Closer the Distance

About

Closer the Distance is a single player casual role playing game with a drama theme. It was developed by Osmotic Studios and was released on August 1, 2024. It received positive reviews from players.

Closer the Distance is a deeply moving, slice-of-life sim that tells a story about the connections between family and friends in the face of tragedy. Following a fatal car accident, players take on the role of Angela, a young girl from the town of Yesterby, who finds herself watching over her loved ones as they navigate the grieving process. Using her ethereal ability to influence the townspeople …

+11

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89%

Audience ScoreBased on 162 reviews

story54 positive mentions

optimization3 negative mentions

Powerful, emotional narrative exploring grief and loss in a nuanced, authentic way.
Unique gameplay blending life sim mechanics with narrative choice, allowing control of multiple characters to experience interconnected stories.
Beautiful art style, excellent voice acting, and a moving, fitting soundtrack that enhances the emotional tone.

Managing multiple characters' needs and timed tasks can feel overwhelming, stressful, and sometimes tedious, detracting from immersion.
The pacing and simultaneity of multiple conversations or events often force rushed decisions and missed story elements.
Some UI and gameplay roughness including slow walking speed, limited save options, occasional bugs, and inconsistent voice acting diminish the overall experience.

story
190 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
70%
2%
The story of "Closer the Distance" is a deeply emotional and beautifully told narrative centered on grief, loss, and the struggles of a small community coping with tragedy. It is praised for its nuanced character development, intertwining storylines, and tender exploration of human emotions, though some players find its pacing uneven and the integration of gameplay mechanics occasionally disrupts immersion. Overall, it stands out as a moving, richly layered story-driven experience that resonates strongly with players who appreciate thoughtful storytelling in games.
- “The flow of balancing multiple characters with differing needs and wants helps illuminate a heartfelt story about love, loss, and how to hold on and let go to the people you love.”
- “"Closer the distance" is a profoundly moving game that stands out as a masterful example of story-driven gameplay.”
- “A raw, honest humanity resounds through the story and leaves behind a picture of life that most media shies away from, embracing the heaviness and hurt that coexist with the beauty of life, love, and community.”
- “Unfortunately, I find the task and event mechanics to be very poorly implemented for this type of story-driven game.”
- “In addition, the simultaneity of some events sometimes makes it impossible to follow all the conversations and plot lines, which disrupted my immersion into the story.”
- “The individual story threads can be illogical, irrelevant, half-baked, or just plain uninteresting.”
emotional
82 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game delivers a deeply emotional and heartfelt narrative centered on grief, loss, and community resilience, enhanced by strong writing, voice acting, and a touching soundtrack. While its slow pacing and life-sim mechanics may sometimes contrast with the emotional tone, players who engage patiently with its subtle storytelling often find a powerful, genuine experience that resonates deeply. It is highly recommended for those who appreciate emotionally driven, character-focused games, though its heavy subject matter may not be for everyone.
- “From the very beginning, it grips you with a narrative that is deeply emotional, exploring themes of loss, love, and human connection in a way that feels raw and genuine.”
- “The flow of balancing multiple characters with differing needs and wants (which some characters' needs make it hard to accomplish what they want) helps illuminate a heartfelt story about love, loss, and how to hold on and let go to the people you love.”
- “Above all, the powerful, emotional and slow paced narrative about life after two deaths in a small village community.”
gameplay
75 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
78%
5%
The gameplay in "Closer the Distance" blends life-simulation mechanics similar to The Sims with narrative-driven choices, creating an emotionally resonant but sometimes slow and clumsy experience. While some find the mechanics engaging and uniquely integrated with the story of grief, others feel they can be distracting, repetitive, or dissonant from the narrative, limiting overall gameplay satisfaction. Ultimately, the game prioritizes emotional impact over traditional gameplay depth, making it more appealing for players invested in story than those seeking robust mechanics.
- “Gameplay blends life-simulation mechanics with narrative choice in a way that feels deliberately restrained.”
- “The gameplay mechanics are not just functional but beautifully integrated into the story.”
- “By mixing sims-like needs and wants, choice-based gameplay and a narrative which keeps on moving with or without your input, it delivers a personal story in a way that I've never seen before.”
- “So mechanically it's very simple - select a task (usually an interaction with another character), watch your player walk over to do it, experience the impact and repeat.”
- “Unfortunately, I find the task and event mechanics to be very poorly implemented for this type of story-driven game.”
- “Mechanically, the game can feel slow and occasionally opaque, particularly when juggling the needs of multiple characters with limited opportunities to intervene.”
music
42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
38%
7%
The music is widely praised for its emotional resonance, atmospheric quality, and strong complement to the narrative, often described as beautiful, moving, and thoughtfully crafted. While some find it predictable or mono-tonal with a folk or string-based style, the soundtrack consistently enhances the game's mood and storytelling, contributing significantly to the overall immersive and touching experience.
- “The wonderful soundtrack accompanies this narrative in a very emotional way.”
- “The music is another standout feature, perfectly complementing the story’s highs and lows.”
- “Closer the distance is an absolutely lovely and emotional game, with an incredible soundtrack.”
- “The music is very predictable, limited to "one guy singing folk and playing a guitar" after every major event.”
- “It's just very generic emo string guitar music.”
- “While the slow string-based soundtrack adds to the calm vibe, the overall mood is undeniably mono and gloomy.”
graphics
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
45%
13%
The game's graphics feature a charming, minimalist art style that many find visually pleasing and emotionally fitting, enhancing the atmosphere and storytelling. While generally praised for their tasteful and clean design, some users feel the visuals are unremarkable or poorly executed, with a few criticizing the graphics alongside voice acting. Overall, the graphics contribute effectively to the game's mood but may not stand out to all players.
- “The voice actors, the graphic artists, and the music come together lovingly into this vision.”
- “Visually, the game uses a charming and minimalist art style that enhances its emotional tone.”
- “I don't want to say anything about the story beats, as I think this is best experienced blind, so I'll simply end by praising the art and audio direction as well; everything visual was shaped into the perfect aesthetic of grief, and the voice talent is among the best performances I've seen in any form of media.”
- “The voice acting is bad, graphics are ugly despite the dev attempts to hide behind a unique art style.”
- “Graphically the game works for what it's going for.”
- “You can play either in windowed (with many screen resolution options) or full screen mode as well as choose anywhere from low to high graphics settings.”
atmosphere
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
39%
15%
The game is widely praised for its rich, melancholic atmosphere, enhanced by fitting music, emotive voice acting, and authentic, minimalistic art design that deeply engage players emotionally. However, a few users feel the atmosphere falls short despite solid graphics and sound. Overall, the immersive and touching ambiance strongly supports the narrative and character interactions.
- “Its atmospheric and emotive scenes are exceptionally hard-hitting and are sure to strike a chord with narrative lovers.”
- “Love the writing, the melancholic atmosphere and music, the voice acting and navigating the characters' emotional stories, equipped with a list of things that one could do to help and a thoughtful description of their complex emotional states.”
- “The life depicted in the village is authentic, emotionally charged and creates its very own atmosphere.”
- “The concept is solid with this game but it's just... the atmosphere is not there.”
- “For what it's worth, the graphics and the sound design is nice but games like these depend on the writing and the atmosphere; this game just does not have it.”
optimization
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
55%
27%
The game offers a deeply emotional experience but suffers from notable performance issues such as lag, stuttering, and occasional glitches, particularly in later stages or after extended play sessions. While these optimization problems are not reported by all players, they detract from the overall immersion and could benefit from patches. Despite this, the game's strong audio and visual presentation help maintain player engagement.
- “It may not be perfect after all - there are some performance issues (game started to lag slightly at the end for me), but playing this game is an interesting storytelling experience and a very personal emotional journey if you engage with it.”
- “The performance issues I encountered do not seem widespread across players, but hopefully a fix can soon be implemented.”
- “Immense FPS drops and stuttering after playing for an hour.”
- “Some slight performance issues where things start to lag or glitch out if you don't save and close the game completely every once in a while.”
- “It may not be perfect after all - there are some plot issues, some performance issues (game started to lag slightly at the end for me), characters that are not supposed to be known about the conversation are standing just around you without any reaction.”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
67%
Grinding in this game is described as tedious and integral to the core management system, requiring significant micromanagement that many find frustrating. While extensive grinding is expected, there are no specific achievements related to it.
- “Tedious, core managing system.”
- “Time for grinding will be required.”
- “You'll be grinding a lot.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from stability issues, including frequent bugs and glitches, as well as unskippable clips that disrupt the experience. Overall, stability is a significant problem impacting gameplay.
- “Unskippable clips and numerous bugs severely disrupt the gameplay experience.”
- “The game is riddled with glitches and bugs that affect stability.”
- “Frequent crashes and unstable performance make the game frustrating to play.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers solid replayability through its ambiguous scenarios and varied choices, allowing for different emotional outcomes. While some players may not feel an immediate urge to replay, the multiple priorities and interventions provide meaningful reasons to revisit the game.
- “This ambiguity enhances replay value, as different priorities and interventions can lead to markedly different emotional conclusions.”
- “Given the choices and tasks, replayability is definitely an option.”
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor is characterized by moments of warmth and awkwardness that provide levity amidst heavier themes, helping to create authentic, relatable characters rather than mere symbols of grief.
- “Moments of warmth, awkward humor, and small kindnesses punctuate the heavier themes, making the cast feel authentically human rather than symbolic stand-ins for grief.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The character development is praised for its distinct and well-designed characters, with easily recognizable silhouettes that enhance visual clarity and individuality.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Closer the Distance is a casual role playing game with drama theme.

Closer the Distance is available on Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and others.

Closer the Distance was released on August 1, 2024.

Closer the Distance was developed by Osmotic Studios.

Closer the Distance has received positive reviews from players. Most players liked Closer the Distance for its story but disliked it for its optimization.

Closer the Distance is a single player game.

Similar games include The Pale Beyond, Always Sometimes Monsters, A Story Beside, The Novelist, Yes, Your Grace and others.

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