After several acclaimed productions, The Pixel Hunt studio and Pierre Corbinais unveil their third collaboration.
February 13, 2025
[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Game Developer and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press]
ARTE :
Wednesdays is a subtle story designed to raise awareness of sexual abuse committed within the family.
Watch the announcement trailer here
The Steam page is available here
The itch.io page is available here
Caution: Due to the subject matter, Wednesday is not recommended for players under 18.
Paris, February 13th 2025 - ARTE, The Pixel Hunt and Pierre Corbinais reveal Wednesdays, a real-life game combining storytelling and management, which will be available next spring on PC and Mac via Steam and itch.io. A demo version of the game will be available online on February 14 as part of the Steam Next Fest press preview event.
The Pixel Hunt and Pierre Corbinais, two names in narrative video games, who have already moved audiences by collaborating on such unique, innovative and committed titles as Bury Me, My Love and The Wreck, are behind this new project. With Wednesdays, they encourage players to question themselves, via a memory trail, and better identify the complexity of the subject and the situation of those who suffer sexual abuse. Through the fragmented memories of a victim, the player goes from narration phases to managing an amusement park, a metaphor of the world of childhood.
THE SCENARIO
Tim was sexually abused as a child. It's through Orco Park, an amusement park management video game from his childhood which he rediscovers twenty years later, that his past comes back to him, and with it a multitude of questions: How could this have happened? Who could have seen and spoken?How was he affected when he grew up?
A COMPLEX BUT HUMAN STORY
Taking the form of an interactive visual novel, Wednesdays is an easy-to-play experience. By building attractions and decorating his park in Orco Park, the player unlocks Tim's memories one by one, in the order of his choice. In each memory, the player takes on the role of a new character from Tim's entourage, in an attempt to unravel his memory. A vibrant, delicate and surprisingly optimistic story.
The game contains no scenes of sexual assault, and content warnings are available for each memory you explore, and each can be viewed in summary form.
A PURE ART DIRECTION
The game features two graphic styles that are deliberately poles apart, yet share the same clean lines:
The souvenir universe, designed by Exaheva (Mekka Nikki, Still Heroes), draws its inspiration from independent comics and graphic novels;
The universe of childhood games with Orco Park, designed by Nico Nowak (There Is No Game: Wrong teh souvenir Dimension), embraces the colorful pixel-art of 90s management games.
A GENUINE MESSAGE
Beyond its clever gameplay and original art direction, Wednesdays is also a game that has given many of its developers the opportunity to make their voices heard, not only as video game artists and creators, but also as victims for some of them.
Pierre Corbinais and the artistic team deploy a thoughtful narrative to help us decipher the victims' silence and recognize the manifestations of sexual abuse in the people around us.
The game contains no scenes of sexual assault, and content warnings are available for each memory you explore, so each can be viewed in summary form. However, due to the subject matter, Wednesdays' temporary age classification is 18 and over.
© ARTE France, The Pixel Hunt, Pierre Corbinais, 2025
ABOUT THE GAME
TITLE: Wednesdays
GENRE: Real-life game combining storytelling & theme park management
PLATFORMS: PC and Mac via Steam and itch.io
RELEASE DATE: Spring 2025
LANGUAGES: English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese
WEBSITE: (coming soon)
AUTHOR: Pierre Corbinais
DEVELOPER: The Pixel Hunt, Pierre Corbinais
CO-PRODUCERS: ARTE France, The Pixel Hunt, Pierre Corbinais
PUBLISHER: ARTE France
MAIN FEATURES OF THE GAME:
The player discovers the intimate story of Tim and those around him. Through 17 narrative vignettes, he embodies some fifteen characters from different eras and family backgrounds.
With its handmade visuals and indie-comics-inspired style, Wednesdays leads players to question the consequences of domestic sexual violence and sexual abuse in an authentic, enlightening story.
The player manages his theme park to unlock more than 17 memories. In these colorful pixel-art sequences, the player can take a break to relax between vignettes and step back from the story of the characters and the bonds that unite them.
Wednesdays is designed to be accessible: the game requires no special skills or knowledge of video games. Customizable accessibility settings (visuals and controls) allow all types of players.
About ARTE
European public cultural media, ARTE’s mission is to bring Europeans closer together through culture. Its rich and diverse editorial line-up (cinema, series, documentaries, news, digital creation and video games, podcasts...) contributes to nurturing a democratic space and a European vision. For more than ten years, ARTE has been co-producing and publishing independent video games such as Type:Rider, Homo Machina, Vectronom, Inua, Bury Me My Love, 30 Birds and Looking for Fael, which have won awards at some of the biggest international festivals. More information on the official website, the X page and the Bluesky of Arte Interactive
About The Pixel Hunt
The Pixel Hunt is a studio that designs and produces reality-inspired games, pieces at the intersection between journalism, documentary and video games. Their productions aim to be as distinctive in their artistic direction as they are in their storytelling. For further information: https://www.thepixelhunt.com/fr/.
About Pierre Corbinais
Author and former journalist, Pierre Corbinais is renowned for his work on numerous video games. In addition to his work with The Pixel Hunt, Pierre Corbinais is known as the narrative designer of Haven (The Game Bakers) and the translator of the French version of Road 96 (Digixart). Through Wednesdays, he lends his delicate writing to this autofictional tale, to raise the subject of incest and intra-family sexual abuse in an authentic way. For further information: https://pierrecorbinais.com/fr/.
About Exaheva
Exaheva, a comic book artist, illustrates the narrative vignettes in Wednesdays. Her style, which is somewhere between comics and manga, gives an authentic and delicate treatment of the still-too-taboo subject of sexual abuse against and between minors. For further information: https://linktr.ee/exaheva
About Nico Nowak Talented pixel-artist, Nico Nowak deploys her unique know-how in Wednesdays by creating the visuals of Orco Park. After working on successful projects such as There is no Game: Wrong Dimension, Nico applies her artistic flair to help make Wednesdays a game of hope.
You May Also Like
