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Decade

Decade Game Cover
98%Game Brain Score
story, graphics
character development, stability
98% User Score Based on 94 reviews

Platforms

PCWindows
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Decade Game Cover

About

Decade is a single player puzzle game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by New Distortions and was released on May 27, 2025. It received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players.

Decade is a narrative point-and-click adventure game where you will send children back into the past - ten years at a time to learn how the world ended, and what you can do to change it. Investigate documents, technologies, and artefacts to understand history, manage the children and their abilities as they age dramatically, and try to make the right decisions as you create multiple futures tha…

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98%
Audience ScoreBased on 94 reviews
story12 positive mentions
character development2 negative mentions
  • Deeply unconventional and intellectually demanding narrative strategy game with strong worldbuilding and philosophy.
  • Unique time travel mechanic involving sending children decades into the past, creating meaningful consequences and emotional weight.
  • Exceptional writing, atmosphere, and ambient music combined with a distinctive minimalist art style and psychedelic FMV endings enhancing the experience.
  • Steep learning curve with minimal guidance and often unclear or repetitive feedback, causing frustration and reliance on trial and error.
  • Technical issues including frequent crashes, UI clunkiness, and occasional bugs detract from the smoothness of gameplay.
  • Progress can feel slow due to repetitive dialogue and exploration of numerous timelines, with some endings feeling abrupt or lacking closure.
  • story
    36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story is a rich, thought-provoking sci-fi narrative centered on time travel, philosophical clashes, and the consequences of altering timelines, praised for its world-building, character depth, and replay value. While its non-linear structure and intellectual depth engage players deeply, some find certain narrative elements confusing or feel parts of the plot are abruptly concluded. Overall, the story stands out as the game's strongest aspect, offering a complex and immersive experience despite occasional pacing and clarity issues.

    • “It has dystopia, rich story (if you dig deep), philosophy, surprises, alternative futures, pasts, apocalypses, predicaments... and the sweet, sweet control of molding time, and seeing what your decisions turn into, turn societies into, cause wars, utopias and rise and fall of entire civilizations.”
    • “I've come to like the main cast and I think the narrative does a very good job of giving player decisions (that alter the timeline) real weight, whether it be in direct outcomes or in the simple sad fact that the crew will age more and more or that their feelings about the mission and what is most important to them will change.”
    • “The most enthralled I've been with media in the last few years, and I'm desperately clawing through endings, dialogue, and political ideologies because of how incredible this story has been set up.”
    • “Without getting into any spoilers, it feels like what would be the 'halfway' point of the plot was hastily converted into an ending.”
    • “You have far too many options all at once and not a ton of meaningful information on what, if anything, your mission will accomplish.”
    • “We had this conversation before, but if you put choices into the UI, there will be an expectation of them always giving feedback, even if you didn’t accomplish anything during the mission, where sometimes the game just cycles the last dialogue, and as a player you might feel confused that you are not provided with sufficient information on what you did wrong.”
  • graphics
    29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game features a unique, minimalist, and abstract art style that perfectly complements its narrative-driven, text-focused experience, creating a distinctive and immersive atmosphere. Its retro and experimental visuals, often compared to avant-garde films, enhance the storytelling with a raw, thought-provoking aesthetic that many find both charming and memorable. While the interface can be clunky, the graphics and overall art direction are widely praised for their originality and strong thematic resonance.

    • “The world building and philosophies are fascinating, and the visuals are simple but perfect for the story they're representing.”
    • “Sympathetic characters, streamlined mechanics, and a beautiful and disturbing aesthetic that fully immerses you in this game's strange alternate histories.”
    • “The fmv scenes styled like 1960s experimental euro film with the overexposed, oversaturated visuals range from really cool and eerie to drawn out and (unintentionally?) campy.”
    • “The art style is very much 'crush the **** out of everything so they can't see how bad my art is,' but I think it works to its benefit.”
    • “It's very easy to lose track when you're reading about faction wars and historical accounts due to the complex aesthetics.”
    • “The game relies on simple interface design and understated visuals, keeping the focus on text and decision-making.”
  • gameplay
    21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of Decade is a unique, narrative-driven strategy experience centered on sending children back in time, featuring a simple but thought-provoking mechanic conveyed through menus and text rather than direct control. While praised for its originality, emotional depth, and immersive aesthetic, the gameplay is often described as repetitive, occasionally clunky, with inconsistent choice-based mechanics and limited interactivity. Overall, players are encouraged to engage primarily for the story, as the gameplay loop, though clever and stylistic, can be flawed and frustrating at times.

    • “Decade, developed and published by Last Piscean, is a deeply unconventional narrative strategy game that leans more toward interactive fiction and conceptual design than traditional gameplay.”
    • “The children you send through time are more than just tools—they are central to both the mechanics and the emotional weight of the game.”
    • “A simple to learn interface and gameplay leads to very interesting questions - are you doing the right thing by seeking to alter the past to create a better future?”
    • “The actual gameplay is a bit flawed; the game continuously presents you with many options for how to approach the mission, but a lot of it is just visual clutter. Most possibilities are useless and do not provide new feedback, so you end up looking for 2 or 3 specific actions. Even then, sometimes the game does not follow its own rules regarding how specific it wants the prompts.”
    • “The gameplay sometimes falls into repetitive texts, and player interactions can feel limited.”
    • “The choice-based gameplay felt inconsistent and sometimes didn’t follow the rules or patterns, which was the biggest issue.”
  • music
    13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is widely praised for its unique, eerie, and atmospheric qualities that perfectly complement the game's surreal and psychedelic vibe. Custom-made tracks and ambient sounds enhance the immersive experience, though some users wished for a bit more accessibility and variety. Overall, the soundtrack is a standout feature that significantly elevates the game's world and narrative.

    • “What *really* sold the game to me, besides the writing, was the music.”
    • “The music, UI, and narrative all work really well together to create an oppressive, psychedelic vibe that feels really unique.”
    • “The music is good, not great but good.”
    • “I wish the music of the game were a little more accessible.”
    • “The game drips with an eerie atmosphere from the first tone of the soundtrack, with heavily edited sound effects, repeating text, and bright, contrasting colourscapes creating an almost spiritually disorienting experience in the context of the game's apocalypse and heady themes.”
  • atmosphere
    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Users praise the game’s atmosphere as soulful, eerie, and spiritually disorienting, enhanced by striking visuals, ambient sound design, and a powerful soundtrack. It creates an engrossing and artistic experience that strongly complements the game’s themes and overall concept.

    • “The game drips with an eerie atmosphere from the first tone of the soundtrack, with heavily edited sound effects, repeating text, and bright, contrasting colorscapes creating an almost spiritually disorienting experience in the context of the game's apocalypse and heady themes.”
    • “A very soulful, atmospheric, and interesting game, despite some flaws.”
    • “This might seem like a weird nitpick, and I want to make it clear: I really like the game, it's got a strong concept and a really powerful atmosphere.”
  • replayability
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game offers strong replayability through multiple timelines and numerous alternate endings, encouraging players to explore different aspects of the story. While its depth and variety enhance its replay value, progress can sometimes feel slow or repetitive. Overall, it provides a rich experience that rewards multiple playthroughs.

    • “There are many more endings than you could possibly reach within a single playthrough, which adds a lot of replayability.”
    • “The game has a lot of replay value to discover every aspect of the story.”
    • “One of the most impressive indie games that I played in 2025, definitely has much depth and replayability.”
  • emotional
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game delivers a deeply emotional experience, with the children sent through time serving as both gameplay elements and emotional anchors. The poignant ending and thoughtful narrative explore broad themes about our world and existence, offering a powerful and unique emotional impact rarely seen in similar games.

    • “The children you send through time are more than just tools—they are central to both the mechanics and the emotional weight of the game.”
    • “In my opinion, the ending cutscene of descendants and the buildup to it (certain character dialogue, background info I found, and that letter, which was so damn heartbreaking and I've read nothing quite like it before) is stunning and fantastic as much as it is tragic.”
    • “For the most part, I enjoyed the writing with a few small nitpicks. Unlike just about any narrative game out there, it’s not really about any one thing or just being emotionally provocative, but rather our world as a whole and our place within it.”
  • humor
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in Decade is noted for its witty, surreal, and sometimes absurd tone that complements the game's introspective and substantive storytelling. It balances lightheartedness with dark and tragic moments, creating a unique blend of comedy and depth throughout various time periods and endings.

    • “Decade's got that sort of razzle-dazzle that you'd get from a very good new age science fiction paperback: introspection without preaching, aesthetics backed by substance, and, best of all: a sense of humor.”
    • “The endings I've experienced have been funny, surreal, horrifying, sad or deeply tragic.”
    • “The time periods and endings go to some wild, dark, and sometimes so absurd as to be funny places.”
  • character development
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The character development is generally seen as lacking depth and substance, with users expressing a desire for more polished and engaging storytelling to enhance the overall experience.

    • “Not much depth in its character development.”
    • “I just wish it had more substance and depth in its character development.”
  • stability
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game currently has stability issues, including buggy timeline transitions and crashes related to the save function. However, ongoing frequent updates by the solo developer show a strong commitment to improving stability.

    • “Also, some of the timeline transitions are kind of buggy.”
    • “The game is pretty buggy, with a number of nasty crashes related to the save function on release day. However, the solo developer is updating the game multiple times a day to hunt for bugs, so some slack is warranted.”
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10h Median play time
10h Average play time
10-10h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs
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Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Decade is a puzzle game with science fiction theme.

Decade is available on PC and Windows.

On average players spend around 10 hours playing Decade.

Decade was released on May 27, 2025.

Decade was developed by New Distortions.

Decade has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players. Most players liked Decade for its story but disliked it for its character development.

Decade is a single player game.

Similar games include Elsinore, Heaven's Vault, Minds Beneath Us, Roadwarden, Eternal Threads and others.