Linda & Joan Prologue: “Four Months Earlier”

Prologue: “Four Months Earlier” is a free, standalone experience and part of the Linda & Joan story.

Linda & Joan is a narrative adventure game by Russell Quinn, based on the worst year of his life, when his mother and grandmother, the two remaining members of his immediate family, died within a month of each other. It is scheduled for release in 2022.

This prologue, available in 2020, is set four months before the events of the full game, when Linda visited Russell in Los Angeles. She stayed for two weeks and was starting to feel pain and fluid build up in her legs, which with hindsight was the beginning of the end. The fifteen-minute playable experience is set on a hiking trail up to Griffith Observatory. Linda and Russell walk up together, chatting, building backstory and setting the scene for the events to come.

You can’t change what’s coming.
But you can choose how to deal with it.

Gameplay

The player controls both Russell and Linda. Linda uses a walking stick and is slower to move. The player must switch between the characters to keep them moving together, not letting Linda fall behind or Russell get too far ahead.

When they are in earshot of each other, they will talk, and the player will be able to make dialogue choices. Choosing sadder or more profound responses will deepen the conversation. (Whether this is a good or uncomfortable thing is up to the player.)

There are multiple endings, depending on the choices the player made — one of which involves Joan, who is at home in Hereford, UK.