There's a certain level of craft with making a video game that goes for minimalist visuals and gameplay – and it's one that solo developer Steph Thirion wanted to explore with his game Faraway. Taking control of a shooting star darting through the universe, you're tasked with ensuring that the lonely star keeps going on its journey by building up momentum and forming celestial patterns along the way.
Faraway is one of Annapurna Interactive's 2025 releases, and after playing some of its opening stages, I got to appreciate what exactly Thirion's game was all about. And from my talk with Thirion, he is especially inspired by Tetris and its approachable gameplay loop.
"I saw my mother pick up Tetris, and she immediately understood it and got hooked. I also see other people getting really, really good at Tetris, and there's this range of it being just a compelling game for any level, and it's extremely minimalistic as well," says Faraway game creator Steph Thirion. "I was interested in trying to make a game like that. Turns out it's very hard to do. In this case, there's definitely a difficulty curve. My mom can't pick it up that easily, but it's made so that it's compelling to new players and experienced players."
Shooting stars
Faraway is a game about guiding a shooting star through a procedurally generated universe. As you approach different constellations, you'll enter a mini-stage of sorts where you'll need to use the shooting star's momentum to build a line connecting stars to form a pattern. The thing that's so interesting about Faraway is that you can play the game with just one button – which acts as the boost and acceleration for the shooting star. Since the shooting star only moves forward on its own, the only way to turn is to accelerate towards stars, which will pull the shooting star in its orbit, allowing you to alter its path and slingshot to other stars.
Developer: Steph Thirion
Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
Platform(s): PC
Release date: TBC 2025
It's a very interesting approach to momentum based action, and while it took me some time to really appreciate and grasp, it finally clicked for me when I was able to form a pattern in a cluster. Having the shooting star bob and weave between individual stars was so visually striking, that it almost felt like a dance. It's such a neat approach to minimal design, but it's also one that was very easy to fail on given that you can't cross lines with your pattern.
But according to the game creator, he wanted to ensure that Faraway keeps a mostly fair difficulty throughout, even when the game's stages and puzzle levels get more complex.
"There's no pressure with this game, and you get to try again and again in that little constellation [menus] if you fail and want to go again," he says. "So there's a really quick feedback loop of playing, failing, and then jumping right back in. I think these puzzles are really fun, and they allow a player to play on their own and there's not too much hand-holding. But I think it strikes the right balance of guidance and freedom for players."
Faraway really reminded me of the mid-2000s era of puzzle action games that were popular on Xbox Live and the PSP, which often focused on experience that married music and visuals in a stunning way. It was a nice surprise playing this minimalist puzzle game, and it's one game I'll be keeping an eye on in 2025.
See what other exciting releases are coming our way in our roundup of the biggest upcoming PC games for 2025 and beyond.
