Season: A Letter to the Future review: A bold pre-apocalypse road trip

“When a dream crawls back out of your throat, it hurts,” says Maytora, an elderly woman hiding away from the world in a forest. She faces mandatory evacuation in the face of a looming disaster, and she seems almost relieved to leave behind the junk sculptures she’s painstakingly made throughout her life — to shed the burden of an unrecognized artist. But then I tell her I’d like to photograph them, so that they live on in a museum vault for future generations. The giddy smile turns into a deep sigh as she considers her artistic mistakes. Yet she’s surely more alive than she’s been in years.

Scavengers Studio’s Season: A letter to the future is about those moments when we’re most alive. As protagonist Estelle leaves home for the first time, she’s captivated by the sights and people of Tieng Valley, alive and hurting and transforming as they face the threat of an incoming cataclysm. It was a 10-hour journey that left me speechless and overwhelmed at the sheer beauty of the world.

You can play the game loop here SeasonThis involves recording and taking photographs of the surrounding world, as well as the sounds. You then compile your observations into a journal. At times, these pages guide you toward solving scripted mysteries — but most of the time, you’re filling out these pages simply to learn about the game world on your own terms. When you complete a page, you’ll find out more about Tieng Valley, Estelle, and this strange world perpetually shaped and reshaped by smaller-scale apocalypses, which mark the different eras, otherwise known as “seasons.” It’s Estelle’s job to document the world as we know it in the current season, so that its history lives on in the next. This world is amazing, full of mysteries and beautiful places.

Scavengers Studio, via Polygon

In the same way, beauty can also be found elsewhere Season’s writing, which consists of some of the most gorgeous prose I have encountered: Sentences are deeply poetic, flowing seamlessly like the passage of time. One poem in the opening of the game had me stunned. I needed to pause to process it fully. Characters speak about loss, regret, and loneliness — combined with the core loop of exploration, photography, and journaling, these moments weave a tapestry as melancholic as it is engrossing. The DualSense controller can vibrate on gravel bikes, and record melodies or innocuous sound recordings.

These are my gripes SeasonThey are almost inconsequential. I didn’t enjoy having to constantly toggle the sprint button after I took my camera out or quickly interacted with something. While the default HUD setting is not available, it can be switched off to remove unnecessary space. There is no need for a plot about time-related illnesses. The story works just fine without them.

These nitpicky points pale in comparison with the rest. Season’s potent sense of place, and the story it mines from this vibrant little valley. The workers of Scavengers created this beautiful project despite the toxic leadership allegations that emerged in 2021. They created something beautiful and thought-provoking, despite conditions that no one should have.

Scavengers Studio, via Polygon

After spending a lifetime trying to control everything and never reaching the artistic heights she desired, Maytora decides to relinquish control when it comes to choosing the items that will represent Tieng Valley in Estelle’s journal. “Let’s follow our intuition, gather some pieces and see what happens,” she says. “What magic might be hiding in this day which will pass and never return?”

SeasonYour journey is to discover that fleeting magic and make it permanent. Even as we stand outside in the rain, waiting for god or whoever is behind that door to let us inside, there is no other day exactly like today and there never will be again — and that alone makes it worth cherishing. Season is about every little thing we can value in a life as fleeting as the seasons, and it’s one of my favorite games in years.

Season: A letter to the future On January 31, the game will release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (Windows PC), and Xbox 360. Scavengers Studio gave the pre-release code to review the game on PS5. Vox Media also has affiliate relationships. They do not affect editorial content. However, Vox Media might earn commissions from products sold via affiliate links. Here are some links to help you find. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.