Stilstand (2020)

Developer: Niila Games
Platforms: Windows, macOS
Genres: Casual, Indie
Rating: 4.7 of 5, 76 player ratings
Typical playtime: about 56 minutes
Where to get it: Steam

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A melancholic, hand-drawn interactive comic that feels like a quiet, surreal trudge through loneliness and despair, with flashes of absurd hope.

absurdwhimsicalanxiety-riddenlonelydespairingpersonalhand-drawnshortatmospheric

What players say

Players describe it as a short interactive graphic novel rather than a game, about a young woman's summer of isolation and depression. The deliberately ugly hand-drawn art and melancholic soundtrack fit the mood, but the story offers no resolution and some found it too bleak to finish.

Screenshots

More games like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.