That Day We Left Demo

Every now and again our world is hit by some kind of crisis, and it’s up to every individual to come up with solutions and try to make the best of it. Granted, many of these situations are caused by us, because not every crisis or catastrophe is a natural disaster. Whoever may be at fault, on the other hand, it’s never too late to try and help out those in need.

That Day We Left is a survival/adventure game about the current refugee crisis, in which you have to help a handful of people make their way to safety and avoid all sorts of dangers along the way. The game is still in a pretty rough state at the moment, but it’s quite clear that it’s got the potential required to make it big, at least as long as the developers keep working on it.

It all starts with a family that decides to run away from a terrible country in search of a better life, except that odds are not at all in their favor, as it would seem. Thus, their car breaks down half-way through, which is why they decide to walk the rest of the way. You play the role of Rashid, the head of the family, and your task is to manage the resources, keep relationships strong and take the proper decision when the situation requires it.

Since a big chunk of the game is about survival, it’s important that you keep an eye on the resources you manage to rescue from the broken car. These have to last you for the whole trip, and that’s obviously a very difficult task. On the other hand, other possibilities might open up along the way, but you must be prepared to take risks and put the whole journey in jeopardy.

Speaking of which, dialog is very important, because if you do not manage to influence or keep in check certain members of the family, they can go ahead and get themselves killed. This is an instant game over, at least in the demo, but maybe it would be better to let the players continue with the leftover family and see how many of them would make it to the end.

When it’s all said and done, That Day We Left needs some work when it comes to gameplay mechanics and the implementation of certain ideas, but the overall concept is worthy of praise. Hence, you can support the developers by backing their Kickstarter campaign and by voting for the game on Steam Greenlight.