them. That is, until tragedy strikes and you are thrown into the grieving process with them. As the story unfolds further, you learn more about their relationship, such as how they met and their milestones together.

You don’t control either Eda or Owl, but rather the environment in classic point-and-click fashion. The minimal mechanics really heighten your feelings toward the characters and don’t overshadow the central plot. The puzzles that progress the story forward range in difficulty from extremely easy to quite challenging, but the solutions are always hidden in the environment and I only found myself completely stumped a couple of times. I appreciated the different variety of problems to solve, and was always eager to see what happened after I figured out each one.

Beauty Is Everywhere

When the Past Was Around is a breathtakingly beautiful game. The hand-drawn animations are stunning, while the score perfectly highlights each scenario and is a true pleasure to listen to. Each item that you click on produces a realistic sound, and I found this small aspect extremely satisfying. Even though there is no spoken dialogue, the power of the visuals conveys each emotion in the best fashion. If I had to find any nitpicks at all with this title, it’s the fact it’s so short. My playthrough lasted just shy of two hours, and I yearned to spend more time with these wonderful characters.

The Last Performance

When the Past Was Around is a game that I highly encourage you to experience for yourself. The emotional story, lovable characters, stunning visuals, well-executed puzzles, and gorgeous soundtrack all add up to make an attractive experience. The amount of love that was put into this is astounding and pays off in spades. Perhaps you should stock up on tissues beforehand, though.

To hear me talk more about When the Past Was Around, be sure to listen to Episode 326 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast.

This review is based on a PC copy of When the Past Was Around provided by Brown Betty for coverage purposes.