Shutter Stroll
After the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police, the good folk at itch.io created the “Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality” in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement. 1,741 items from 1,391 creators were included in this bundle. This column not only serves to highlight those games, projects and other items from these generous creators, but is also a reminder that Black Lives do, and always will, Matter.
While the fight for racial equality and justice was news story #1 for only a few weeks, the movement did not stop when the coverage moved away. Protests march on, human rights violation occur daily, and justice continues to not be served. We must never stop fighting for what is right.
If you have the means and/or time, you can find ways to help at https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/.
Have you ever wanted to just relax, take in the environment around you, and maybe take a picture or two?
Shutter Stroll offers up a different procedurally generated island each time you play. The colour palette, weather and mountain elevation always make for a pleasing aesthetic every time you play, creating a calming atmosphere for you to simply wander around and enjoy the sights.
Every sound, from the click of the menu’s to the crunch of the grass beneath your feet, is pleasurable. There is no “goal” here, which honestly brought about a sigh of relief. Simply enjoying the space for a little while is refreshing.
If you want to gamify your time just a bit, the default mode of Shutter Stroll only allows a single picture per island - a great motivator for doing your best to take just the right picture to remember your time here before moving on. If you want to take fifty pictures of your little slice of heaven however, you can turn this option off.
If words alone aren’t enough to sell you, here’s a small gallery of a few play sessions with this relaxation sim (click to scroll).
Point and shoot camera focused games have been up on the rise lately, and Shutter Stroll is a lovely little game that sits right up there as a lovely serene experience.