[4] In the game, the player spends five minutes experiencing a character's entire lifetime, with results that many commentators have described as emotionally powerful.

[5] In form, Passage most resembles a primitive side-scroller in which players control a male avatar that can move from left to right as time progresses.

[6][7] The game is devoid of a traditional plot, instead allowing the player's choices to author an abstract representation of a life.

Rohrer created all of the content, including the music, and the pixel art, which was made using the free software mtPaint.

[5] Rohrer has stated that the themes of Passage were influenced by the death of an elderly neighbor, as well as his own changing life circumstances after starting a family of his own.

In 2012, curator Paola Antonelli of New York's Museum of Modern Art selected Passage as one of the first 14 video games to be added to its permanent collection.