Dreamfeel’s If Found… Creates a Beautiful Story Through Its Destruction

A black hole is formed when a dying star collapses in upon itself- when the gravitational pull its mass commands is so great, it implodes, creating a massive area of space in which even light cannot exist. This absence of light renders this phenomenon completely invisible, though it’s destruction and pull demand it’s presence to be known. Within this region, both space and time are warped—elongated—and to an observer, the descent into it would seem endlessly slow. 

It’s a horrific cosmic wonder, and an absolutely brilliant metaphor for a mental break.

Brilliance is something I’ve come to anticipate from the games Annapurna Interactive publishes. Mountain’s Florence and Simogo’s Sayonara Wild Hearts are two of my favorite games in recent years, and in between all the, you know, crying, I found myself completely enamored at the clever ways these titles allowed us to partake in their retelling of human experiences. Conceptually, mechanically, and artistically, these games transcend- giving us visionary storytelling that is both perfectly portioned and beautifully wrapped. Dreamfeel’s If Found… carries this torch, delivering a beautifully illustrated and compelling narrative, throughout much of which you do only one thing- erase.

The game begins with a lone astronaut being pulled in by an undetected black hole. While this calamity threatens to erase her existence, we’re given the chance to explore it as we erase the journal entries she made during the winter between her undergraduate and graduate career.

As you wipe away words, kinetic sketches, and beautiful pools of color, the story of Irish space oddity Kasio disappears from your screen and takes residency within you. You learn about her troubled relationships with her family and herself, the harshest winter of her life, and what happens when you approach what feels like event horizon- the point of no escape. 

In the two hours I spent with If Found, it solidified itself as one of my favorite LGBTQ+ stories. Kasio is a main character unlike any I’ve ever played, and the game itself is unique in how soft, compassionate, and humane it is- particularly when compared to most coming-of-age, queer stories, many of which conclude with some varying degree of tragedy. If Found instead chooses to create from what is destroyed, and leaves Kasio and all her various friends and family members in a better place than they were before our story unfolds.

Because I mentioned them above (and also because there’s an inherent tendency to compare Annapurna games to one another) I feel it’s worth noting that If Found is not nearly as flashy or immediately accessible as the titles I mentioned previously- and I think that’s what makes it truly fantastic. Whereas all these games undoubtedly have a certain artistry and beauty to them, If Found feels unique in its warmth and vulnerability. It feels… honest. From the hand drawn art and deeply intimate story, to the way the game chooses to immerse us in Irish slang and culture rather than acclimate us to it, you get the feeling that trust is being bestowed upon you- and it is important that you are worthy of it.

If Found is a game about the slow descent into a place without light- a place where pictures, stories, and people do not exist. But above all else, it is a game about reclaiming that light and our own agency. At several points within the game, it proclaims that names, genders, sexualities, bodies, and stories are our own to create, destroy, and inhabit. It asserts that our history does not define us, but rather exists so that we can use it to define ourselves. It reassures us that we, and the world, are constantly in motion- regardless of the forces that pull us.

This game was reviewed on a Windows PC with a Steam code provided by the developer.