Simpler Times is pretty much the opposite of 2021’s hit game Unpacking: here, it is all about packing up. Taina is getting ready to leave her family home to go to university, and as she packs away her belongings, each cherished object takes her on a contemplative journey. “She’s having second thoughts,” says game director Dragos Matkovski. “She’s having doubts about moving into this next chapter of her life. And the reason why you, as a player, revisit her memories is to find out that, actually, she’s doing the right thing.”
Matkovski was born in Moldova but now lives in Transylvania in Romania, where his studio, Stoneskip, is based. “The studio itself was born around this project,” he says. “The origin of the game was simply me experimenting with 3D art.” In the midst of the Covid pandemic, Matkovski idly began recreating the room he was stuck in as a 3D model, then posted his progress online. The positive feedback he received persuaded him to turn his room into something people could play.
