_That Dragon, Cancer

That Dragon, Cancer is an immersive, narrative video game that retells the story of a child’s 4-year fight against cancer through poetic, imaginative gameplay that explores themes of faith, hope and love. A raw, autobiographical experience based on Ryan and Amy Green’s experience of raising their son Joel with cancer, this game takes players through the parents’ discovery of the child’s diagnosis, to imaginative reconstructions of events, to voice recordings and mementos of support for the Greens. As players explore the five physical spaces in the game, they will unlock memories, hear thoughts, and discover the joy of Joel’s laughter as they play through the Green family’s experience.

The game is designed in the style of a 3D point-and-click adventure game, focusing more on narrative than puzzles.  The objective of the player is not to solve problems, but simply to be present in each moment. Using a mix of first-person and third-person perspective, this two-hour narrative experience invites the player to slow down and immerse themselves in a deeply personal memoir featuring audio taken from home videos, spoken word poetry, and themes of faith, hope, despair, helplessness and love.

That Dragon, Cancer was launched in association with Ouya, an Android gaming console, as well as other platforms including Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. A documentary about the Greens and their development of That Dragon Cancer, entitled Thank You For Playing, was released in 2016.