At first glance Signs of the Sojourner intrigued me with it's unique dialog mechanics. In this story driven game you must literarily build your conversations with other characters via a deck of cards. As a huge fan of both narrative focused games and of deck builders this certainly seemed like a concept I could get behind. When I first started playing it did seem a little bit gimmicky but as I progressed I really came to appreciate how clever the mechanics are. While the gameplay is a little abstract Signs of the Sojourner is a surprisingly accurate display of language and culture exchange.
The story takes place from Rhea's perspective although you can only ever see her silhouette. Rhea's mom recently passed away which mean's she is now responsible for her mom's little general store. Once every other month a caravan comes through your small town. The girl who leads the caravan warns you that if you don't put more effort into stocking the shelves of your shop she may have to drop your town from her route. At this point you have about a year to start traveling around to find new items to revitalize you're shop.
As you travel you'll meet many individuals with whom you may wish to converse with. Once you start a conversation you'll be dealt a hand of five cards which have various symbols on each side. The symbols represent different styles of speech such as empathy, logic, and directness. You and the other individual will take turns playing cards in an attempt to create a change of matches. Each conversation has a set number of success and failures which will determine what kind of outcome you'll get. Once you're finished talking you'll be given an opportunity to learn from the other person by exchanging one of their cards with one of your own. Often people have better cards than you which have multiple symbols on each end or unique abilities. Such effects may include getting to play another card immediately or taking a peak at the other person's hand.
Going from town to town the conversation styles start to change so you must constantly adapt if you wish to make new friends. Your deck can only hold ten cards at any given time and you'll need several of the same symbols to successfully string along a conversation. Basically that means it is nearly impossible to be a jack of all trades. The only exception to the ten card rule is fatigue; these are totally useless cards with no symbols. You'll receive fatigue from being away from home too long which can make long trips quite difficult. A key strategy is to scout out on the map which areas you're heading to next and prepare your cards accordingly. Often after successful conversations you'll learn of a new route or be given an item to sell at your store.
The more I played Signs of the Sojourn the more I grew to love it. It isn't just the clever card system, I also loved the art style which is super fun and playful. Many of the characters are quite memorable and provide a lot of oversight into just how much of an influence your mom had. Interestingly enough your mom is really the center of the story and everyone is watching to see if you'll follow in her footsteps. It is really quite cute, if you across a dog named Thunder you can use any cards to "converse" with him and remove some fatigue. This is just one more example of the many wonderful elements that brings this delightful game to life.