Next of Kin Review

Next of Kin tells the story of Thomas and Martha, a young married couple, who moved to Mjolkebo; a peaceful village in the countryside. Everything is perfect and feels like a dream; feels like everything is perfect. However, one day, Thomas wakes up in an empty bed. His wife Martha is gone. Thomas scrambles across the village in order to find Martha. Can you discover what happened?

Next of Kin is a puzzle and roaming heavy game. Thomas will walk around the village, and investigating any possible items to discover memories. Each memory is a puzzle in and of itself. Interacting with certain things; bench, tree, desk; among other things, will unlock a part of a memory.

Once you’ve found all parts of a memory, you’ll be able to get more insights in the story. You’ll be thrown back in the past to view/read an interaction between Thomas and his beloved wife. While I don’t mind reading a game, an auto-scroll for the text would’ve been a welcomed addition.

The game has a beautiful 16bit pixelated aesthetic. While the environments are limited, it does have beautiful visuals. Everything looks bright and colorful with limited color palette. On the audio side of things, no voiceovers with a soothing score to accompany the mature themed subject matter.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with Next of Kin, but it has a slow pacing and doesn’t really give any hints or indications as to what to do next. Thankfully there isn’t much to explore, but for example, trying to find Thomas’ favorite tree to progress a memory is kinda random.

Next of Kin is an enjoyable, albeit short, gaming experiences that touches on some tough subjects. While it does feel a tad predictable, the soothing score adds a layer of dread of what’s about to happen. The lack of hand holding is fine, but can feel tedious at times as you try to figure out which item you need to investigate. If you’re looking for something short to juggle between longer AAA experiences, Next of Kin is an enjoyable experience that might make you think.