Games worth discovering

DeLight: The Journey Home Review—A Somber Tale of War & Reunion That Hits You in the Feels

9K View2021-12-07

Reading Time: 2 mins 50 secs

Seeing how my family will be having their Christmas break soon, I begin to gear up to head home for the holidays. To my surprise, something hits me as I pack my bags.

‘Strange,’ I thought, ‘since I’ve seen them not too long ago.’

Only after going through all sorts of possibilities had a thought sprout in my mind. It must have been the game, DeLight: The Journey Home (DL)! The game my housemate had me play with her over the weekends, which made me a little homesick.

On top of the foreshadowing and dark themes, DL touches on heavy topics, like disability, the loss of loved ones, and the trauma of living in a warzone. Relief sweeps through me, followed immediately by a lump of congealed emotions clogging my throat, as I can’t help but miss my family and my adorable Great Dane, Axel 🐕

In this classic point-and-click game, I’d be taking up the role of a little girl, Sammy, in a gut-wrenching and thought-provoking narrative that’s set in a war-torn nation. Together with her furry friend Deli, the newly-blinded Sammy begins her perilous journey to be reunited with her parents.

Much like TellTale Games’ The Walking Dead, you’ll be interacting with people, objects and making some tough decisions that may have consequences following after (Cue the music🎶).Be that as it may, there are times when the story may seem kinda flat. Even so, the characters do appear well-realised enough for me to go through the game.

What makes things even more difficult is the frustration of being visually impaired. So, what this means is that you’ll be moving at an excruciatingly slow pace (understandably so). Even your vision will be restricted to how she ‘imagines’ the environment to look. Yet, I still quite like what the developer has done for the gradual reveal of the environment as I go about exploring an area.

With no indicators or minimap, I’ve got to warn you that you’ll have to remember where everything is. Otherwise, you’d be like me… spending loads of time retracing my footsteps. >.>

Although DL may not be terrifying, it is a game replete with a massively heart-wrenching ambience. While the graphics may not earn it any awards, its soundscape is more than sufficient to add to the atmosphere and make up for the PS1-ish designs. As they say, no game is complete without well-composed sound designs.

Having gone through DL, I’d give anything to be able to hug my baby Axel and parents at this instant.😢

Now that we are drawing ever closer to a time of love and family, I can’t think of a better time to dive into this title. So, grab your tissues and join me to help Sammy reunite with her family here!

Otherwise, please follow my page to stay updated with upcoming reviews on other games. Alternatively, you can always leave a comment on your opinions about the game or recommend other games you’d like me to write a review on!

Mentioned games