- Game: Fading Serenades
- Developer/Publisher: Bernie Wick
- Review Platform: Steam
- Release Date: 23rd October 2025
Author’s Note: A Game Key for Fading Serenades was kindly provided by Pirate PR & ATELIER NANO
Welcome to Fading Serenades, a cosy top-down courier game which is inspired by a mixture of classic and modern action adventure games.
Grab your backpack and head into the world where you’ll find yourself hiking, jumping and climbing while making various deliveries across varying landscapes. All this while keeping on top of your rather small backpack inventory.
Fading Serenades is a story about vanishing traditions on a futuristic world. With a missing scientist to find, a mystery that is unfolding in front of your very eyes, This is a stunning and wonderful little adventure full of big pixel dreams!
However, a serenading quiet island life awaits for you in Fading Serenades!
Key Game Features
- Run around the island and deliver everything from regular parcels to peculiar oddities. Manage your inventory and be careful not to damage anything!
- Get to know the islanders. They might be reserved in the presence of strangers, but help them enough, and they might open up and help you in return.
- Move by running, jumping, climbing and balancing over rivers and creeks. The heavier your backpack, the harder it gets to tackle these obstacles.
- Experience Clifford’s Island’s mysteries, a search for things you might not want to find, and the pull for a quieter life in a fast and loud world.
My Fading Serenades Experience
Fading Serenades is a wonderful and charming experience to play. A true gem and certainly fits for those looking for a cosy game but also with an element of adventure.
Let’s set the scene.
In Fading Serenades, you play as Callum, a courier from the mainland. A world very different in ways to the one you are arriving too. There’s a sense of calm and serenity when you first arrive on this new island, however you are almost immediately put to work. Now, this isn’t a bad thing, as you get to jump straight into the story and into delivering your first handful of parcels.
In a way, it sounds somewhat familiar to the adventures Sam Porter would get up to, just a lot less terrifying and dangerous. Still, no delivery is too big or too small for the new island courier. The only thing limiting us would be our backpack inventory!
What I’ve loved so far about Fading Serenades is truly just the overall experience of the game itself. It’s welcoming and wholesome while still giving that element of adventure along the way. That’s not all, though! It’s reminiscent and nostalgic of games I used to play growing up, while seamlessly adding in more modern concepts along the way. A truly perfect and well-balanced mix.
Now, while I am not all the way through the story yet, I’ve actually just loved running around and exploring what I can at times rather than making my next delivery. During this, I actually came across some areas of the map which, when traversing, came with its own challenges.
First up, the log bridge.
This entailed having to simply cross a log that was acting as a bridge over a river. Sounds easy right? Well, this is where your skill of keeping perfect balance as you cross comes in. If not, then you’ll fall into the river and potentially damage the parcels you have in your inventory. Despite the risks, this is actually really fun and I spent a little while seeing just how much I could push the limits and just how good my in game balance is. For context, it’s much better than my actual balance in real life.
While this is a fun challenge to encounter on your journey, there is also another that took me a little while to master. This being a stepping stone style bridge. You need to match the arrows to the corresponding ones shown on screen. However, you need to be quick, else you’ll find yourself in the river.
It took me a while to become a master of managing my inventory to optimize my delivery strategy, but towards the end of the game, it felt second nature.
Yet, this leads me on to the characters of Fading Serenade as well as Clifford Island, the 2D art style, the music the accompanies the game and the overall feel of the game. I can’t fault it in any way. It’s important to note that this charming game, which, is created by Bernie Wick as the sole developer and publisher, is wonderful. This has been one of my favourite gaming experiences recently.
I didn’t ever feel overwhelmed or bored from running around delivering packages to the various characters in game. I always used it as another way to explore and find different paths, where possible, to get to the recipient, all while getting a little lost along the way sometimes.
I love the environment of the game, the smaller, finer details that at first glance you may miss. The characters and their mysterious auras and stories, the art style is nostalgic and stunning and the music is lovely and relaxing. I did like how depending on the time of the day and sometimes the area that this would vary. Honestly, I could listen to the soundtrack all day!
As for my closing thoughts, Fading Serenades is the perfect experience for anyone who enjoys a nice cosy but adventurous game. It’s mysterious, wholesome and relaxing with no pressure to progress and full of hidden surprises. One of my favourites being the use of everyday objects and how they come to life almost differently to what you’d expect. Using a microwave to save the game, love it. The vending machine calling me out for choosing an unhealthy option and not eating healthy. Relatable. There’s truly so much
It’s certainly a game that should be on your radar if you are in search of a new cosy adventure indie game. One that blends elements of older and modern games together into one. Luckily, there isn’t too long to wait as Fading Serenades launches on Steam on 23rd October 2025. Better still, you can check out the game’s demo right now!
For now, you’ll find me fishing the rest of the day away until it’s time to sleep. Well until 10pm in game because otherwise I’ll be hearing from Cooper!
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