When The Past Was Around

Concise, carefully crafted and beautifully malleable in its meaning, When The Past Was Around is a rather gorgeous little art game that remembers it needs to be interesting in its puzzles as well as its narrative. Taking the principles of escape room-style gameplay and fitting them around its theme lends them a gravitas that belies their simplicity and elevates this game into more than just the indie flavour of the month. Sure, you're not likely to play it twice, but you'd be hard-pressed to forget about it. And, honestly, after this year? We needed it.

When The Past Was Around finds a way to include some interesting puzzles in the mix — but Florence found a way to be interactive without letting its little challenges get in the way of its story. It’s like that at every turn, in every respect. When The Past Was Around is good — but it’s no Florence.

When the Past was Around is a very atmospheric and warm game about relationships, experiences and the fact that love does not go away after time and years. A very positive experience for those who are depressed after a breakup or are experiencing the melancholy of a cold winter.

When the Past was Around isn’t a long title by any means, but what it does with its run time is definitely worth the look. The puzzles throughout are challenging, but not to the point of frustration (mostly). The beautiful visuals and music tell a wordless tale of love and loss with such deftness and care that the game’s emotional moments feel earned. If you’re looking for a great indie title to while away a sombre afternoon, look no further.

Quotation forthcoming.

When the Past was Around is a meaningful point and click journey. Its puzzles are more than improvable, but the soundtrack and the atmosphere are captivating.

When The Past Was Around feels heavily inspired by Florence. While it is easy to fall in love with its gorgeous artwork and music, its puzzles fail to support to the story’s narrative. There’s definitely a sense of accomplishment when solving the game’s harder puzzles, but they are often utilized as traditional videogame obstacles rather than meaningful tools that contribute to the story.

I liked it. Simple, easy, slow. I loved the art and the music. You can relax while playing, it's very low-key. The story is moving and sad.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

When the past was around more like a point and click sadventure When the past was around is a point and click adventure that’s about to have you all up in your feels as you relive the memories of you and youre violin playin owl boyfriend.. youll be going through these memories, collecting items and finding clue to unlock other items to progress, pretty simply concept, something you’ve seen a million times, but the story, art, and music here made this hour and a half worth going through for me…reliving the memories, and trying to find a way to let go.. gameplay wise I kinda got over the click on stuff til I find something probably halfway through and just wanted to get through the story.. but that just goes to show how good the story was for me.. I was willing to retrace steps in the chapter, finding all the clues I needed to set up the answer to the final clue to move on… When the past was around reminded me a lot of Florence, while it doesn’t do much to engage you as much as Florence does, and there isn’t anything crazy special here, I found that this was still a point and click adventure worth taking.. I give when the past was around a 7/10

Protip for anybody checking metacritics for anything - ignore the so called reviewers. Sorry but no. Its beautiful - I give it that - but its barely a game. PowerPoint presentation I did in high-school had more gameplay than this. And the whole thing can be beat in 30 minutes. Most freeware games from itchio or newgrounds will grant you more entertainment... and for longer!

Well I'm personally pretty sentimental and kinda like that type of cute games, but this games obviously ****. Cheap drama, poor art and ost, weird controls, didn't enjoy at all.