[Rerun] Nominee: Brukel

Presenting the 2020 IndieCade Nominees: Brukel

Brukel is a walking simulator that explores the childhood and teenage years of my grandmother, Bie Verlinden. She was born at the Brukel farmhouse in 1925, which is where the entire game takes place. While designing the game, I interviewed and recorded my grandmother reminiscing about her life at the farmhouse for more than five hours, and these stories provided the foundation for the game — as well as most of its spoken audio. The game itself lets players explore the abandoned farmhouse and take pictures with their smartphone to hear Bie’s stories that are connected to some of the old objects that are still in the farmhouse. However, after midnight, the house reveals its World War II history as players are forced to relive some of the traumatic events that Bie and her family had to live through.