the mountain is as it always was

First, let me say that the one-bit art brought me back to my roots, drawing on my Commodore 64.

Simple but effective imagery that evokes 1980s pixel patterns is used here to put a very basic yet meaningful UI on a short story that seems very personal.

I was not used to an IF story using sprite avatars to move around and trigger story elements, but it is well used here in a minimalistic way.

As to the story itself, I can relate to how nature can hold and reveal your personal history, having grown up in such a place.

The story is not long, and plays out on various car trips to a mountain, and is well written and heart-felt, dealing with the loss of love, and the loss of the first love.

I'm not normally a fan of Choose Your Own Path Text stories, but I have to say this one does it rather well and unless I missed something, repeats when it ends, rather than giving other options. And when it comes down to it, the nature of the story might be best served by looping back onto itself, so I liked that.

I enjoyed myself enough to break with my normal routine, and actually write a review.

the mountain is as it always was is a short kinetic piece made in bitsy, as a reflection of memories, loss, and what it means to be alive.

With its minimal 3-bit palette and concise prose, this tiny piece follows a little sprite struggling to find meaning in their life with a job that doesn't inspire them and struggling with their finances. Their thoughts (and feet) keep bringing them back to Nature, with its calming and unchanging state. Away from the drowning surroundings of the city, the sprite get to take a moment and meditate on their life.

Through the reflections of relationships and heartbreaks, loss of trusted parents, or their ever-lasting fears, the short piece is very touching and resonated deeply with me. The return to nature to find-oneself might be a trope, but the calming factor of being away from everything, disconnecting with our complicated lives, and just be there, present, surrounded with things that were here before us and will probably be here when we are long gone...

It made me quite emotional.