Closer The Distance Next Fest Preview - Beauty in Sadness

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With all the games coming to the Steam Next Fest in a week, I have been given the opportunity to try out and test some of the experiences you will be able to take part in later on. Closer the Distance is one such game, and it is wildly different than any of the other games I am playing ahead of the Next Fest debut. And, when all is said and done, I can't wait to play the full game when it releases.

Closer the Distance is a slice of life simulator that takes place in the town of Yesterby. After a fatal car accident that results in the death of a young girl named Angela, you will play as her ghost trying to help her family and the rest of the town grieve, while also influencing the fate of the town. It's a very narrative-focused experience where each choice you make matters and impacts the relationships of each character with each other and, ultimately, the outcome of the story.

In the demo I had, I got to play through Act 1 and experience the beginning of the game, which completely hooked me. It started off immediately after the car accident with the police coming to Angela's family home and letting her parents and sister know about what happened. Conny, Angela's sister, can hear Angela's ghost and is the first person you will influence to go around and help other people.

I won't go too much further into different aspects of the story I encountered, since it is the reason I would recommend trying this demo for yourself, but it's fantastic. It was heart-wrenching seeing how everyone was being affected, the ones who lashed out, the turmoil between different family members, and the disarray of the town now that Angela wasn't around anymore. Exploring the lives and relationships each person has, or had in some cases, was intriguing, and hooked me on wanting to know more about the story and what other secrets were there to unearth.

The gameplay itself is similar to something like The Sims. There will be multiple characters that you will end up influencing, but not directly controlling. So, you will tell each character what you want them to do next, assigning them a job/task or a place to walk to, and they will head to it. You will see a list of tasks they could do to help others out or give them suggestions, but you can have them head to other people directly to see if they need anything.

The system, along with the lower poly visuals and soundtrack, work really well together in keeping a gloomy, yet colorful atmosphere that actually makes me feel more of the sadness the game wants to invoke. I also appreciate that the game will automatically pause and let you see all important events that happen, so you don't miss anything. It was a pleasure going through each in-game day, learning new things about each resident, and seeing how the town evolved after this huge event.

Playing this on the Steam Deck is a mixed bag with performance in mind, but it still feels great to play. The framerate tended to waver between 35 FPS and 45 FPS with high battery drain. But, in both of these instances, Closer the Distance is still very playable. This is partly due to the controller support it has, which works well. The text size is a little bit on the small side, but I am hoping that the final build will have some adjustable text.

Closer the Distance can now be wishlisted on Steam and I highly recommend checking it out during the upcoming Next Fest.

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