Self portrait
The folks over at Eastshade Studios sure do have a brand, dont they?
You see, Eastshade does one thing very, very well.
Eastshade teaches mindfulness, a keen and acute awareness of oneself and ones surroundings in the present moment.
And that, my friends, is where the appeal comes from.
When I first played Eastshade, I was in a bad way.
I was very much desperate for an escape from reality.
Awesome, great, lets have at it.
You are Firstname Lastname, and your mother has died.
Perished, bought the farm, kicked the bucket, punched her ticket.
As far as narrative goes, thats all the game gives to you.
The player character is, pardoning the pun, a blank canvas.
Its certainly a well-trodden trope, but its not particularly engrossing, nor immersive for my tastes.
I find it hard to relate to characters when they themselves exist in fantastical worlds for nebulous reasons.
Decay and loneliness were common motifs.
I was unhappy, I was hurting and scared, longing for better days.
But I noticed something as I continued looking at the pictures.
They depicted places I found to be particularly charming, that Id like to remember.
I met myself, sensitive and quiet and hopeful, and I learned to love that person again.
Eastshade held a mirror up to me in a way that few other experiences have.
How I painted each location revealed more to me about myself than I perhaps knew was possible.
Life is what happens in between both; a thread linking each beautiful experience together into one cohesive picture.
It is that beauty that makes this life worth the living.
