Adios is almost certainly one of the most interesting indie games of 2021 so far. It is quiet, and accurately captures the atmosphere of a crisp fall morning, yet its somber tone doesn't detract from how powerful it is. Even though it's rather short, it's a game that anyone who enjoys a great story propelled by well-realized characters should play.
Adios places players in the shoes of an unnamed pig farmer who has a deal with a crime family. He takes dead bodies and feeds them to his pigs to cover up any evidence, but it's time for him to leave that life behind. However, this doesn't mean happily ever after and the game never turns into something like a colorful farming simulator. When one of the mob's hitmen, who is also a friend to confide in, comes around, the farmer tells him he's done. Unfortunately, that means the farmer is just a loose end and has to settle up with his deeds. The actual game revolves around the farmer spending one last day on his farm, doing chores, trying to make amends with other people that he severed ties with, and convincing the hitman that the decision he is making is one he ultimately must make.
Adios is not unlike a stage play that players can interact with on an Xbox console or PC. There's only a small cast of characters and Adios is largely a lot of just talking, which is both a strength and also one of the game's biggest flaws. Many of the scenes give the player something to engage with (like milking goats) while characters talk, but sometimes, like a scene where the hitman helps fix up the farmer's broken down El Camino, the player just stands there doing nothing the entire time. Perhaps this won't bother some people as the dialogue is well-written and the performances are top-notch, but others may feel antsy about not being able to do anything besides walk in a circle to try to give their hands something to do.
Even though it's not super gameplay-heavy, Adios, like many top indie games, tells an incredibly impactful story as a video game. One of the best moments of the game is a phone call where the player has dialogue options, but will only speak one of the lines. The other "choices" are clearly things that the farmer wants to say and feels, but can't bring himself to actually say. It's a great way of actually getting inside the main character's head without having them speak everything they're feeling.
Adios feels personal and honest. It's a story that has seeds of remorse and capitalizes on a lot of the worst fears that some have for when they get older. The way those fears emerge bubbling on the surface of Adios's admittedly thin gameplay mechanics makes for compelling story-telling. Even in a short title bereft of many of the bells and whistles that characterize some of the best visual novel or VN-adjacent experiences, that masterful balance makes for something well worth a look for those who can look past its obvious flaws.
Adios is available today, March 17, 2021 on PC and Xbox. Screen Rant was provided with a digital PC code for the purpose of this review.