What are your favourite autumn games?

Today brings the autumn equinox and the start of the season where things, like, fall. It’s a good season! I will always mourn the end of summer but I relish the brief window to hike through golden forests, swimming through shoals of leaves in rivers, cosy up around bonfires with cocoa, and break out the warm duvet again. But while we wait for the season to properly kick in, I’m curious: which autumns in video games do you enjoy? Yes, Halloween included.

Lieve Oma captures the best of autumn: a walk through the woods with someone you love. We’re off out with our grandma to pick penny bun mushrooms (porcini), and have a bit of a natter along the way. It’s a game I can almost smell. I have much of the same planned for my own autumn, though I’ll probably not pick mushrooms because I don’t trust my judgment and do prefer my guts to be inside me. But this game is very nice. It’s $3 on Itch.

I do also enjoy autumn in Stardew Valley. It captures the feeling that autumn is lovely but bittersweet because it will soon lead to death, just death, absolute barren death. You can’t stop to enjoy the leaves and pumpkin soup for too long when this is the final growing season of the year and there’s so much to do. That’s autumn: try to wring as much pleasure and productivity from it as you can, for winter is coming.

For the seven people who don’t already own it, Stardew is coming to Xbox Game Pass soon so you could stack seasons on seasons.

Reader dear, which virtual autumns crinkle your leaves? I fully endorse just going on about Halloween events, if you want.