Experience one family’s harrowing journey through the wild. Summon and follow wisps, witness visions of the past, and interact with the present to change the future. 

At first, I was very impressed by The Companion. This visually striking, emotional fantasy adventure hits all the right notes both figuratively and literally (the score is heartbreaking in all the best ways). Then I found out it was also created by a self-taught solo developer in under a year! David Fazzio, the game’s writer, director, and designer, started learning game design in 2015 when the Unreal Engine became available for free. After putting aside his initial multiplayer project, Fazzio shifted his focus in 2020 to the intimate yet epic story that would soon become Studio 46’s debut game, The Companion—and what a debut it is!

Game Ravens PuppetMasterEN and SarahSweetBee interview indie solo dev of The Companion, David Fazzio. Sarah asks David about his journey as a solo developer while Puppet provides gameplay.

GRAPHICS 9.5/10

Race through lush landscapes of otherworldly beauty.

From the photorealistic mountains on the horizon down to each dancing blade of grass, The Companion is gorgeous and detailed. Every level (or act) has its own atmosphere, whether it's the bright light of day, the rosy hue of a sunset, or the cold glow of the moon. Your avatar is a fully rendered, three-tailed wolf spirit, but the family whose story you’re following is nothing more than vaguely humanoid shapes composed of colored particles. This clear separation between humans in the corporeal world and animals in the spirit realm serves as a visual clue and brings each area to life. Luminous creatures scurry through the underbrush while the main characters’ imprints work, play, or simply follow the curving line of the road into the distance. 

SOUND QUALITY 7.5/10

A powerful and heartfelt soundtrack masks some unbalanced sound mixing.

The Companion’s soundtrack, penned by Melbourne-based singer and composer Hew Wagner, takes the player on a musical journey as rich and varied as that of the characters themselves. The game begins with a joyful, strings-led piece that spurs you on as you chase wisps through green fields rife with wildflowers. Subsequent nighttime levels hint at the sadness to come with their melancholy piano sonatas, and the finale is backed by a stirring, drum-driven track that culminates in the breathy ballad “We’ve Come So Far” by Robert Shirey Kelly. Wagner’s score really shines, which is good news for the game’s sound quality rating, because something seems to have gone wrong during the mixing phase. I had to lower the dialogue by about fifty percent before it reached a comfortable volume. In contrast, some ambient sound effects—your wolf’s paws on a dirt path, for example—were still quiet even when cranked up to the highest level.

GAMEPLAY 7.5/10

Explore sprawling areas in search of essence, runic stones, and artifacts.

Exploration is The Companion’s bread and butter. If you enjoy the simple freedom of running across a vast, open world, this game is for you. Thread your way through forests and lope across grassy meadows as you search for spiritual essence and visions of the past. Gathering essence allows you to summon wisps, which guide you to your next destination if you’re having trouble finding it on your own. The main goal of each act is to discover and view all the memories strewn around the level. Some are locked away in items as mundane as a pail or an old wagon wheel; others are stored in ancient ruins or mystic crystals. All of them act as a window into the lives of a family as they embark on a dangerous mission. At first, you’re merely an eavesdropper as you observe their quest, but thankfully your character takes a more active role just as this playstyle begins to grow a bit stale. The few puzzles and battles that do exist are merely storytelling devices. The majority of your time is spent seeking and activating artifacts, which is sure to put off more adrenaline-inclined players.

CHARACTERS 8.5/10

Share the characters’ hopes and fears and experience their love and loss.

The Companion chronicles the story of Beth, Roy, and their three children, twins Cody and Jess and toddler Daisy. Each character has their own private struggles, which are revealed through monologues or conversations brought on by interacting with artifacts from their journey. Many of the visions you encounter focus on Jess and Cody, who explore the wilderness together as the family travels. Their exchanges reveal a typical sibling relationship: they argue, tease, race, and play with one another. My only issue with these two characters is that their voice actors were a little stiff at times. Daisy has no personality whatsoever and probably could have been cut from the story entirely without much consequence. Roy and Beth, on the other hand, are the most in-depth, well-rounded characters in the game, brought to life by the talented Steven Kelly and Kacey Hott, respectively. All told, the actors’ performances draw us into the characters’ world and make their struggles real. We share Beth’s concern when one of her daughters contracts a mysterious illness. We feel the weight of Roy’s duty to protect both his home and his family. And we understand the bond between Jess and Cody through the way they confide in one another. The result is a group of characters the player feels familiar with, cares about, and wants to see return home safely.

STORY 7.5/10

Join one family’s emotional expedition to the edge of the world and back.

Chosen to watch over the barrier that keeps their people safe from a mysterious race of monsters, Beth and Roy must uproot their family and travel across an uninhabited wilderness to the borders of society. Told out of chronological order, their tale is revealed piece by piece as you follow in their footsteps. This method of delivery gives their story an air of mystery as you attempt to string together the events you witness. There’s also a grain of Tolkien in this tale: a small group setting out to preserve their civilization, only to return home and find that all they hold dear has not remained untouched by evil in their absence. Questions remain at the end of the game, like the origin of the mysterious crystal shards the family discovers or the outcome of the final battle. However, these things are peripheral to what lies at the heart of the story: the bonds of love that hold one family together through thick and thin.

OVERALL 8.1/10

The Companion is a beautifully crafted tale of love, sacrifice, grief, and survival. 

This game is a moving story about a family risking it all for the sake of their community. The characters are believable, the story is small yet impactful, and the graphics and music are brilliantly done. The negligible combat and puzzles will no doubt disinterest thrill-seeking gamers, but if you have a taste for character-rich, story-driven walking (or in this case, running) simulators with the potential to make you a little misty-eyed, then I would definitely recommend giving The Companion a play-through. 

This game was released for PC on Steam on May 13, 2021. The version of the game reviewed was a pre-launch version. The reviewer received this game for free.