Forever Ago: Annapurna's new road-trip tear-jerker is corny, but sincere
Forever Ago, the long-delayed debut from developer Third Shift, published by Annapurna Interactive, comes out today (October 8) on Switch 2, PS5, PC and Xbox Series X. It was first announced back in 2020, so it has been a long wait, and I read Polygon's review with interest.
You play Alfred, a white-haired grouch driving an empty RV on a grief-stricken road trip. The game opens with two young lovers, Alfred and Audrey, snapping photos of each other on a hike, and then jumps decades ahead. Alfred is now revisiting their old date spots to recreate those memories, with flashbacks between pit stops filling in a long life full of foiled plans.
In practice that means walking around a handful of neatly designed locations, taking optional photos for your journal, and rebuilding the odd memory by collecting scattered flower petals. There is a little puzzling, but it mostly follows the cinematic style of Mixtape, and it is a tight three hours. The review wishes the camera or the RV had been used in cleverer ways.
The weaker moments are the "back in my day" bits, like an argument with a vegan cashier saying "hashtag van life," or a spat at a diner turned sterile franchise where his favourite booth needs a membership. The stronger moments are about chance: a storm that spoils one big moment and creates a better one, a stray dog that becomes a companion, a breakdown that takes Alfred exactly where he needs to go.
The verdict: overly sentimental and predictable, but sincere enough that it still lands where it matters. As someone with a soft spot for this kind of game, that sounds like a fair trade.
Source: Polygon
You play Alfred, a white-haired grouch driving an empty RV on a grief-stricken road trip. The game opens with two young lovers, Alfred and Audrey, snapping photos of each other on a hike, and then jumps decades ahead. Alfred is now revisiting their old date spots to recreate those memories, with flashbacks between pit stops filling in a long life full of foiled plans.
In practice that means walking around a handful of neatly designed locations, taking optional photos for your journal, and rebuilding the odd memory by collecting scattered flower petals. There is a little puzzling, but it mostly follows the cinematic style of Mixtape, and it is a tight three hours. The review wishes the camera or the RV had been used in cleverer ways.
The weaker moments are the "back in my day" bits, like an argument with a vegan cashier saying "hashtag van life," or a spat at a diner turned sterile franchise where his favourite booth needs a membership. The stronger moments are about chance: a storm that spoils one big moment and creates a better one, a stray dog that becomes a companion, a breakdown that takes Alfred exactly where he needs to go.
The verdict: overly sentimental and predictable, but sincere enough that it still lands where it matters. As someone with a soft spot for this kind of game, that sounds like a fair trade.
Source: Polygon
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