Kind Words (2019) by Popcannibal

We're all in need of encouragement from time-to-time, even if such encouragement is often brief or shallow.

This is a game in which you write letters to other players (real people) while listening to music. That's all! Kind Words isn't subtle about what it wishes to accomplish, but it's so forthcoming in its earnestness that it's hard not to be charmed by it. I could see loading up this game becoming a sort of morning routine for me, as I drink my coffee before heading off to work for the day. The background, soundtrack, and act of writing letters all contribute to a vastly cathartic feeling that's puzzlingly simple but somehow so satisfying in which to engage. I spent my first moments of the game simply writing out 14-line letters to some of the more thought-provoking prompts I came across before ever requesting any letters for myself.

Somehow the developers moderate strictly enough to ensure that I haven't seen any internet trolling slip through the cracks. Such a thing is no small feat—as we all know by now, with anonymity comes callous cruelty in the form of words. I can only imagine the putrid garbage the devs must sort through on a daily basis to accomplish this, but from what little I've experienced thus far, it works beautifully and ensures that only positive requests and messages are sent out.

While the game appears wholesome and altruistic—and surely does feature those virtues—in the end, it's about you. It's about empathizing with the faceless human being on the other side of the screen and prompting yourself to treat them as you would like to be treated. I can talk all day about the attractive simplicity of the game, its charming art style, or its wonderful soundtrack. But what makes this game so worthwhile is how it spreads kindness and how it teaches people empathy; a valuable ability that we seem to be losing at an alarming rate.

Perhaps most astonishing was that after spending a mere hour playing Kind Words, I found the positivity urged by the game spilling out into other avenues of my life. Suddenly, all of my comments on social media were of an encouraging nature. I was stopping to appreciate my dog on my way to the kitchen. I admired the way the sun shone in through the blinds. The kind of positive thinking prompted by the game is contagious; it weaves its way into your mood and your actions and propagates itself outward. Quite a surprising experience!

This is a wonderful little game, highly recommended at full price. If you like writing (which I do, as you can tell) then you'll love it. And even if you don't, this game will likely have a positive effect on your life—even if only for an hour, or a day. Give it a chance!

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