‘Elk’ Turns Wild Family Stories into a Town Filled With Oddball Folks

Based on real stories told by the developer’s brother (with a bit of whimsy thrown in) Elk takes you to an island in the Atlantic Ocean, where people are just a bit… odd.

You play Frigg, a carpenter who is just drifting through her life, hoping to find an adventure here and there. You’ll be interacting with many interesting townspeople in this story-driven game. Wandering around, you can find a collection of quirky folks, all with their own backstories and reasons to be on this island.

Listening to their stories will put you in their place at times, living through a moment in their lives. When speaking to a mother and her daughter, the game took me back to the time when their father did something wrong and was threatened with death. You are able to sing to them, pushing keys on your controller however you want, and listening to the lovely sound. This story was one of the more touching and sad of the bunch.

Another character on the island believes he’s dead. He can’t remember much about his life, and interacting with him allows you to create parents for him so that he has some sort of reference. This requires you to drag different magazine cut-out pieces onto balloons to make a face. Once you are done, the character thanks you and brings you to a bar.

These are just two of the stories I was able to discover in the demo I played at The Mix, but even these little tastes of the game showcased how truly unique and interesting the stories are going to be. Frigg is a funny character, and the island has a somewhat dark humor, which really adds to the colorful and quirky visuals. The island is primarily black and white, with dashes of color here and there.

By the looks of things so far, the characters are going to be like nothing that I’ve ever seen before, with tons of strange, cunning, and absurd stories to share.

Elk is slated for release in 2020, but in the meantime, you can find more information on the game’s site.

About The Author

Jupiter Hadley

Jupiter is a prolific indie game journalist, writing for Metro UK, Big Boss Battle, AlphaBetaGamer, and many more, all with a focus on smaller indie gems. She covers thousands of game jams and indie games on her YouTube channel, letting every game have a moment in the spotlight. She runs indiegamejams.com, a calendar of all of the game jams going on in the world, judges many jams and events.

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