Spate explores a man’s loss and fight with alcoholism

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Games are maturing, and not just in the sense that they feature a lot of sex and violence. Truly mature themes can be explored, like the loss of a loved one and a resulting downward spiral of addiction. Spate takes on those ideas, through its surrealist platforming journey.

It stars a man whose daughter died and wife left, as he struggles with alcoholism. As an absinthe addict, he gains increased speed and jumping ability by taking a swig, at the cost of hallucinations that challenge his sanity. As a metaphor for an addict’s need to continue using, even knowing the cost, it seems pretty apt.

Spate followed what is now becoming a common indie game path to release, having enjoyed a successful Kickstarter campaign and passed through Steam Greenlight. It releases tomorrow, March 27 for PC, Mac, and Linux.


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Author
Darren Nakamura
Darren is a scientist during the day. He has been a Destructoid community member since 2006, joining the front page as a contributor in 2011. While he enjoys shooters, RPGs, platformers, strategy, and rhythm games, he takes particular interest in independent games. He produced the Zero Cool Podcast for about four years, and he plays board games quite a bit when he can find willing companions.