'That Dragon, Cancer' Review & Release Date: Emotional Game Moves Players to Tears; Razer to Donate Sales to Charity

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The newly-released "That Dragon, Cancer" by Numinous Games was reviewed to be one of the most emotional games based on a true story. Watch the official trailer below:

"That Dragon, Cancer" is biographical game made by Ryan and Amy Green to commemorate their son Joel, who lost his battle against brain cancer.

According to New York Daily News, the point-and-click game takes place in the household of the Greens after their son was diagnosed with terminal brain tumor at just 12-months old. The indie game is a simple and interactive narrative with 14 episodes where it lasts around five to ten minutes each.

Joel passed away on March 13, 2014 and, to preserve his memories and to cope with their grief, the Greens told theirs and Joel's stories through joyful and sad narratives in the game. It follows the diagnosis, treatment and every day lives of the family in between and then the death of their son.

"After Joel died we kept making the thing we were making before Joel died," said Amy as interviewed by BBC a day before the game released. "I think we're looking at the next few days like, 'What is life like when we don't have this passion project we're working so hard on?'"

Ryan, who is an experienced video game maker, got the idea after a horrible night at the hospital. His son being dehydrated from chemotherapy treatment could not keep his liquids down. The outlet added that Ryan tried to comfort Joel but he cried even more and, when he started to pray, Joel stopped crying.

The game scene with that particular memory only embodied a part of it as it only implied to players that Joel was in pain through narration. The game idea was brought to the gaming conference in 2013 in San Francisco where it moved testers to tears including a prominent tech blogger who wrote about it on Kotaku.

The game ultimately had a successful Kickstarter campaign. To celebrate its release, Joel's family and the team at Numinous Games invites everyone to have a pancake party since Joel loved pancakes, Game Spot reported.

Razer has also announced that all proceeds from the games purchased via Razer Cortex: Storm will be donated to Morgan Adams Foundation, a cancer research program and Family House SF, a free housing program for families who go to San Francisco for cancer treatment.

As to why the title is named the way it is, there is a particular scene in the game where Amy and Ryan tells their children about Joel the brave knight and his battle against a dragon named Cancer.

The game was released this week and is available on PC, Mac and Ouya.