From Japan-based solo development studio Hell Yeah!, I Mother is a prehistoric action-adventure game featuring a story told without spoken or written language. Set in a time before words, players take on the role of a Neanderthal woman, alone and far from her tribe. She searches for a way home, guided by symbols inspired by those believed to be one of the earliest forms of human communication. I Mother is set to launch in three weeks.
Here is more on the game, from its developer:
Players explore the world alongside the Neanderthal woman, learning as she does—with no map, no language, and no certainty. Meaning emerges through careful observation: her sounds and gestures reveal emotions, while the symbols offer guidance and purpose. The game’s unique navigation mimics real mind-mapping techniques, with memory and perception replacing traditional maps to guide the way forward.
Every moment becomes part of the lived experience. Drinking from puddles, hiding from predators, or fleeing into the unknown are not systems to master but moments to inhabit, shaped only by instinct and perception.
Even dreams carry the journey forward. At times, they unfold as shadowed visions that share fragments of knowledge; at others, they become playable trials that echo the day’s events. These moments expand the symbolic journey, deepening the player’s role as interpreter.
The atmosphere is further enriched by a dark ambient soundtrack from Paleowolf, blending tribal drums, ancient instruments, and ritualistic vocals to evoke the raw emotional power of early human existence, capturing the primal rhythms and silent intensity of a time before words.
The game’s symbols are inspired by the work of paleoanthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger, who has a TED Talk on the origins of symbolic communication. The game transforms these symbols into the foundation of its interactions, and they gain significance through association and interpretation.
“After stumbling upon Genevieve’s research, I realised I wasn’t just making a game about a Neanderthal woman,” said Adam Buczek, solo-developer at HellYeah!, in a press release. “I had, in my hands, the raw materials of a symbolic language that could become her way of speaking to the player—not through dialogue or subtitles, but through shared experience and association. The whole point was to let go and respect the player’s intelligence, letting symbols mean what they mean, not what I say they do.”
Developed by Hell Yeah! and published by indie.io, I Mother will be released for PC via Steam on October 22.
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