I don’t fear death for myself, I fear death for those I love. The passing of a loved one, sudden or not, will leave you feeling helpless and lost. When I was 6 years old, I would wake up in the middle of the night crying because I had a real fear of dying. My mother would console me and tell me that I will not die anytime soon; I shouldn’t worry. Of course, she had no proof of that but she was right (so far). As an adult, I’ve come to realize that a life without death is no life at all. There has to be an exclamation point to your existence. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be immortal, then you must check out ADios -- not being able to die sucks.

ADios is a 2D RPG adventure game where you live and keep on living because death has ceased to exist. You would surmise that the inhabitants would be pleased to know that they have all of eternity to find themselves and do as they please but, unsurprisingly, this is not the case. The people of ADios are bored with life and that is a fate worse than any death. Unlimited time has caused some of the people to develop eerie behaviors as they try to find some way to occupy their time. Some characters are dedicated to a successful suicide… and they could request your assistance. Would you wish for death if you could not die?

In ADios, you can use your time to interact with other people and help them in their situations (or not). You can choose to either improve somebody’s life or make it worse -- even though your intentions were good. Every consequence depends on the player and the decisions they make when exploring the environment that traps them in a perpetual state of life. You could end up joining a cult that relentlessly prays for death to come via meteorite to relieve them of their constant misery (boredom). There is also a risk of making someone’s life exponentially worse by trying to help them. You see, while you’re busy finding your memories, be weary of what you could uncover for yourself or others because some memories are repressed for a reason. The ending of Adios is completely based on how the player decided to interact with the world around them. Was the player helpful or apathetic? Does it really matter in a world without death?

ADios is an important experience that reminds all of us that we shouldn’t fear our death -- it should be our motivator. Enduring the trials and pains outside of our control gives life a special type of allure. It is harsh, spicy, and makes our eyes swell, but so do the many instances of happiness that are sprinkled within our experience. We are not immortal and Adios shows us why we should never wish to be.

ADios is currently in Steam Greenlight.