Fallow Is a Vague but Powerful Tale of Alienation

I wish I felt more confident about my understanding of Fallow, a new lo-fi adventure game by the artist and musician Ada Rook. There’s such a fine line between interpretation and projection, and sometimes a game can be so withholding it can be hard to tell if what you’re seeing is actually there.
There’s something almost functional about Fallow’s vagueness, though. It both pulls you in and pushes you away. And for a game that seems to be about alienation, loss and loneliness (at least in part), the metaphor these dueling forces create is suitable. It’s as if it wants to be understood, yet is terrified to be known.
Fallow is mostly an exploration game, and takes place over the course of three days, depicting the fragmented memories of its lead character, Isabelline Fallow. Having been cast out by her mother, Isabelline flees to the city and joins a band of mutual survivors, others who, like her, are under a strange curse that causes society at large to reject them. Calling themselves “sisters,” they move to a farm in the country, as the world around them begins to decay and forget itself under the influence of an everburning furnace in the sky. Once the strange, hostile land forgets her sisters as well, Isabelline sets out in her grief, perhaps trying to be reunited with them. The resulting adventure is disorienting and unsettling, rarely achieving narrative cohesion but conveying a deeply sympathetic pain.
While that summary sounds competent, I’m still not sure I have the details correct. It may take a few more playthroughs to feel as though I understand the events. But whatever the game lacks in directness, it makes up for in sheer atmosphere. Visually, its art direction is a faded pixel style reminiscent of the Game Boy era, conveying oceans of texture and depth despite the minimalist palette. The story is a little more experimental when it comes to structure, shunning a typical linear narrative to deliver memory fragments in a disorienting, almost dreamlike progression that mirrors the hostility of the game’s dying world. Add to that the designer’s impeccable use of audio and an inspired and melancholy soundtrack, and you don’t need to fully understand Fallow to enjoy it.