A man is going viral across Chinese social media for creating an old-school Game Boy game in honor of the time he spent with his late grandmother.
Everyone deals with the death of a loved one in their own way, but one grandson is earning praise from gamers in China for how he chose to grieve for his grandmother.
32-year-old Zhou Yichen lost his grandmother in 2024 after suffering from a fall in March of that year. Zhou took care of her until her death just weeks later.
He says that his grandparents raised him until he was three years old, saying his grandmother was “strong and always smiled.”
To honor her memory, Zhou decided to use one of his greatest passions — gaming.
Zhou Yichen made a five-minute game for the original Game Boy to honor his late grandmother in a move that’s taking Chinese social media by storm.
Grandon’s game about late grandma leaves social media in tears
The game, created for the original Game Boy, is relatively simple and just five minutes long. Players care for their aging grandmother who was injured in a fall, reflecting Zhou’s real-life situation.
The gameplay is fairly straightforward, with users finishing simple tasks for grandma, such as cooking or cleaning, pushing her around in a wheelchair and even giving her baths.
In the end, the grandmother says goodbye to their grandchild before a giant bird carries her off in a poetic reference to her death.
“Since I studied art creations, I intend to turn my important experiences into artworks,” Zhou told local media outlets. “I chose to display my game like that of Game Boy because the latter is what I often played during my childhood.”
“I liked taking her out for a stroll. I think she was happy when passing the places where she once worked and meeting her friends.”
South China Morning Post / HandoutZhou’s five-minute game tasks players with helping their injured grandmother as she recovers from a fall.
Chinese social media was touched by the short but heartfelt game, with one calling it the “most humane game” they’d ever played.
“The background music sounds like the vital signs monitoring instrument at a hospital. The game reminds me of the time when my grandma was hospitalized,” another noted.
You can even play Zhou’s game online for free on itchio, where he gives a brief description of what players can expect.
“Please try to take care of GRANDMA. Live with her for a day, and you will experience all kinds of things to take care of grandma during this day,” he wrote. “…In order to commemorate this time, I made this game to remember my grandma and cherish the last time we spent together.”
Instagram: zhouyichen2110Zhou’s game is available to play online for free.
This is the latest grandparent-related moment to go viral after Geoguesser pro ‘Rainbolt’ helped a family track down the exact spot where their grandfather’s ashes were buried, so that they could scatter their grandmother’s ashes in the same place.
