Signs of the Sojourner is a narrative deck-building game about relationships and communication. As you explore the world your experiences will change you. How will you grow? What will you leave behind? Who will you become?
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Social interaction is the process of reciprocal influence exercised by individuals over one another during social encounters. - Introduction to Sociology, 2nd edition, William Little
When we are interacting with someone, we have a limited set of tools, values, and techniques. When the other person matches yours, everything is smooth. You are able to communicate, to reach an understanding. When not, communication does not work. It's awkward, lonely, you feel like you don't fit. And if you are tired, communication is harder. You have less patience, your brain works at a slower pace.
Every person you interact with influences you, leaves a trace, changes the way you interact with other people. You learn something from them, and that person takes something from you, too. When you do this long enough, with people out of your comfort zone, you can find yourself being a different person. A person that is not able to connect anymore with the people you use to connect with.
As you gain more experience, you start to have more complex tools, to understand different kinds of people, to adapt yourself to the person you are communicating with. You grow up, you learn from experience.
Why am I talking about this? Because this game is able to represent the complexity of social interaction, with all these nuances, in a simple domino-like deck builder game. Yes, the story and characters could be better.
But the core mechanic is just fantastic.
When we are interacting with someone, we have a limited set of tools, values, and techniques. When the other person matches yours, everything is smooth. You are able to communicate, to reach an understanding. When not, communication does not work. It's awkward, lonely, you feel like you don't fit. And if you are tired, communication is harder. You have less patience, your brain works at a slower pace.
Every person you interact with influences you, leaves a trace, changes the way you interact with other people. You learn something from them, and that person takes something from you, too. When you do this long enough, with people out of your comfort zone, you can find yourself being a different person. A person that is not able to connect anymore with the people you use to connect with.
As you gain more experience, you start to have more complex tools, to understand different kinds of people, to adapt yourself to the person you are communicating with. You grow up, you learn from experience.
Why am I talking about this? Because this game is able to represent the complexity of social interaction, with all these nuances, in a simple domino-like deck builder game. Yes, the story and characters could be better.
But the core mechanic is just fantastic.
Second run after a few years and now I want to play it again...
I gotta give it to this game: I was not expecting how anxious it'd make me. Through its card-based conversational gameplay, Signs of the Sojourner captures the feeling of powerlessness that comes with being social inept to a flippin' T. Conversely, it excels at delivering that dopamine hit that comes from a successful social interaction. It's the perfect length too; I couldn't imagine suffering through the disappointment of a "discordant" convo for more than an hour or two.
gameplay has the depth of a puddle, and the world and characters are dull and unlikable.
El concepto de "juego de cartas conversacional" ya me tenía compradísimo antes de empezar este juego, pero no solo te engancha con eso. JUEGASO
Lo único que echo en falta es algo como pasar texto rápido para sacar otros finales antes :_)
Lo único que echo en falta es algo como pasar texto rápido para sacar otros finales antes :_)
A game that I appreciate more than I actually enjoyed. The premise, and the weaving of narrative theme and gameplay through the card game is excellent, but none of the stories told in the game really went deep enough to pierce through to me, and the combination of branching stories, time pressure, and the card game often being suprisingly difficult, made for a more stressful experience than I would have liked