Wednesdays Mobile deals with sensitive topics in its portrayal of the fictional story of Tim, a character who experienced sexual abuse as a child. You’ll accompany him as he replays a game called Orco Park, which triggers memories from his childhood. With every new attraction you build in the pixelated world of Orco Park, you unlock new memories from Tim, his friends and his family. These memories are the core of Wednesdays’ storytelling and in short vignettes you‘ll experience them as segments of a visual novel.

Note that while there are no depictions of sexual acts in the game, the interactive novel does talk about them. There are content warnings throughout and you can get detailed descriptions for individual scenes so you’re not surprised by anything. Of course, it’s always possible to skip a scene if you prefer.

What we love: The sincerity with which Wednesdays’ creators have approached this subject matter. One thing that surprised us while playing was how they’ve been able to strike a hopeful tone throughout the game. That said, there are scenes that are painful to experience. What stuck with us was a conversation between Tim and his mother Rosemarie in which he opens up about what he went through. It shows both the care and love of Rosemarie, but also the difficulties both have when it comes to talking about the events of the past. Numerous questions clutter the screen, overwhelming even us as the player and signifying the helplessness of both characters.

Meet the creator: Wednesdays was created by a multifaceted team including Pierre Corbinais, whose writing was paired with artwork from Exaheva for the narrative scenes, while Nico Noval created the whimsical pixel art of Orco Park. Corbinais teamed up with developer The Pixel Hunt, the studio behind the Apple Design Award and App Store Award winning game The Wreck.