Say goodbye to your mortal shell with this gorgeous, ghostly puzzle game

Halloween has come and gone. But that needn't mean saying goodbye to ghosts and ghouls entirely, with French indie developer Florian Veltman today introducing us to a somewhat more pleasant tale from beyond the grave.

Due for release next year, How to say Goodbye is a gorgeous pastel storybook about life after death. You've just died, but you'll need to navigate the liminal space between the living and the dead by solving puzzle grids, helping you and your spectral friends cross over to the other side.

These puzzles look to have a wonderfully tactile feel, shifting the entire landscape along a grid as you shimmy ghosts towards their destination. Veltman's previous work includes the wonderful Lieve Oma, and Goodbye carries much of that game's warm, comforting palette—with artwork inspired by the likes of Tove Jansson (Moomins) and illustrator Tomi Ungerer.

Ghosts, ghosts, ghosts. — (Image credit: ARTE France)

Goodbye does feature some spooks, with a shadowy wizard keeping you and your ghastly pals from crossing over. But it's ultimately a ghost game that's less about scares than it is about handling grief with kindness and sensitivity, learning to deal with loss in a healthy manner.

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.