Solo TTRPG ‘Soul Cemetery’ Taps Into Nostalgia With Its Wonderful Storytelling [Review]

Nostalgia is a concept I have a complicated relationship with. While my appreciation for things like classic survival horror and PSX-style graphics may come from games I played at a formative time in my life, I still can critically analyze them from my current perspective and identify what draws me to these tropes and what doesn’t work. Still, there’s a warm feeling returning to something you used to enjoy, even if it doesn’t hold up in the same way that you remember. It can remind you of the specific time and place you were in your life when it was introduced to you, connecting you to where you were when you experienced a particular piece of media. This is the feeling that Soul Cemetery, a new solo tabletop RPG by designer Snow, succeeds beautifully at capturing.

I’ve written a lot about tabletop RPGs, but this is my first time talking about a solo RPG, so you may be wondering what exactly that is. TTRPGs are so often a conversation between a Game Master and players, so what does a game look like when there’s only one player? Obviously there are a lot of variations on how this concept can play out, but one of the more popular iterations, and the form Soul Cemetery takes, is the journaling solo RPG. The game will provide a series of prompts, sometimes with a table to roll on, that will give you an idea for a scene that you then write about. Oftentimes there’s no stats to worry about, instead focusing on the improvisational storytelling nature of the medium, allowing you space to respond to the ideas that the game presents. It’s a completely different feeling than sitting down with your friends to play a game of D&D, but it still features storytelling at its core.

The story that Soul Cemetery invites you to be a part of is one of melancholy nostalgia. In the opening, you get a call from your mother saying that your father has passed away, and you return to your home to be with your family. In your childhood room, you find a copy of your favorite GameCube survival horror games, the titular “Soul Cemetery”, and you sit down to replay it that night. As you play, you reflect on how the game is different than you remember, and how you have also changed in the intervening years.

This plays out alternating between narrative being told to you and writing prompts, sometimes asking you to just select from a few choices, sometimes asking you to add detail to the fiction of the game or to your own character’s past. It’s extremely elegant the way the alternation draws you into the story being told then allows you to be an active participant, keeping you engaged in a different way than traditional fiction. Everything about the story is extremely well-observed and authentic, painting a perfect picture of that era of survival horror, while also telling a narrative about the challenges of returning home.

I love the variety of complexity in the prompts that are presented in the game, as it helps speed up or slow down the pace at the right times in the narrative. For example, to keep things moving fast at the beginning, the first prompt in the book has you booting up the game and seeing the character model for the first time in a decade. You’re presented with a set of physical character details, and you’re asked to pick one that you remembered, one you misremembered, and one that you now realize is part of how you present yourself that you got from this character. These don’t have any specific “mechanical benefit” by the end, it’s not like if you pick the gold locket necklace you’re going to be allowed to do something specific, it’s just clever ways to fill in the world of the game, highlighting the way media can shape who we are even when we recall it imperfectly.

Not only are the prompts very good at putting you in an eerie, nostalgic space, but the rest of the writing is outstanding as well. Snow finds clever ways to have the events of the game reflect events or feelings in your character’s life, allowing you to create a very rich story where the two parts of the game are in conversation with each other. There’s also a really amazing passage in the game that describes the experience of thinking hard about something that used to scare you until it starts to scare you all over again. It’s a deeply unsettling page that stuck with me long after I put the book down.

The game is only 24 pages long and can probably be finished in about an hour, but not only is it a well-written game, it’s an awesome piece of art that completely sells the fiction. The book for Soul Cemetery is presented as an instruction manual that perfectly captures the style of the era. The pages are filled out with item descriptions, maps, controller layouts, and more, selling the illusion that this is a lost piece of media that actually existed. I do wish there were more screenshots peppered throughout, if only because the few that are included in the game evoke the genre perfectly.

You can grab a digital version of the game from itch.io and have a great experience, but the physical edition is a complete package that really brings the game to life. Soul Cemetery comes packaged in a PS2 style case, with the book clipping in right where the manual goes, and includes a CD of the official soundtrack, which does an excellent job in putting you in the correct headspace for the game. The commitment to this game as a physical object is commendable, creating something that both looks unique on your RPG shelf and brings you right back to a specific time and place. Snow even created a YouTube video that feels sort of like a lost media creepypasta, which acts as a great sampler for the type of experience you’ll get playing the game.

Every once in a while a piece of media comes along that seems laser-targeted to you, and Soul Cemetery did that for me. It’s a beautiful package that not only evokes one of my favorite genres of games, but does so by asking you to reflect on the ways that media affects and shapes you as a person. It’s one of the most deeply personal TTRPGs that I’ve come across, exploring themes of gender identity and strained familial relationships. Like so many of the best video games, it takes you through a fixed story, but gives you so much room to add important details that make your experience unlike anyone else’s. If you’re unfamiliar with solo TTRPGs, like I was, this is a great entry point that allows you to participate in a wonderful story that’s anchored in a topic that so many of us already know and love.

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