Solo developer Coyan Cardenas (aka the entirety of studio Memory of God) grabbed our attention with Where the Goats Are, a minimalist, melancholy farming sim about a goat-herding grandma that's kind of like Stardew Valley but with crushing loneliness and goats. Backed by publisher Surprise Attack Games, today Cardenas announced The Stillness of the Wind, a minimalist, melancholy farming sim about a different goat-herding grandma. Here's Cardenas' description:
"It used to be a bustling village, but one by one everyone left. Everyone, except Talma. Approaching her final years, she maintains a simple way of life tending to her homestead, surviving, subsisting, while increasingly disturbing letters arrive from her family in the city. Develop your own personal routine as you care for your farm and your animals. Tend to your goats, make cheese with their milk, collect eggs and cook meals, grow vegetables and barter with the travelling merchant."
At first glance, The Stillness in the Wind looks like a shot-for-shot remake of Where the Goats Are: a simple, meditative farming sim elevated by clean art, lovely music and a no-doubt somber underlying message. Cordenas describes it as a follow-up that expands on the original concept, and I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because, as Scott learned when he discovered the 'right' way to play Where the Goats Are, the brilliance of Cardenas' games is what you don't see at first glance. I'm always up for an arthouse game about solace and silence, and quite frankly, you've got to admire a man who makes not one, but two games about goat-herding grandmas.
The Stillness of the Wind will release on Steam and Itch later this year. In the meantime, you can get Where the Goats Are on Itch, and it's name your own price.
