The Stillness of the Wind is a story-based farming game. You play as Talma, an elderly woman who runs the farm that she has lived on her whole life. Her children have all moved on to new and exciting things leaving her to run the farm alone. The game explores the themes of loneliness, isolation, and growing old through the letters Talma receives from her family and the conversations she has with her only regular visitor, Laszlo.
The gameplay primarily revolves around running the farm. You will need to collect eggs from the chickens, tend to your crops, milk the goats, and make it into cheese. Talma moves slowly and doesn’t have the energy to do much in a day, so it is unlikely you will manage to do everything every day.
Thankfully, you’re not expected to, as there are few consequences for failing to keep up with tasks other than your goats can die if you don’t feed them adequately. Some days Laszlo comes by with letters for you and items to trade like more seeds to plant and hay for your goats. You can also venture out into the desert that surrounds your home to forage for mushrooms and see Talma reminisce about old memories of her children playing on the rocks.
The pacing is very slow, which is fitting for the theming of the game but could be frustrating to some players. The story progresses slowly as you don’t receive letters every day. There are some strange elements to it as well, the dream sequences, in particular, are a little odd, Around the midpoint of the game, things become a bit less relaxed and the atmosphere becomes a lot more tense and threatening from this point onward.
The overall story arc and ending are a little… heavier than my initial impressions of the game led me to expect. No spoilers, but this one isn’t all sunshine and chicken chasing. The music and sound design do a fantastic job of adding to the atmosphere, so relaxed and fun at the start then building a sense of increasing unease as the story progresses.
It’s used really effectively throughout and is full of little details like Talma whistling to herself as she milks the goats, or laughing when you draw in the dirt with the stick. The Stillness of the Wind is a relatively short experience but it manages to tell an effective story and draw you into its world. I really felt for these characters and enjoyed the daily tasks of managing the farm. It’s another game that I really enjoyed and would recommend you try it out.
