Arrog does exactly this, taking the concept idea of death and bringing it into a surreal world of storytelling and tradition.
Taking the idea of death and how other cultures interpret and celebrate it can make for a captivating game. Taking place in the point of view of a man accepting his death through dreams, Arrog follows what is going on around you, slowly becoming an abstract adventure of trying to understand. Through bizarre puzzles, scenes in the sky, and creatures who want to help you, you will experience death. Death isn’t painful or gory in the game, instead showing you how others react to your death, the rituals around a life’s end, and the strange world you could find yourself in.
Puzzles come in a classic sense in Arrog, with some where you need to spin around a puzzle so that an image fits together correctly, others where you need to light candles as fast as possible, or ones where you need to pick the right graphic to complete a picture. None of these little puzzles actually have any sort of instructions, instead just presenting you with the screen and allowing you to work it out on your own.
Following Arrog feels important and captivating. Every detail on the black and white world (with a touch of color) feels deliberate. It’s one of those interesting games that you can’t quite pull away from. I got to play a bit of Arrog at the Fun and Serious Festival and really felt drawn into whatever was happening, interpreting the world as my own.
Arrog is currently in development, but in the meantime, you can follow its creation on Twitter.