One of the conceits of adventure games that made them so strong in the ’90s was their flexibility. By focusing on plot and puzzles, the range of subject material appropriate to cover expanded immensely. In that respect, Ether One is very much a ’90s Adventure game.
As I talk about in the video above, Ether One does have very real flaws. For me that is not the point. Its pedigree is up there with games like The Cosmology of Kyoto and Papo & Yo — games that used their platform as a thought experiment for something deeply personal. Ether One is a game about dementia and about how much of who we are as people is contained within memory. Recently, a family member of mine has been grappling with dementia. If you’ve ever been in that position, you know what it is like to see someone you really love erode and deteriorate, how difficult it can be to bear.
Ether One made me feel something very real in a time of immense difficulty in my life. For that, I thank it.
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