Flower

A meditative experience in which the player controls the wind carrying flower petals across stylized meadows, hills, and finally an industrial landscape scarred by human activity, arrived as Thatgamecompany's second game after Flow and cemented its reputation as a creator of experimental, emotionally driven titles. Controls used the tilt of the Sixaxis controller, an unusual use of PS3 hardware at the time of release, and the game got by without dialogue, text, or traditional objectives, relying instead on atmosphere, color, and gradually building music. A single button accelerates flight, and each flower touched leaves a longer, more colorful ribbon of petals trailing behind the player, so progress is simply measured by how much the landscape below the player comes alive.

Individual levels are framed as the dreams of potted flowers on the windowsill of an apartment in a gray big city, giving the whole experience a quiet story arc without a single word. Flower symbolically told a story of the contrast between nature and urbanization, with the final levels bringing color and life back to the gray, industrial scenery. The music reacts to the player's flight, so each awakened flower adds a note, and the piece essentially takes shape right under the player's hands.

Critics praised the courage to experiment with form and the emotional impact of a short but intense experience, earning the game numerous awards, including for its art direction at game festivals. Flower, together with the later Journey, helped define the genre of so-called walking simulators and art games available through the PlayStation Network, showing that digital distribution could make room for smaller, artistically ambitious projects alongside the traditional AAA blockbusters dominating retail shelves. The final level, set in the middle of a city stripped of color, was seen as the emotional climax of the whole experience and showed just how powerfully minimalist design can communicate complex themes without a single word of text.