Clares Escape – A video game about John Clare

In 2024 I created a game about a poet local to where I grew up – John Clare.

Clare was a ‘peasant poet’, one of the first to write about nature and his local environment. The perspective was very popular in the 1840s. He saw small amounts of success and was wined and dined by the London literati.

But he was soon cast asides as fashions changed and this abandonment was demanding to his already fragile mental health.

In 1841 he was ‘locked up’ in a mental hospital in Epping Forest and took it upon himself to walk back home to Northamptonshire.

Clare’s Escape takes this epic walk as the structure for a video game.

In the visual style of classic RPGs with simple controls designed to be accessible for players of all skills and ages, players explore the landscape between London and Northborough in 1841. Encounter local people, engage them in dialogue, hear their stories and bump into figments of Clare’s imagination.

I created the game in GameMaker – and published it on Mac and PC. If you’re interested in John Clare, or exploring history though gaming, check it out.

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I’ve written a lot more about John Clare in video games here, and John Clare’s own story of his walk back home in multiple parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.