Spiritfarer, developed by Thunder Lotus Games in 2020, is available to play on PC (Steam), Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation. Its target audience ranging from teens to adults, who are looking for a solo, relaxing, loving, and emotionally resonant gameplay experience. I’ve been playing Spiritfarer for more than two years, and it never fails to deliver an immersive, heartwarming solo-play experience.
Spiritfarer invites the player to care about the world through engaging the player psychologically to the central character, Stella, the new Spiritfarer. The game anchors the player’s emotions to the feeling of Stella, surrounding Stella with a cast of old friends’ souls who have unfulfilled wishes and need her help to release into the afterlife.
The core mechanics of Spiritfarer transforms some routine tasks like cooking, fishing, farming and crafting, into profound acts of compassion, woven into the main theme of dealing with death, and saying goodbye to cherished old friends. Combined with the Ghibli-like art and lullaby-like music, Spiritfarer gives players a rich fun of narrative, discovery, and fellowship, drawing players into its heartwarming, mystical world.
Analysis
Anchoring players’ emotions to Stella’s perspective is the first layer of engagement. SpiritFarer begins with Stella inheriting ferrying duties from her predecessor in a silent, lantern-lit cutscene (Figure 1). The player’s emotions mirror Stella’s, shifting from unsure/confused to responsive with a sense of mission. Plus, the very first spirit Stella needs to help is an old friend, Gwen, which naturally helps build an emotion link to both Stella and the player (Figure 2). Moreover, Gwen then guided Stella through building her ferrying ship, giving both Stella and the player a sense of belonging and readiness to explore the gradually unfolding new world.
The player will be constantly encountering and surrounded by a cast of loving friends and family members during the ferrying journey, which serves as the empathy engine of the game. Though the souls are not capable of realizing their unfinished wishes themselves, they remain supportive, caring, and loving. Take the quest of the cute uncle Atul (who gives the best hug!) for example: you forage berries, bake his cherished pie, and listen as he recalls childhood picnics. Unlike the cooking systems in Stardew Valley, which are primarily logistical, SpiritFarer’s recipes have narrative weight. Each ingredient gathered unlocks a memory, turning gameplay loops into emotional labs. To further strengthen this bond, the game might incorporate brief journal entries or voice memos from each spirit, reinforcing their individual arcs and diversifying the ways we commemorate their lives.
Another distinctive feature of involving the player to the world is through spatial design and discovery. The play gets to design, build, craft, and sail her ship based on the narrative. For example, at the very beginning, the ship was loaded with garbage, but Gwen is allergic to dust, so she urges Stella to clean the ship, and on top of that, build a nice cabin for her with the ship blueprint. This crafting process grants the player a sense of belonging and willing to put more effort in building a nice space in this world. Moreover, depending on different quests of the guests, Stella can sail with the ship across the sea and unlock new island with new stories. This gradual exploration with spatial and narrative immersion gives positive and engaging feedback for the player.
Culturally, the theme SpiritFarer explores is a truly profound topics: dying, or death. Players will try to experience how to deal with dying and loving friends who are fading away. This theme is deeply rooted in everyone’s life and thus naturally engaging. Moreover, each island Stella explores introduces bespoke mini-systems—clay kilns for an artist spirit, fishing rigs for a mariner—inviting players to engage hands-on with diverse mourning rituals. These designs add more layers of culture and society.
Summary
To cap, SpiritFarer exemplifies how players can be drawn into a game world through the psychological design of the main character (Stella), the supporting cast of loving souls, the spatial surroundings (the ship to build and the sea to explore), and cultural rituals. Its cooking, crafting, and sailing mechanics (M) create rhythms of gathering and release (D) that flourish within a lullaby-like soundtrack and Ghibli-inspired visuals (A)
Ethnic Discussion: Dealing with Death
Generally, SpiritFarer is a very gentle and peaceful game. The only ethnic concern I have is that players from different culture backgrounds in real world may have different concept about death and afterworld. Many cultures and religions hold the thought that the dead transition to an afterlife or are reborn, while others encourage caring more about the present life. Though presenting an afterlife can be very comforting, conveying the idea may mislead younger players who have not yet formed a clear understanding of mortality.
