Pretty walking sim Reaching for Petals releasing this summer, has more than a hint of recent indie favourites

By Brenna Hillier

Firewatch, Dear Esther, What remains of Edith Finch, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture – the DNA here is clear.

Reaching for Petals is a new indie adventure in the genre we’re begrudgingly agreeing to call walking simulator.

A story-driven adventure, it has players exploring a lovely landscape to find and then play through flashbacks of the past, gradually piecing together the story. Along the way they’ll solve puzzles and make decisions to help shape the branching narrative.

Described as “a poetic adventure about love, loss, and ambition set in a desolated world full of mystery”, Reaching for Petals will release for PC via Steam this summer.

Reaching for Petals comes to us via indie Blue Entropy Studios. In addition to several VR experiences available now, Blue Entropy is responsible for the upcoming horror adventure Immortal Truth.

We don’t cover every indie that comes through our inboxes (we’d never get anything else done) but this one follows pretty closely on What Remains of Edith Finch, which I loved, and the press release name-dropped Firewatch, which both Sherif and I really enjoyed. Let’s hope this one can live up to those very highly polished releases – and also that it doesn’t end up dragging on like Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.

Good landscapes in those screens, innit? Putting Unreal Engine 4 to good work.