Family Reunion Turns Childhood Dinnertime Boredom Into a Chaotic Time-Attack Sim
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
Family Reunion is an upcoming indie simulation game where you play as a seven-year-old trying to survive an excruciatingly long family dinner by entertaining yourself and manipulating time.
Most games cast you as an elite soldier or a save-the-world hero, but a charming upcoming indie project asks you to tackle a far more relatable challenge. In Family Reunion, an upcoming game spotted by Rock Paper Shotgun, you play as a disinterested seven-year-old enduring an interminable family dinner. The goal is simple, yet maddeningly difficult. You must entertain yourself to speed up a torturously slow clock and finally reach the next course.
Developer Leandro Waibe captures the distinct absurdity of childhood through a hand-doodled art style and a clever class system. Players can choose to be an Introvert who relies on daydreams and alien daydreams, a Chatty type who engages in awkward family conversations, or an Adventurer who explores the house and flings dinnerware. Every action has consequences. If you cause too much chaos by drawing on the table or spouting unsolicited conspiracy theories, your parents and grandparents start watching you closely, which actually slows the clock down and triggers tense tactical decisions.
It is a surprisingly deep push-and-pull mechanic that turns what sounds like a simple joke into a frantic engagement loop. While there is no official release date yet, the solo developer is aiming for an early access launch by the end of 2026. You can already check out a demo on Itch and Steam if you want to test your ability to survive a painfully long family meal.
Original reporting comes via James Archer at Rock Paper Shotgun, and you can read the full feature here
Tags: Indie Games, Simulation, Steam, PC Gaming, Game Previews
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun