She Remembered Caterpillars is a cute semi-autobiographical puzzler about death
Transmogrifies onto Steam next week.
Upcoming puzzler She Remembered Caterpillars may look cute on the surface with its colourful quirky caterpillar bridges and whimsical ilomilo-esque avatars, but dig a little deeper and you'll find that it's a melancholy rumination on death.
Developer, and occasional Eurogamer contributor, Cassandra Khaw told us that this personal project's narrative was significantly rewritten as a result of her father's recent passing.
"Originally conceived to be a subversion of the Osiris myth, it is an unsettling experience, meant to inspire thought and possibly conversations about the eventualities of death," she told Eurogamer. "We actually hope to trigger that dialogue between parent and child specifically. Yes, morbid thought. But, eh. Morbid topic."
The narrative manifests itself as text between stages, which may sound divorced from the puzzle mechanics, but the two start to gel in clever ways as the plot and brainteasers unfold.
As for the actual puzzles, She Remembered Caterpillars tasks players with guiding colour-coded critters across bridges and gates that correspond with their hue. Red and blue characters can be merged into purple people, who have their own properties relative to the game's various obstacles.
Thankfully each colour-coded creature is also a different shape, so colour-blind players will have a way to manage She Remembered Caterpillars' fiendish challenges.
Just earlier today the IGF Finalists were announced and She Remembered Caterpillars received a nomination for Excellence in Visual Art and an honourable mention for Excellence in Design.
She Remembered Caterpillars will launch for PC and Mac on 17th January via Steam, but you can play a free demo of its first several stages now.