What Once Was

The empty house fills with the hum of the fridge and the sounds of your footsteps. You are alone. Yet there is a constant presence throughout the rooms you explore – a bowl of cut fruit on the table, your favourite snacks bought in bulk, a small birthday celebration. The quiet, unnoticed things your immigrant parents did for you to show their love, even though they're working tirelessly to provide you with a good life. The house grows in clutter, and work is piling up. But still, they show signs that they care for you, no matter how small the act of love. It’s only when these signs are gone that you realize what was always there.

˚ ✦ . . ˚ . . ✦ ˚ . ★⋆ . ˚ ✭ * ✦ . . ✦ ˚ ˚ .˚ ✭ . . ˚ . ✦

What Once Was is a first-person exploration game about the subtleties of Asian parental love, where you discover the subtle yet meaningful love language that holds a family together. The game invites players to enter an empty home and go through moments in time as they walk through memories inside a Chinese household. Inspired by the bittersweet longing of saudade, players explore the changing environment as they find themselves in a loop, moving forward to uncover more of the untold story. Throughout the journey of the game, it guides the player to come to their own conclusion about the narrative, forcing them to discover the story within the environment on their own. Mimicking scenarios in real life, the subtleties in the environment are purposely vague, much like how Asian parental love will never be explicitly said or shown. But similar to real displays of love, it is only when the signs are gone do we realize what used to be there. 
˚ ✦ . . ˚ . . ✦ ˚ . ★⋆ . ˚ ✭ * ✦ . . ✦ ˚ ˚ .˚ ✭ . . ˚ . ✦

Due to the game file size being too large for itch at the moment, a demo of the game can't be uploaded. The playthrough video showcases the full game.

Made in Unreal Engine. Assets do not belong to me.