The Forest Quartet review – joyous jazz in a surreal forest of memory

PC, PlayStation; Mads & Friends/Bedtime Digital Games
Three musicians pick up the emotional and practical pieces after their singer dies in this comforting and warm game of fiendish headscratchers with a phenomenal soundtrack

Grief is strange and unpredictable. While countless songs depict the devastation of loss, what they don't prepare you for is the harrowing numbness - or simply feeling nothing at all. When you're conditioned to think death should elicit an outpouring of emotion, it's hard not to feel guilty for its absence, as if you are not grieving correctly - which is why it's comforting to play a game such as The Forest Quartet.

In this Danish-developed indie, director Mads Vadsholt depicts three mourning jazz musicians coping with bereavement in different ways. The untimely death of their singer, Nina, leaves the forest-dwelling quartet suddenly reduced to a trio - and completely at a loss. Thankfully for them, their singer isn't done with hogging the spotlight just yet.