RITES of REST

Rites of Rest is a creative puzzle game where you help people deal with loss, grief or big changes in their life by drawing special diagrams called Rites of Rest. Furthermore, you do this in a world where even the tradition of drawing rites is quickly fading away. What will be your story as the last ever Scribe of Rest?

The game consists of thirty letters: thirty requests for rites. The first three teach you the art, the other twenty seven challenge you and tell you the story of Rest and its last Scribe. The game is meant to be played at a pace of one letter (one rite) per day.

Your way of making rites will be completely unique. There are some strict rules to it, but it's still very freeform: throughout the game, every player will come up with their own special vocabulary as well as sets of rules and  shortcuts.

This is a physical game which means that you're going to need some paper as well as something to write with in order to play it.  You can use whatever you have at hand, but it's a good idea to draw your rites in a dedicated handbook. This way you'll have all your progress, experiments and rites in one single place. The notebook will also turn into a physical artefact of sorts — a special memento to remind you of the time you spent in Rest.

As you are going to invent a lot of unique symbols, I suggest keeping a glossary of them so that you won't forget any of your inventions.

This game was created by Teona Kokoreva, a queer game designer and artist. It is inspired by the aesthetics of the magic system of Witch Hat Atelier — and the dreamy, bittersweet vibe of Spiritfarer.

Rites of Rest is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. It is currently only available in English, but the Kyrgyz and the Russian versions are coming soon-ish.

Keep in mind that there is an option to download the prologue of Rites of Rest for free. It includes the first three letters, explains core concepts and shows you the way the game plays.

Have a good stay in Rest, Scribe!