When The Past Was Around

 PC
When The Past Was Around Image
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 14 Ratings

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  • Summary: When the Past was Around is an adventure point-and-click puzzle game about love, moving on, letting go, and the joy and pain of everything in between.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. GameSpace
    Jan 15, 2021
    90
    If you’re a hopeless romantic like me that loves to have their heart shattered into hundreds of pieces over a thought-provoking story, When the Past Was Around is exactly what you’re looking for.
  2. The Digital Fix
    Dec 18, 2020
    90
    When The Past Was Around is a beautiful game by Mojiken about love, loss, and life. Through art and music we discover the love story of Eda and Owl, putting pieces together scene by scene by solving puzzles. It's a short, sweet game clearly made with a lot care, and a soundtrack that will be stuck in your head for days.
  3. Buried Treasure
    Oct 25, 2020
    82
    There’s a really smart use of melody here, in amongst some really beautiful drawings. It’s not quite Gris, but hey, at least it’s not Gris. There’s a real feeling of visual poetry here, made all the better by the complete lack of dialogue. It’s pretty short, coming in around one to two hours, which is just about perfect for the tone.
  4. Eurogamer Italy
    Sep 22, 2020
    70
    When The Past Was Around is an emotional story about love, pain and letting go, where the music is the real common thread.
  5. Adventure Gamers
    Oct 19, 2020
    70
    Beautiful and bittersweet, When the Past Was Around is a brief but touching point-and-click adventure with simple puzzles that tells a tale of loss and love through gorgeous hand-drawn graphics and elegant, memorable music.
  6. GameCritics
    Oct 9, 2020
    65
    In the end, When the Past was Around is just… okay? It’s a short experience that never goes for big moments, instead remaining quiet and subtle throughout. Sadly, the short length and simple play don’t lend itself to more than one playthrough and, after the credits rolled I found myself shrugging instead of brooding.
  7. CD-Action
    Feb 8, 2021
    60
    Don’t expect a traditional point’n’click adventure game with engaging puzzles. When the Past Was Around is more of an artistic experience, a very easy, roughly hour-long journey into an intimate world of the main heroine’s memories. [13/2020, p.43]
    All this publication's reviews

See all 8 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. LastResource
    Jan 26, 2023
    10
    Ughhh the story is sooo freaking awesome. It really drew me back to point click puzzle game. Love it for every single moment of this game
  2. nanaindie
    Feb 23, 2021
    10
    Very perfect, I really liked the hand-drawn art and the game music. A short game, with the story based on the protagonist's memory. I wasVery perfect, I really liked the hand-drawn art and the game music. A short game, with the story based on the protagonist's memory. I was satisfied with the quality of the puzzles. Half… Expand
  4. matildax007
    Feb 23, 2021
    10
    A cute game about getting lost, going through storms and problems during life, but learning from the good and bad times and moving on knowingA cute game about getting lost, going through storms and problems during life, but learning from the good and bad times and moving on knowing that everything will be okay.… Expand
  5. xfeliixx
    Dec 16, 2020
    9
    This game is just amazing. The soundtrack has a meditative effect on you.
    The graphics are so simple jet so beautiful (Praise to the graphic    This game is just amazing. The soundtrack has a meditative effect on you.
    The graphics are so simple jet so beautiful (Praise to the graphic designers) and the puzzles are neither too hard nor too easy. The story is told in a slow and calming way. Playing this game is just relaxing.    … Expand
  6. SuperkenGaming
    Dec 22, 2020
    7
    When the past was around
    more like a point and click sadventure
    When the past was around is a point and click adventure that’s about to have    When the past was around
    more like a point and click sadventure
    When the past was around is a point and click adventure that’s about to have you all up in your feels as you relive the memories of you and youre violin playin owl boyfriend..
    youll be going through these memories, collecting items and finding clue to unlock other items to progress, pretty simply concept, something you’ve seen a million times, but the story, art, and music here made this hour and a half worth going through for me…reliving the memories, and trying to find a way to let go.. gameplay wise I kinda got over the click on stuff til I find something probably halfway through and just wanted to get through the story.. but that just goes to show how good the story was for me.. I was willing to retrace steps in the chapter, finding all the clues I needed to set up the answer to the final clue to move on…
    When the past was around reminded me a lot of Florence, while it doesn’t do much to engage you as much as Florence does, and there isn’t anything crazy special here, I found that this was still a point and click adventure worth taking..
    I give when the past was around
    a 7/10    … Expand

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