Someday by Rumblestrut
Year: 2026
Platforms: Playdate via Itch
Usual price: Free
Saves: Manually, any time.
For some of us, the wonder of the world was revealed when we were younger through the medium of colossal architectures. Labyrinthine spaces, big enough as they were, became the intricate caves of the cosmos itself when seen through child-height eyes. That sense of contrast and the smallness of one’s self is hard to shake, and often haunts us well into our adult life.
These memories can confound us with their imbalance. On one hand a place can be assuredly vast. On the other, it can be an infinite series of tiny details, an elaboration of tiny moments being unfolded. I remember libraries after closing time with their high vaulted, didn’t ceilings clashing with the insistency of millions of printed words. The coolness of darkened cathedral interiors versus the rich and realised sea of symbols watching over them.
Someday is a capturing of those intimate reminiscences. It is, in the developer’s words, a memento loci, or a memory of a memory (of a memory?) of a place that is more than a place. It is a game in the purest sense that all games involve exploration and navigation, but its joy is in being lost, and discovering the unexpected, just as if one were a naive child again.
You wander the sprawling grounds and the cluttered rooms of an old house filled with relics and memories, and as you do, the present blends seamlessly into the past. There are keys to find, but they unlock nostalgia more than doors. It’s hard not to assume these recollections as your own as you creep around, imagining the dust being disturbed by your fingers’ tracing along old surfaces.
Someday is, ultimately, a game about endings. Comparisons to the gargantuan world (for a game made in Pulp, at least) of The Keyper come to mind (review here), but whereas there was a proactive sense of exploration there, here every discovery feels like slowly completing a jigsaw puzzle before bedtime. Everything is waiting for you to find it, if you linger long enough to see it.
(It must be said that I struggled to find arguably the most intriguing key, despite my rather exhaustive approach.. Some comments to the itch page helped me out quickly though, and the developer has both a full guide and a set of hints posted, for those that need assistance.)
This is a game I have a lot of love and respect for – partly because it is a labour of love, and carries its own sense of respect and reverence about it. Someday is a hidden gem for those looking for something in between “cosy”, “narrative”, and “experimental”. It is all and none of these, and a great reminder that the rawness of Pulp – the remoteness of lo-fi graphics, and the art of writing well – can be perfect for telling distinctly human stories.
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