When we talk about the isolation of the pandemic of a few years ago, we often see this as something, well, isolated. But major as that event might have been, it didn’t exist outside of everyone’s lives; it affected and was affected by the lives of everyone caught in it. We might have been stuck in our homes mostly, but our lives continued. There were still stories of love and of loss, of prosperity and of hardship. It’s something we often seem to forget when discussing those two difficult years at the start of the decade, but fortunately the developers at imissmyfriends.studio haven’t forgotten.
In their upcoming game Fishbowl, you play as twenty-one-year-old Alo, who has just moved to the big city and gotten her first job, all the while grieving her grandmother’s passing. We join Alo during her first week on the job, when all of a sudden, everyone is forced to start working from home. Luckily for Alo, her job as a video editor is completely computer-based, so at least her job is safe. But how will she handle the pressure of performing at this new job while also adjusting to life in isolation?
In a very fortunate, if not pretty strange, turn of events, Alo is joined by a magical fish from her childhood, who helps her remember the beautiful times she shared with her family, and her grandmother Jaja in particular. Quickly into the game, you are also sent all of your grandmother’s belongings to sort through, begging the question: is this a healthy way of coping with grief, or is this just going to cause more sadness?
Of course, in these days of unlimited connection, you’re never completely alone. You get to video call with your family, friends and colleagues daily. They will be important, as the month you spend with Alo in this game sets her up for a real journey of self-discovery. In the preview of the game I got to play, we get to know Alo as a slightly shy, rather insecure and heavily grieving young woman. But obviously she is so much more than that, and I cannot wait to find out more about her.
Gameplay can be sorted into a couple of different elements. Mostly, you’re walking around your apartment, making food or coffee, doing some chores, calling your loved ones, … To break up the monotony, you also get to unpack boxes, where you have to solve a sliding puzzle to reach an item that’s stuck at the bottom of your package. And of course you’re working from home, so you’ll be doing some video editing! No worries if you have no experience with actual editing software: this minigame consists of sorting the right files into the folder of the same colour, and nothing more (so far).
The supporting cast in the game provides some excellent diversions from life stuck within your own apartment, with a diverse cast of characters all providing a more in-depth look at Alo’s life outside of the game. The writing during these dialogues is a particular highlight, with there being so much evidence of Alo’s history with all of these people, be it nicknames or shared memories.
It’s beautiful to see how delicate Alo’s friends are with her, as they all feel how heavily her loss is holding her down. But at the same time, these conversations also show how life continues, how Alo’s loved ones are struggling with their own issues, despite wanting to be supportive of her. It feels like Fishbowl will have a lot to say about the journey of mourning and the consequences of loss, and from what I’ve played so far, it seems like whatever they’ll have to say will be pretty profound.
A lot of the game’s storytelling seems to be tied to this kind of mood meter that will show you how Alo is feeling in general. Your mood can be lifted up by little things like making a great cup of coffee or getting your laundry done, but it can also be brought down by things outside of your own control. How well Alo is doing influences what she’s able to do in a day but will also have an effect on the dialogue choices you can make during your video calls. During my playthrough of the preview, Alo never felt good enough to take the most positive dialogue option, which felt appropriate as her suffering is still very new.
I’m very curious to see how revisiting old memories together with your magical fish Paplet will influence that mood bar in the long run. Will it make you even sadder for what you’ve lost, or will there be any renewed feelings as these memories get recontextualised? How will the relationship with your mother, who lost her own mother, evolve as the game continues? And how big will the isolation’s influence be on how you handle all of this?
We still have over a month to wait until we can finally spend those 30 days with Alo, but I feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to already join her for a couple of those. I already had high hopes for this game from playing the demo (which is still available right now over on Steam), and having Wholesome Games get involved in the publishing is another sign that this is going to be something special. This preview just reaffirmed my own feelings, and I am so ready for Fishbowl to release this April. I strongly suggest keeping an eye on it, as this might be one of the most special games of the year.
