EMPORIUM looks to take the player on a short, emotionally-harrowing journey through personal tragedy. It offers a series of bleak moments sprinkled with a handful of choices, having players join with another’s pain and try to find reason, beauty, and poetry when their in-game lives are falling to pieces.
EMPORIUM doesn’t offer much of an explanation going in, so I don’t intend to either. Suffice to say that the game takes the player to some dark places in people’s lives, and has them join with them in trying to find some sort of sense in life’s seemingly-random cruelties. It’s striking in its art and music, all while the story carries drags you through some ruthlessly emotional moments.
If you’ve got a half hour to spare to have your heart kicked around, give it a shot.
EMPORIUM is available for $ 1.99 on Itch.io and Steam. For more information on the game and developer Tom Kitchen, you can head to the developer’s site or follow them on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
