These are games, zines, and other materials about death. Please explore this collection with caution. I haven't tried most of these, so I can't provide complete content warnings, and some of them might not be what I thought. Be forewarned that this collection definitely does contain vivid examples of grief, mourning, suicide, terminal illness, decomposition, burial, and cremation. Some are about deaths of family members, children, wild animals, and pets.
Rated G.
A game created with Bitsy.
Duration: About five minutes. You can see everything in one play through.
A short piece about one specific detail of grief, narrated as a dog walks home through a forest of tombstones and candles.
Content: Rated G.
Medium: TTRPG.
Story: A village attends the funeral of a holy beggar.
Content: Rated PG. The process of preparing dead bodies for burial or cremation is shown, though in a tastefully simplified way. There are still needles and other things that are uncomfortable to think about.
Medium: A computer game.
Story: This is a realistic story about what it's really like to be a mortician, preparing dead bodies for their burial or cremation, and attending their memorial services. This is about some real-world ethical problems involved in respect for the dead and their surviving loved ones. For example, environmental damage from embalming, nice mom and pop businesses getting bought out by uncaring corporations, getting pressured to up-sell when that feels exploitative, and families who ask you to go against the last wishes of the deceased.
Vibe: A lot of heavy duty feelings about things that you might not have thought about before, though the story ends on a hopeful note about being able to do what you feel is right. Good for a day when you have the strength to face the taboo topic of mortality. Expect to need a hug or at least some grounding, and to feel motivated to do some paperwork and research in real life for your own end-of-life plans instead of trying not to think about them.
Content: Rated PG-13. This is about death and the ways that a dead human body rots and is eaten by animals or is otherwise destroyed.
Medium: An interactive text, created in Twine.
Duration: This is less than ten minutes long. However, you may take longer as you think about your options, go learn more about them, or deal with your feelings about them.
About: This walks you through some options for your death plans. Specifically, what you choose to have done with your body after you die. At the end, it gives resources for further reading.
Vibe: Calmly confrontational.
Medium: A short visual novel.
Story: You help your terminally ill childhood friend restore his church's organ.
A virtual pet faces its perma-death.
Content: Rated PG. The developers say, "This game is suitable for people 12-ish and older with adult guidance for heavy themes related to death and grief. No graphic violence or illustrations. Contains storylines featuring grief, death, dying, the afterlife, trauma. Honestly it's a cute but very sad story."
