Promesa
- Megan
- Jun 14, 2021
- 2 min read
This past week I had the delight of playing Promesa for the first time, and the experience was stunning.
I picked up a copy a few weeks ago on Steam, and took the advice in the main menu seriously - play this game in the dark, with headphones. For me that meant waiting for a free evening, as a lot of my gaming happens during daylight hours, and it was absolutely the right call. If you can play this game in the dark, you should.
Promesa was a breathtaking experience of light and shadows with beautiful music and sound design. The story itself is dreamlike, with slow movement and visuals that hold your gaze. Your progress is loosely bound together by fragments of conversation, which were inspired by a conversation between the developer and his grandfather.
Promesa, which released in October of last year, is the personal project of Milan based developer Julián Palacios Gechtman. In this game Palacios Gechtman conveys the idea of a familial memory, the feelings and stories that are passed down through families, and take root in our hearts and our memories. I can close my eyes, and I remember the hot fields of southern Kentucky, the stories my grandpa and his brother told me, ripe tomatoes, and black barns for drying tobacco. I didn't live those days, but I have seen them through the eyes of my family.
In much the same way, this game takes hold. My first playthrough I spent 35 minutes in my dark office, but I came to know the landscape of Promesa. You walk the same halls, and learn the same places, at different points in time. The game feels lonely, like coming home to an empty house, but the world it creates feels lived in. I was excited to share the experience with my wife, not long after my first playthrough, and I look forward to playing again.
If you enjoy the steady pace of a walking simulator, and a liminal feel to your games, then Promesa is for you. Have you played before? I'd love to hear your thoughts, or which setting was your favorite, in the comments below!
This review of Promesa is fantastic! I love how you captured its dreamlike storytelling and the play of light and shadow. I always check Erone for gaming insights and reviews like this, and posts like yours make me appreciate how thoughtful some games can be.