Reviews from

in the past


Welcome to Elk is a game I picked up from the Kotaku "games you might have missed" list and i'm glad I did because it's pretty special. It's a small, colorful adventure game with minigames about a carpenter from the city moving to a small island, but really it's about storytelling and the way stories connect people and allow us to remember happy and painful things. The stories that form the core of the game are based on true stories (and the original stories are presented in the game as well) and the way they're presented through the gameplay is often pretty powerful. There's one particular thing that would absolutely be my "Moment of the Year" if I were Giant Bomb. Do read the game's content warning - it deals with some heavy stuff - and I think depending on your taste you may find the ending unsatisfying (I like it a lot), but if you like emotional games and you like stories, I can't recommend Welcome to Elk enough.

This game is both VERY good and tells a VERY important story. But also, holy shit does it need like a dozen trigger warnings. Do not be fooled by it's colorful and cute art style, and don't play it if you're in a particularly vulnerable mental state. This game tells very real stories from very real people that are VERY TRAUMATIC and you need to be prepared for that because I was not.

If you're in a place to handle some real fuckin' traumatic shit with a hefty side of unreality, then it's a beautiful and moving piece of art. But please don't play it if there's any doubt that it might make you spiral, because this shit is HEAVY.

Not sure if this is good because I could not get past the art style/walking animation.

I'm just a poor wayfaring stranger
Traveling through this world below
There's no sickness, no toil or danger
In that bright land to which I go

I'm going there to see my father
And all my loved ones, who've gone on
I'm just going over Jordan
I'm just going over home

I know dark clouds will gather 'round me
I know my way is hard and steep
Yet beauteous fields arise before me
Where God's redeemed their vigils keep

I'm going there to see my mother
She said she'd meet me when I come
So i'm just going over Jordan
I'm just going over home
I'm just going over Jordan
I'm just going over home



Really fantastic storytelling that really captures the energy of folk stories and their particular magic. Maintains a really specific metatextuality that ties the reality of the stories in the game to their actual sources from life, often dealing with tragedy and traumas deeply personal to the storytellers. It captures the deep, wide breadth of feelings in folk life, and it does so with a deeply charming aesthetic.

This game looks terrible but it’s a great story. Trust me. Fun little minigames. The most shocking minigame I’ve ever experienced. Most if not all of its stories are rooted in an actual town's stories. They play a live interview each time you find a new message in a bottle.

Juego muy extraño y raro. Tiene diálogos y escenas muy buenas, pero no me he enterado de mucho.

Amazing game that feels all too familiar- feels like its documenting the lore of your local town and its troubled residents. really cool meta gameplay. want to replay soon.