Kind Words 2 takes cozy letter-writing to the city on October 7

Date:

Share:


Kind Words 2 (lofi city pop), a game where you send real letters to real people and then wander around a cozy town, is due to hit Steam on October 7.

It’s the sequel to , an award-winning 2019 game from independent Boston studio Popcannibal. Players in the original game had a single bedroom where, backdropped by a sweet lo-fi soundtrack, they wrote and responded to letters from other players. There were small bits of room customization and sticker collection in the game, but it was truly just about connecting with strangers in a warm and nice way. This was a prescient idea: Just six months after Kind Words came out, the coronavirus pandemic locked down the globe. Connecting with people safely and from a distance suddenly became a top priority, and Kind Words carried this responsibility well. In the five years since launch, hundreds of thousands of players have sent more than 6 million messages in-game.

Kind Words 2 imports your letters, room changes and stickers from the first game, and it allows you to leave the bedroom and explore a small town of shops, cafes and parks. On top of the standard letter-writing loop, you can customize your avatar with new clothes, scream (in written form) into the void, wish on a star, perform poetry and interact with other players in public spaces. The endlessly chill soundtrack comes from Slay the Spire and Kind Words composer Clark Aboud. It all looks — and sounds — incredibly adorable.

In terms of game design, Popcannibal faces a unique and impossible-sounding challenge with the Kind Words series. Instead of having to build innovative environments or ultra-responsive controls, developers have to create a world that encourages anonymous online strangers to be nice to each other. The original game excelled in this regard, using visuals, mechanics, mood and music to foster friendly conversations among thousands of anonymous players worldwide. Kind Words 2 is bigger, but the vibe seems just as snuggly, and this time around Popcannibal has years of experience moderating and vibe-curating under its belt. If anyone can create a troll-free anonymous social network, it’s these folks.

Kind Words 2 was announced in a Day of the Devs stream in December 2023, and it’s available to right now.



Source link

━ more like this

The Naya Create modular keyboard is now available for purchase

The Naya Create modular keyboard is now available for general purchase after being an exclusive for Kickstarter backers. It features a split hinge...

You definitely should not buy an Echo Dot this Prime Day

Prime Day is basically Black Friday for Amazon’s own devices. For almost as long as the shopping event has taken place (it started...

How Video Games Became the New Battleground for Actors and AI Protections

On Wednesday, members of the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA, voted to ratify a new contract for...

Nintendo is getting rid of its money-saving Game Vouchers program

Nintendo games famously don’t tend to go down in price all that much, but original Switch owners were able to save money on...
spot_img