Underplayed Gems

Grief like a stray dog (2025)

Grief like a stray dog cover
Developer
Rayonist
Platforms
Windows
Genres
Adventure, Indie
Rating
4.9 of 5, 106 player ratings
Typical playtime
about 1.0 hours
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 quiet, heavy narrative experience about delivering death notices in a rural WWII community, steeped in melancholy and emotional weight.

emotionalatmosphericnarrative-drivenhistoricalmelancholicquietheavyhand-drawninteractive fiction

What players say

Players say this short visual novel about a girl delivering letters in WWII Russia is deeply emotional, often leaving them in tears. The story is based on the developer's grandmother's memories, and the simple hand-drawn art and slow pacing add to the heavy atmosphere. Some find the gameplay too sparse for a full game, but most agree the experience is powerful.

Screenshots

Grief like a stray dog screenshot 1Grief like a stray dog screenshot 2Grief like a stray dog screenshot 3Grief like a stray dog screenshot 4Grief like a stray dog screenshot 5Grief like a stray dog screenshot 6

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.