Saudade (pronounced saw-dad) is a video game concept that explores the stinging feeling of never being able to go back in time using interactive story elements. Nostalgia is cryptic in its nature, allowing both feelings of happiness and melancholy to reemerge at the same time. It can romanticize dark times, warping our perception in an attempt to heal from trauma. Saudade reflects on my personal relationship with these ideas of nostalgia by using visual language to awaken my long forgotten traumas.
The decision to make a video game was an act of nostalgia itself, paying homage to the retro games I enjoyed as a child. The interactive element allows the viewer an opportunity to dig deeply into the story and reflect on their own relationship with nostalgia, as I have.
