Old Man’s Journey
Old Man’s Journey is a short mobile game. It’s pretty short and can be played in less than an hour with a relatively “simple” story: one day the old man receives a letter and embarks on a journey. In my opinion, its main appeal comes from its core mechanics and a very nice surprise moment: the player will move mountains for the old man. Literally.
By shifting between 3D to 2D logic constantly, the old man cannot walk towards the background unless the outlines “connect”, as if it was a 2D obstacle.

How do you connect them? By dragging them up or down.

This simple, magical, sort of Wes Anderson type of mechanics is very suitable for a handheld device were touching the screen is second nature. It’s more than a one trick pony and it gets more challenging as the game progresses. At first the challenge is in grasping the concept — if it’s a 2D space then it’s a side scroller, if it’s a 3D space, then why can’t I move to the background of the screen. But then moving the mountains reveals hidden things and can make wheels accelerate and break walls or “jiggly” nature of the hills makes it fun to play around with.
Indirect control
Those little clues left behind that makes the player feel like they solved a little puzzle when they are lost.
The game is 2D with 3D elements and at first that gives a few mixed messages. The old man, being 2D character facing forward, makes it seem like the only place to go is straight, but the background with the sun setting behind the house seems much more appealing. Without being told I clicked on it and lo and behold — the old man jumps all the way there.
By making one place seem a lot more interesting than anything else, out of sheer curiosity you can make the player click in even when the game style seems to be a 2D runner. There is a surprise moment when that expectation is being broken. In most cases, this might be frustrating but in that game, it feels almost magical. Like stepping into a picture.
The rest of the game includes a balance between a much clearer “this is the way” moments, like a cat moving in a specific direction, and “good luck finding the way” like when it is hidden by a cluster of hills. The lack of guidance is challenging more than it is frustrating, since finding a way for the old man is the main goal.
Agency and immersion
Since our basic start point is that we can move the environment and given the game’s somewhat slow pace, a lot of the time it’s unclear what exactly the player is doing and what is just timed by the game. For example: a bicycle arrives at the beginning to deliver the letter. The player can either tap them or wait for the scene to continue on its own.
Whenever a game can make you think that you have more agency than you do it’s a double win in my opinion: less work while making the game while keeping the player engaged.
Art
The art works well with both the mechanics and the storytelling. The 2D style fits with the idea that the old man cannot move to another hill unless the hills outlines connect what in a 3D space this would make less sense.
Its similarity to scrapbooking fits with the story being told mostly through memories of the old man while those are in watercolor style. Delicate and can be erased easily by water (the old man indeed put his life behind for the sea, so maybe there is an additional symbolism there).
Awkwardness
The weak element is the memories. While the game offers a lot of extra interactive objects (the most adorable one is the dragging the boats in order to sail them) that are part of the game world, the memories do not.
They are still images who manage to tell a lot using the visuals and sounds (a pregnant bride on her wedding day is two birds with one stone — the old man loved that woman and they had a baby, which will be part of the future plot). Clicking on related objects in the game scene leads to those memories (tapping a bell leads to the wedding image, the association is a nice touch). However, a button at the bottom is what enables exiting them.
I assume this was done because someone might tap the screen too soon (the button does take a few seconds to appear), but it breaks the feel of the game. A better solution might be a movement in the image the indicates clicking a specific part of it. It’s already what I, as a player, expected.
Conclusion
All in all the game is adorable, magical and fun with the moving mountains mechanics being it’s selling point (the way the hills bounce up and down is what gives it that extra push). I personally showed it to several innocent bystanders and it is worth its mobile price tag.
