Anemoia

Anemoia [/ˌænəˈmɔɪə/] (n.) Nostalgia for a time one has never experienced - from The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows (John Koenig, 2012)

There was always something bugging me about liminal-adjacent aesthetics of nostalgiacore, dreamcore, and the likes. Overused images of playgrounds, empty malls, brutalist buildings, and empty american-type subrubia never touched me like they are supposed to. Of course I get the idea of referencing one's childhood, it's just that it was not mine.

I grew up in Tunisia - I do remember fondly the smell of jasmine, the intricate branches of fig trees I climbed up with my friends, and the Coca Cola Light I used to drink weekly at the Café Des Nattes.

More than simply not touching me, the constant references to an american-centered nostalgia aesthetic are making me question whether I should also cherish these images in my memory. Many liminal spaces representations have a strong effect on me, but not through vectors of remembrance or kenopsia, but rather the uncomfortable idea that people on the internet can share memories and I'm left out. Alone.

It is a well-documented phenomenon that memory is unreliable. In 1995, Loftus & Pickrell asked family members of subjects to tell them three true stories and one invented event about them getting lost in a mall at the age of 5. 25% of participants came to believe that. This experiment was pushed further by Porter et al. in 1999, when they managed to convince a third of participants that they had been the victim of a traumatic animal attack in the first decade of their lives.

Anemoia is a short story exploring these themes. What happens when memories fade away? What if they are so cherished that something must exist at their place, even at the cost of memory fabrication? How can we represent the all-powerful force of time and the terrifying cataclysm of coming of age?

Controls: mouse + ZQSD or gamepad

Press & events

• Part of the Octobre Numérique 2025 Game Jam
• Curated by Warpdoor
• Part of the "Forgotten Exodus" exhibition

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSvUvrcAltc/embed/?cr=1&v=14&wp=517&rd=https%3A%2F%2Fitch.io&rp=%2Fgame%2Fedit%2F4027337#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A8837%2C%22ls%22%3A8750%2C%22le%22%3A8831%7D

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