Spiritfarer Is Still An Emotional Rollercoaster 4 Years Later

Spiritfarer, an indie game developed by Canadian studio Thunder Lotus Games, celebrates its fourth anniversary today, August 18, 2024. This title is a cozy, yet tragic, sandbox management game where you explore the sea within the spirit realm. Your goal as the new ferryman is to help spirits pass on. Spiritfarer has a way of ripping your heart out that no other game is capable of, but this is exactly what draws so many beloved fans in. From relatable characters to devastating goodbyes, Spiritfarer is an emotional rollercoaster you don’t want to miss.

A Game Of Death And Mortality

In Spiritfarer, the player character, Stella, encounters oddly familiar spirits during her explorations, and it is your job to help them pass onto the afterlife. Stella is accompanied by her cat Daffodil during these endeavors. At the start of the game, Stella and Daffodil encounter the mythical deity Charon on his way to the Everdoor, the entrance to the afterlife. Charon passes down the Everlight onto Stella and Daffodil. This grants them the power needed to continue the job as death’s ferrymen. After this encounter, Stella procures a ship and begins sailing the sea in search of spirits, resources, trinkets, and unlockable abilities.

As spirits are found throughout the scattered islands, some will choose to live aboard your ship. Much of Spiritfarer’s gameplay consists of catering to these spirits and making sure they are happy, fed, and have the appropriate homes and workstations. Most importantly, Stella’s ferryman role requires you to tend to the spirits’ last wishes before they pass on through the Everdoor. Some of these requests include acquiring a spirit’s favorite meal or playing a minigame. As you continue through the game, you learn that Stella, previously a palliative care nurse, met all the spirits encountered throughout the game in her waking life.

The spirits’ relations to Stella vary, as some are family members, friends, or patients she had cared for in the real world. The first spirit you encounter and let aboard your ship is named Gwen. Her spirit manifests as a reddish-brown deer with three ears, and it is revealed that Stella and Gwen were childhood friends. Though intelligent, she had a rough time growing up and eventually picked up smoking. This habit eventually led to her demise in her forties, and Stella was there to help her come to terms with the diagnosis. Another spirit you meet in Spiritfarer is Stella’s uncle, Atul, who was a handyman-turned-union leader. He disappeared one day in the waking world without a trace.

Exploring The Characters Of Spiritfarer

Spiritfarer’s strong point lies in its excellently written, impactful characters. Gwen and Atul are only two of the 15 spirits you can have aboard. Some characters are meant to be sillier additions, such as the estranged couple Giovanni and Astrid. Others strike a cord in some like the child spirit, Stanley, who succumbed to a terminal illness at eight years old. Another couple of spirits added in the last patch to the game, Jackie and Daria, live in the spirit world equivalent of Stella’s hospital. Jackie worked with Stella in the waking world as an end-of-life nurse. His outlook is much more pessimistic as he often wonders why he’s even doing it in the first place.

Even the characters meant to bring lightheartedness to this devastating game come with their tragedies. Bruce and Mickey, manifesting as a hummingbird and bull, serve as prime examples. In life, they were brothers and partners in crime. One day while drunk driving, Mickey got into a crash that led to a coma. He stayed at the hospital Stella worked at, but never woke up. It is implied Bruce committed suicide not long after. In Spiritfarer, Bruce does all the talking and often makes humorously outlandish requests. He’s rude and unrealistic, but the charm of the brothers comes from their criminal experiences. Bruce talks on behalf of Mickey, as he is still in denial that his brother isn’t waking up.

Many other characters are featured in Spiritfarer, ranging from Stella's sister and her D&D-obsessed friends, Lily, and Buck, to two elder characters, Alice and Beverly, who are implied to have dealt with dementia later in life. Alice was the first patient to die under Stella's care as a palliative care nurse, but this only fueled Stella's desire to care for those types of patients. Gustav and Elena, two spirits who had a mentor-like role in Stella's life, also board the ship. A snake spirit named Summer was Stella's step-aunt. In life, she developed breast cancer in her work, which led to her leaving her town behind and meeting Rose, Stella's biological aunt and the love of her life.

Spiritfarer Is A Must-Have Experience

Photo byAndrew varnumonUnsplash

You must eventually say goodbye to every spirit you meet in Spiritfarer, even if they are reluctant to go. Regardless of your connection to them, the spirits need to pass on to find peace, and Stella knows this better than anyone. Near the end of Spiritfarer after all of the spirits have passed through the Everdoor, Hades, who has occasionally shown up to provide guidance and visions, reveals to Stella that she has terminal cancer in the waking world. Stella is on her deathbed, and it’s time for her to pass through the Everdoor. Once you do, Stella and Daffodil’s spirits transform into a constellation like the rest of the spirits before you and the game ends.

Spiritfarer is tragic- yet beautiful- and changes how the player views life and death. You learn to value time spent with others a lot more and to appreciate them while you’ve still got them. At the same time, it helps with being more okay with people passing on- especially if you’ve lost someone in your own life. Spiritfarer teaches you that death is inevitable and sometimes comes on unfairly. You must, however, persevere and not let it consume you. Instead, focus on the time you do have with friends and loved ones because you cannot get more time back.

Celebrating Spiritfarer’s Fourth Anniversary

Four years ago on August 18, 2020, Spiritfarer was first released to the public. Patches and content drops continued until mid-2022, but updates have been stagnant in recent years. Spiritfarer is a fully realized masterpiece in gaming that you won't want to miss out on. If emotional, heartfelt management games are your fancy, Spiritfarer is available to play on PC, Console, Nintendo Switch, and even the Netflix App Store. Spiritfarer is available for 30 USD, but it goes on sale occasionally. The gameplay lasts around 25 hours, but if you are an achievement hunter, the game can stretch to around 40 hours until completion.

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The article was originally written by Sydney Hartzell