Perfect Tides: Station to Station

Perfect Tides, the precursor to this game, displays a competence in applying the basic mechanics of Adventure games in highly effective ways to tell an intimate story.

It's such a good combination of mechanics that even in the 12 hours it took me to finish the game, I lamented that there wasn't more time to just fiddle around with it.

Perfect Tides choice of the classic adventure game genre and old-school pixel art graphics was not just a cheap aesthetic choice, but a perfect complement to the hyper-specific depiction of a generation coming of age right between the innocence of early internet culture and the grimness of post-9/11 society.

In addition, there are many great little details that enhance the gaming experience: A dialogue menu with conversation topics/people in the form of a chubby little Nokia 3310, a "boss battle" where you try to break up with your long-distance boyfriend, and one of the most well-implemented gamepad supports I've seen in a point-and-click game.

All of it is backed by clean, expressive character art, kinetic animations, beautiful environmental detailing, and a superb soundtrack that echoes the music of the game's timeframe to really draw out the nostalgia.