Making it in Unreal: the French watercolour world of Country Home

Five years ago, when Héline Mardelle was 17, she wanted to become a writer. “I started to imagine a novel, but I felt extremely lonely during my long writing sessions,” she says. “Writing is a very studious and solitary process and I became afraid of cutting myself off from the rest of the world.”

The search for something else led to game development - a medium not only more open to collaboration and contact with others, but a means of catharsis for the depression she’d suffered as a teenager. Country Home is a life sim and “shelter game” - a little warm place for everyone who feels sad or just wants to escape.

“Before high school, I was a happy child and had a lot of great times in the countryside,” Mardelle says. “Like many kids, I was innocent, curious, and full of energy. I lost a lot of that during my adolescence and I’m very nostalgic for those days. I would like to bring some of that innocence and energy to the game. I really hope that people will feel safe and comfortable when they play it.”

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