HOW WE KNOW WE'RE ALIVE
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
HOW WE KNOW WE'RE ALIVE is a free hour long melancholy, point-and-click narrative mystery set in the bible belt of Sweden.
"A mature and thought-provoking tale that will resonate with many people long after it has been completed"
"How We Know We're Alive will break your heart."
"A deeply touching and emotional game that really hits hard. Highly recommended."
Welcome to Härunga – a small industrial town in the bible belt of the mid–north of Sweden. You play as Sara, an aspiring writer who, after having been away for 10 years, returns home in order to investigate the tragic fate of her estranged best friend.
The days grow short quickly this far up north – and the rain never seems to let up...
Lovingly crafted and richly animated, explore the melancholy atmosphere of a small town that time seemingly forgot.
Meet old friends and enemies and piece together the mystery of what happened after your friendship tragically fell apart.
As in life, what you say will impact things in hidden ways and not everything may be as it seems. Who is telling whose truth and can you know the difference?
HOW WE KNOW WE'RE ALIVE is a passion project among friends and completely free for everyone. However, if you would really like to support this and future projects you can pay 2€ or more and get access to HOW WE KNOW WE'RE ALIVE – DELUXE EDITION which includes:
- 5x High quality custom made desktop wallpapers
- 6x High quality custom made phone backgrounds
- 4x Animated custom made phone backgrounds
- Mastered version of the original soundtrack including unused tracks, composed by Ivan Starenius
- Digital ART BOOK, with detailed versions of used and unused sprites and artwork
- A PDF of the original script, written by Imogen West-Knights
Created & directed by August Håkansson
Art & animation by Leo Köhler & August Håkansson
Written by Imogen West-Knights & August Håkansson
Original soundtrack by Ivan Starenius
Contact and press: hello@augusthakansson.com
Presskit: https://howweknowwerealive.com/presskit/
Motvind logo design: Andreas Knutsson
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- OUT NOWMay 01, 2021
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
I wish the game was a little longer so we could have more context with the relationship she had with everyone and the town. Some of the choices, I had trouble choosing bcuz I didn't know what to say. Beautiful art & music.
Absolutely loved this, such a beautiful, heartrending game. I think it explored the subject matter quite well and it was super engaging. Will be returning.
Beautiful little stories. Sad but touching.
The game feels very polished. Incredible aesthetics overall: the pixel graphics + the rain ambience works really nice. The plot (over suspicion to prove I made the right choice) is...somewhat relatable. The emotion was depicted really nicely here. Thanks for binging us this charming experience!
I loved this game, I loved the plot, the graphics, the story, the development of the main character and everything else. I recommend it to everyone! A hug from Brazil!!
I liked the game as soon as I saw the pixel art and heard the music, but haven't been able to continue playing because of a problem in the save/load. I talked to the ICA person and then the police guy and then saved and Quit. However when I loaded my save I was back to before I talked to him, and I definitely loaded the manual save not the autosave.
Worse, there was a strange bug where after talking to the policeman and the cutscene of Sara leaving the police station played, my save would automatically load so that after leaving the police station Sara would be on the far left (where I was when I loaded the save) rather than directly outside the police station, and when I walked forward Sara would once again enter the police station and the exchange would take place as if nothing ever happened, trapping us in an endless groundhog day of talking to a shitty police officer. I tried loading the autosave instead but the same thing happened, also a bit strange how the manual save and autosave are the exact same.
I'm not that far into the game yet (thankfully), but it is a little annoying to have to New Game because of a glitch. I hope you fix this issue.
This game was truly moving. I could feel the main character’s emotions through each scene, and the story was so well written it really stuck with me. The ending hit hard, and I didn’t see it coming, and it even made me cry. I wish I could experience it all over again, just like the first time playing.
This was way too good. Everything was done so perfectly. Loved the story telling. Can't wait for your future projects!
This was not what I expected it to be, but I had a good time with it. Thank you very much, great game!
I lost my girlfriend of almost 8 years when she was murdered a few years back and that night she had texted me asking me for a ride but i wasn't able too and because of it she was walking and met someone alone that ended her life. I wonder every single day if i was able to bring her if that would have made a difference. I finally found someone that understands my pain and is willing to help me heal but truly somedays are harder then others but its 3 am and as soon as i bought flowers from Elsa i knew what was happening and started crying uncontrollably. Amazing game and a beautiful message.
Wow.. Just wow. What a beautiful game. So emotional and heart-wrenching. The story and dialogue are just so grounded in reality. The game is definitely worth the playthrough. I had one small crash but it autosaves quite frequently so it didn't really matter. I am excited to see more from this developer.
Brillant storytelling and pixel art.
"How We Know We're Alive will break your heart". it Realy did, great game guys, truly special
it was so beautiful. and realistic too
I can't seem to get this game to run on my linux machine. I can't seem to find a solution either. Would really love to play this game. I keep getting this in return:
run.sh: line 6: ./HOWWEKNOWWEREALIVE_Linux_x86.x86: No such file or directory
Even tried to change the name to the HWKWA_Linux_x86.x86 in the run.sh file and it just returnes with the same and the name is changed.Oh i think i gonna like this
beautiful story
The game is great but its really rough and buggy, i keep getting stuck on terrain or my sprite keeps disappearing :D tho it looks fantastic!
Downloaded. I'm ready for the feels now
gorgeous gorgeous game with such a hardhitting storyline, amazing
i typically never leave reviews, but wow... such a beautiful game. one of those stories that makes you pause and think for a couple minutes after finishing <3
This game ended me. Amazing.
<3 so good
This is an amazing click-and-point game. I really like the art style, soundtrack, and how the characters were written. Maybe it's just me but the last conversation with Lina made me hate her (the death still reads as a suicide to me even with what Lina says), but also realistically I don't know what else would have helped Sara realise that she never really knew who Maria was. Definitely looking forward to see what Motvind creates in the future.
Such a perfect mystery for my cozy horror/mystery channel! I loved narrating the story and sharing my thoughts about Sara, guilt, and grief.
This is a very amazing game. I like all aspects of this game, starting from the storyline, message, and of course the amazing graphics and music. I'm looking forward to playing your next game. Awesome Game!!
WOW just WOW.
It is a war crime that this is up as a name your own price. I could see it going for $10-$20. Please keep making games. Your storytelling and dialogue is very natural and beautiful.
Beautiful game that I would love to finish, but unfortunately it is glitching out for me. After visiting the house, it seems from other playthrough videos I am supposed to get more dialogue with Elsa, but that doesn't happen for me. The teacher does not show up outside the bar either. Too bad, but what I was able to play was great!
Thank you for this amazing game!
If interested, you can check my full game playthrough here:
Esse jogo é lindo em todos os aspectos. Ele possui uma história e uma trilha sonora muito boa, que te deixa totalmente submerso dentro do game. Certamente uma experiência memorável...
Cool art style. Will there be gamepad support?
A tight short game that will sneak up and punch you right in the feels. The effort in the graphics, music, and story really shows. Play it. Seriously it's worth the time.
Finally got around to playing this masterpiece, didn’t expect to be in my feels lol.
crying is my favorite thing thank you
---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☑ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☑ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Difficulty }---
☑ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☑ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☑ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10
Lovely sotry. I really enjoyed the soundtracks
you are a legend
respect + thank you so much
Nada nunca jamás se va a poder comparar con ese sentimiento al caminar por el bosque después de todo. Fue una experiencia simplemente inolvidable.