ARIDA: Backland's Awakening is a survival game released by Aoca Game Lab in 2019. It is the first entry in a planned trilogy.
You play as Cícera, a young girl who lives in the savannas ("backlands") of Brazil. When drought forces Cícera and her ageing grandfather to leave their farm, she must find ways to keep them hydrated and fed throughout the blisteringly hot journey. Cícera works hard, hoping to someday become a strong survivor...strong enough to travel over the backlands, to the distant city where her parents are said to have gone.
This game includes the following tropes:
- Cool Old Lady: Firmina, who knows all the other villagers are leaving, but refuses to go with them because she doesn't want to leave "her land" and she has faith the drought will break soon. In the meantime, she blesses Cícera's efforts and gives her a machete to chop down obstacles.
- Resources Management Gameplay: Food sources regenerate, water does not. There are a limited amount of waterholes in the game, each of which have four uses before they go dry- and if you waste them, well, you're screwed. (Luckily, the game is only around two hours, so mistakes aren't too costly.)
- Save Point: Praying at shrines, the crucifix imagery of which establishes Cícera and her grandfather as some stripe of Christian.
