Utility for the Soul
Weekend Warriors · 2024 · Point & Click, Adventure, Puzzle, Interactive Fiction, Hidden Object
PC
Positive87% · 23
This game is free to play. Get it on Steam →
Screenshots
About Utility for the Soul
A proposal for enlightened corporations with a concern for the social implications resulting from prolonged neglect of human needs in our mechanized society.
- Lithuanian-American environment artist Aleksandra Kasuba, 1970
A corporation is to build and maintain a Retreat House to provide its people with relief from everyday demands and pressures of the office. The Retreat house is to be used by all corporation employees on a rotational basis, on the corporation’s time and at its expense.
The visitor will spend most of his time in the Galleries, where the elemental displays take place. The Galleries are designed to feel enormous, seemingly without walls, and to sound like echo chambers. Here the visitor will encounter the Elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water.
Given time unregimented, confronted with Elemental occurances, and free from a constant rush of information which stifles natural reactions, the visitor would be able to experience the self in an environment not by the dictates of a particular society, but be forced to respond to himself alone. The experience could reveal one’s true self, and hopefully stir it enough to pursue its substance.
Aleksandra Kasuba (1923 – 2019) - a Lithuanian-American environment artist. In 1970 she authored Utility for the Soul, a competition entry in a short book format for Projects Outside Art launched by Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), an organization developing collaborations between artists and engineers. Utility for the Soul would eventually become Kasuba’s manifesto, implementing the utopian goal at the core of her research, the search for a harmonious world and a peaceful dialogue between humankind, nature and technology.
A space in which we can ponder the dual nature of what it means to encounter a critique of a data-driven busy society on a device which facilitates exactly what the art piece sets out to critique in the first place.
- IndieCade 2021 Jury
Weekend Warriors is a small and young independent games collective from Vilnius, Lithuania.
- Lithuanian-American environment artist Aleksandra Kasuba, 1970
A corporation is to build and maintain a Retreat House to provide its people with relief from everyday demands and pressures of the office. The Retreat house is to be used by all corporation employees on a rotational basis, on the corporation’s time and at its expense.
The visitor will spend most of his time in the Galleries, where the elemental displays take place. The Galleries are designed to feel enormous, seemingly without walls, and to sound like echo chambers. Here the visitor will encounter the Elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water.
Given time unregimented, confronted with Elemental occurances, and free from a constant rush of information which stifles natural reactions, the visitor would be able to experience the self in an environment not by the dictates of a particular society, but be forced to respond to himself alone. The experience could reveal one’s true self, and hopefully stir it enough to pursue its substance.
Aleksandra Kasuba (1923 – 2019) - a Lithuanian-American environment artist. In 1970 she authored Utility for the Soul, a competition entry in a short book format for Projects Outside Art launched by Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), an organization developing collaborations between artists and engineers. Utility for the Soul would eventually become Kasuba’s manifesto, implementing the utopian goal at the core of her research, the search for a harmonious world and a peaceful dialogue between humankind, nature and technology.
FEATURES
- Original utopian narrative - based upon a short story by artist Aleksandra Kasuba
- Puzzle infused gameplay - 11 rooms to explore, each with a unique elemental puzzle
- Ambient soundscape - meditative, soothing atmosphere
- Minimalist graphics - hand animated black and white visuals
- Multiple languages - Playable in English, French and Lithuanian
- Miniature experience - 15 to 30 min. of gameplay
REVIEWS
A space in which we can ponder the dual nature of what it means to encounter a critique of a data-driven busy society on a device which facilitates exactly what the art piece sets out to critique in the first place.
- IndieCade 2021 Jury
ABOUT THE DEVELOPER
Weekend Warriors is a small and young independent games collective from Vilnius, Lithuania.
- Game design - Povilas Vincentas Jankūnas
- Programming - Daumantas Šimkus, Mykolas Krupauskas, Aleksandras Trakas
- Sounds & Music - Ignas Čeponis
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
✦ AI summary
Players appreciate this minimalist puzzle game for its calming atmosphere, pleasant aesthetics, and artistic concept based on a 1970s artist's vision of a corporate retreat house. However, opinions are quite divided on whether the abstract nature and short length (around 15 minutes) make it engaging or tedious, with some finding it a thought-provoking art experience while others find it boring and lacking substance.
Alright. [i]Utility for the Soul[/i] is done and dusted. I think it took me 15 minutes to complete? And apparently, I was a good little worker. IDK man. This was a weird one. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3415939640 It's a minor puzzle game where I guess your goal is to find a better personal balance between you and the world around you so you can be a better employee. But instead of focusing on balance between work life and personal life, I guess it wants you to better understand your place in the world as a worker. By coming to terms with yourself as it pertains to your role at whatever company you are slaving for. By going to a retreat where you interact with the Earth, Fire, Water, and Air. The abstract nature of this is somewhat lost on me, but the social engineering aspect of this is kind of offensive, lol. But hey, maybe I'm reading too much into this. Or maybe I am spot on and my lack of willingness to further line some oligarch's pockets is the real problem. Why are your employees working so you can buy a second car, a second home, a second yacht while your employees are living paycheck to paycheck? Is my own philosophy. In properly completing…15 found this helpful
A minimalist game, with line drawn-style graphics, based on the environmental artist Aleksandra Kasuba's proposed "retreat house" for the rest and re-invigoration of corporate employees in 1970. The game implements a short series of rooms in which a visitor experiences the elements Earth, Fire, Wind and Air in different ways; the player has to make each room behave in a way which matches Kosuba's original textual description of them. There are achievements are for starting and finishing the overall game, for specific additional actions in four rooms, for four different "visitor reports" which reflect the mix of rooms undertaken or skipped (getting these represents much of my play time), and for examining Kasuba's drawing plans of the proposed retreat house. I can't say that I gained much enthusiasm or empathy for the "retreat house" concept itself, but I felt that the game was well and cleverly implemented, and I was happy to play and complete it.6 found this helpful
Very calming puzzles and pleasant graphics. Definitely worth checking out.3 found this helpful
Water. Earth. Fire. Air.1 found this helpful
Short minimalist game based on an artists vision in the 1970's. Interesting, felt like an art gallery piece.
boring af
Community reviews
—
0 reviews
Sign in to write a review.
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this game.
