This free Steam game is a reminder of the importance of living

If there is one place we’ll all meet, it is in death. It is the one absolute in each and everybody’s life and although it can be terrifying to think about, it can also be comforting to know that peace and comfort await us beneath the very ground that welcomed our first steps.

It is that ground that the game Seasonala Cemetery focuses on as, as the title suggests, it takes place within the confines of a peaceful, gated cemetery where departed loved ones of all ages slumber with the seasons.

Published by Gabby DaRienzo and developed by a very small team, Seasonala Cemetery is a walking simulator which tasks players with embarking on a meditative experience as they explore a cemetery which changes with the seasons.

The game uses your system’s real time and date and so it is expected for you to dive in with the changing of the seasons to see how the cemetery and its visitors change throughout the year.

Of course, I am playing this in July and although it is currently thick with clouds with the threat of rain, my game was bathed in the warm sunlight as I made my first (and definitely not last) trip to the Seasonala Cemetery.

This is a walking simulator by every stretch of the imagination; there are no objectives, no quests. The game simply invites you to reflect on life and death in equal measure.

The cemetery is home to all manner of inhabitants from lovers and best friends buried side by side, to an area set aside for pets and children. There are family plots arranged carefully and even mausoleums, home to those who couldn’t even be separated in death.

As the player, you will be able to explore every inch of the cemetery and read the various epitaphs that are engraved on the gravestones that stand sentry amongst the swaying grass.

Gabby DaRienzo

Every person lost leaves behind a love with nowhere to go and yet some of that love is found in the words that have been fondly etched into stone.

“Lifelong friends and roommates, now resting together forever as you two always wished,” one read.

“We are impermanent in all things, except love and memory, and you are as etched into my mind as these words into stone,” said another.

“When you see this, smile, because you are breathing and life is beautiful.”

You will also stumble across epitaphs that make you laugh out loud such as one with an entire recipe on it, or one which simply read, “You call this cold?”

Some will make you stop in your tracks as you do the maths and realise that a child lays beneath your feet, frozen forever in youth as the seasons continue to ebb and weave above them. Toys rest nearby and one grave is even adorned with glowing stars so that they are not left alone in the dark.

However, the Seasonala Cemetery is not just home to the deceased as NPCs - both human and animal - can be seen reflecting, from cats sat curled amongst the flowers decorating a grave to relatives who somberly huddle below the hanging branches, stood so close to their loved ones and yet being out of reach.

Interacting with them will offer you a brief glimpse into their thoughts but otherwise, you are encouraged to leave them to their mourning as you continue your journey across the peaceful setting.

And peaceful it is. Seasonala Cemetery uses ambient sounds recorded from a real-life cemetery and as you sit down on one of the many benches dotted around, you can hear the gentle breeze as it dances with nearby leaves and flowers, birds chirping as they sit in branches unseen and the accompaniment of tender music which becomes a part of nature itself.

Gabby DaRienzo

Seasonala Cemetery offers players to sit, meditate and think. It does not task them with running around searching for clues or engaging in long-winded conversations with NPCs. There is simply you and a graveyard and the stories of those below waiting to be heard.

Not only that but with Seasonala Cemetery’s content changing with the passing seasons, you will be encouraged to return at various points throughout the year. The dead will still be waiting but new visitors will also be waiting in the sun, the snow, the rain.

It is a reminder that life goes on and although those who have passed will never return, we will also never forget them and for as long as we live, their stories will continue and that is a part of them which will never die.

So if you are looking for a meditative experience which will stay with you long after you have closed the game, Seasonala Cemetery is completely free to play on Steam and I would highly recommend it.