there are quite a few shortcomings here both narrative, gameplay and tech-wise but i kinda got past those issues because this is a very beautiful game, one of the longest i've played in a while too, the characters and music are SO good and the final stretch may be an all-timer for me. gorgeous game
Despite not having finished it, I encourage everyone to give it a try, at least if you own Game Pass.
The writing is amazing, and the characters absolutely adorable. Gameplay is surprisingly crisp and fun, too, for an indie title focussed on narrative. For about 5h the movement and all the minigames the game throws at you felt unique, engaging and charming.
But it quickly gets old after that, and it feels like the game would go for another 10h. Meanwhile, I already took plenty of enjoyment from the characters and the narrative, so I felt fine with just stopping. I rarely ever finish a game anyway, so I still feel good recommending it!
The writing is amazing, and the characters absolutely adorable. Gameplay is surprisingly crisp and fun, too, for an indie title focussed on narrative. For about 5h the movement and all the minigames the game throws at you felt unique, engaging and charming.
But it quickly gets old after that, and it feels like the game would go for another 10h. Meanwhile, I already took plenty of enjoyment from the characters and the narrative, so I felt fine with just stopping. I rarely ever finish a game anyway, so I still feel good recommending it!
gonna cry
in fase di 5
Fica meio repetitivo dps de várias horas
cried. laughed. cried. cried. cried. etc
bitirmedim ama gideri var karakterleri önemsersen
Dnf
Wonderful beautiful game that brings you through the process of grief and death. I would have loved to rate this game higher but unfortunately the tasks became dull over time and it was hard to push myself to the end
This review contains spoilers
coming back to this game over a year later to play the dlc was a whole new experience. gone was the player who once knew how to play this game, who had spent hours painstakingly devising the most efficient system of farming every resource. gone was the player who carefully memorised her process of elimination method to discover all the new recipes. gone was the player who knew where literally anything was.
in her place was a shallow, clueless version of her former self. this new me had one simple goal - to finish the game - and one simple gameplan - to wing it. specifically by doing as little as humanly possible. if past me thought i was going to take the time to relearn my old system, to willingly throw myself back into the endless minigame menagerie that was the base game, she was mistaken. knowing everything is boring; knowing nothing is to be free.
thankfully, my past self had been kind enough to build up a small buffer of meals and materials before she left this world. which meant this was no longer a game of cozy management and making friends - this was a game of survival. this was a race to the finish line before i ran out of food to prevent the resident freeloader buck from starving to death.
and thank god for that buffer, because i'm not built for speedrunning. it took me an hour to accidentally hit the left trigger and consequently remember there's a dash button in this game. and then i kept getting lost because every location on the map is shaped like a nondescript lumpy circle. do you know how many times i struggled to find overbrook on the map??? do you??? and why can i never find my passengers on my ship?? why did they make beverly so tiny????
the pager jackie gave me really added to that sense of urgency too. one second i'm racing across the ocean, having just left overbrook, and the next second i'm turning this ship right back around because DARIA NEEDS ME HOLD ON GIRL I'M COMIN. and in all the frenzy, i'm cutting corners and either upsetting beverly by skipping out (it was an accident i promise) on the super saver discount book or i'm dashing past my abandoned sunflower field and belatedly noticing that a sheep i'd left to starve has broken in to take matters into her own hands. i can only commend her for her willingness to take initiative in her own survival.
it was a chaotic experience to be sure, and even though i was admittedly speedreading through the dialogue a little too much, it was a refreshing and fun new way to approach a form of gameplay that i was otherwise dreading returning to. i also got to appreciate taking the dlc characters to the everdoor in a new light - it was the only part of the game in which i was forced to slow down, to take my hands off the controllers and truly immerse myself in the drifting journey along the river styx. i even allowed jackie's departure to bring a single tear to my eye before it was back to the race.
sure, i probably left my ship in shambles, and alex the bus driver's theme tune may be permanently burned into my brain now, but there's a lot to be said for the emotional weight this game holds - regardless of how much of a moron i'm enabling myself to be while playing it. and despite all the mayhem, i still made sure everyone got as many hugs as I could give. especially daffodil.
in her place was a shallow, clueless version of her former self. this new me had one simple goal - to finish the game - and one simple gameplan - to wing it. specifically by doing as little as humanly possible. if past me thought i was going to take the time to relearn my old system, to willingly throw myself back into the endless minigame menagerie that was the base game, she was mistaken. knowing everything is boring; knowing nothing is to be free.
thankfully, my past self had been kind enough to build up a small buffer of meals and materials before she left this world. which meant this was no longer a game of cozy management and making friends - this was a game of survival. this was a race to the finish line before i ran out of food to prevent the resident freeloader buck from starving to death.
and thank god for that buffer, because i'm not built for speedrunning. it took me an hour to accidentally hit the left trigger and consequently remember there's a dash button in this game. and then i kept getting lost because every location on the map is shaped like a nondescript lumpy circle. do you know how many times i struggled to find overbrook on the map??? do you??? and why can i never find my passengers on my ship?? why did they make beverly so tiny????
the pager jackie gave me really added to that sense of urgency too. one second i'm racing across the ocean, having just left overbrook, and the next second i'm turning this ship right back around because DARIA NEEDS ME HOLD ON GIRL I'M COMIN. and in all the frenzy, i'm cutting corners and either upsetting beverly by skipping out (it was an accident i promise) on the super saver discount book or i'm dashing past my abandoned sunflower field and belatedly noticing that a sheep i'd left to starve has broken in to take matters into her own hands. i can only commend her for her willingness to take initiative in her own survival.
it was a chaotic experience to be sure, and even though i was admittedly speedreading through the dialogue a little too much, it was a refreshing and fun new way to approach a form of gameplay that i was otherwise dreading returning to. i also got to appreciate taking the dlc characters to the everdoor in a new light - it was the only part of the game in which i was forced to slow down, to take my hands off the controllers and truly immerse myself in the drifting journey along the river styx. i even allowed jackie's departure to bring a single tear to my eye before it was back to the race.
sure, i probably left my ship in shambles, and alex the bus driver's theme tune may be permanently burned into my brain now, but there's a lot to be said for the emotional weight this game holds - regardless of how much of a moron i'm enabling myself to be while playing it. and despite all the mayhem, i still made sure everyone got as many hugs as I could give. especially daffodil.
depois de um tempo jogando, não consegui entrar no jogo e não ter uma crise de choro só de escutar a trilha sonora.
Al final se me hizo repetitivo.
Una pena, me estaba gustando mucho pero al final consiste en farmear demasiado.
Espero acabarlo algún día pero por ahora me da pereza retomarlo.
Una pena, me estaba gustando mucho pero al final consiste en farmear demasiado.
Espero acabarlo algún día pero por ahora me da pereza retomarlo.
A cute game about death and moving on in the afterlife.
Beautiful art, music, and writing. It's fun to slowly get into the rhythm of the "chores". I do agree that at some point it gets a bit repetitive and monotonous, but at the same time it's still relaxing? Idk, I'm the kind of person that likes repetitive tasks sometimes.
Unfortunately shelved for now, I think I got bored of it (despite my previous statement lol) but I do want to try to complete it one day.
Beautiful art, music, and writing. It's fun to slowly get into the rhythm of the "chores". I do agree that at some point it gets a bit repetitive and monotonous, but at the same time it's still relaxing? Idk, I'm the kind of person that likes repetitive tasks sometimes.
Unfortunately shelved for now, I think I got bored of it (despite my previous statement lol) but I do want to try to complete it one day.
I bought it for my girlfriend who doesnt usually play games. We played in coop and it was damn cute.
If I have to say goodbye to another friend I'll fucking cut you
Decent game. It's pretty, pulls you in, and builds some cool gameplay ideas. Also, a cat follows you around all the time, so...
The overall art direction is pretty solid. Not played a lot of games with this sort of illustration style for assets, and I think it aids the message and overall tone of the game. The art is pretty consistent throughout, and I think it stays pretty attractive.
Audio is fine. The overall SFX and character sounds are decent. The music gets a little repetitive and annoying occasionally, but I think it's solid.
Story is okay. I think it's worth it for a playthrough but most of the characters are not amazing, just competent. They certainly feel real and you can empathize with them, but by the end I was mostly tired of the story, looking to end it. The story of life and passing through is meaningful and the game talks about it in several dimensions, which I think is great, but like others have said the back end lacks, I think in both the characters that you get and the overall pacing.
The gameplay is weak. I'm all for mindless resource gathering, and complex crafting systems, and wandering around a map just looking for different resources to progress, but it takes it to a different level of tedium.
The game makes you feel like you're progressing and building new things and exploring new places, but every action you take for crafting, or gathering resources, is just irritating. They're all tiny minigames comprised of holding the e button then letting go at the right time and usually some amount of waiting. I completed the game and got all the achievements, but I was fatigued of it halfway through. The progression and the story kept me going, but if I hadn't had clear and present goals it probably would have fatigued me out.
The game uses these resource and crafting systems as the primary goals of quests and as a means to segment content, which means that the majority of goals in this game boil down to 'visit place to get [resource]/craft [product]/return [product] to quest giver'. This is fine if you know what you're getting into and you're ok with it. Again, not hard, just tedious.
The rest of the gameplay is mainly composed of the platforming aspects. I suppose it qualifies as a platformer, since the other way the game segments content is by locking valuable items behind some movement upgrade. Despite this, the platforming can be annoying. It's fun how fast you can go, and jumping and flying around is nice, but there's some minor quirks that result in you missing somewhere you think you could've landed, and having to go back to try again, over and over. If it just offered a little more lenience / control, it would be significantly less aggravating.
Beyond that, there are tiny things that prevent this game from being a 4 star that seem to be due to not enough time spent polishing. I personally completed a lot of the non-essential ship upgrades at the end, as I didn't need them / didn't have them available until after I'd sent away my spirits and went exploring. Rather than proper animation stretch frames the player character and others sometimes are simply stretched and squeezed for some amount of frames to display motion. Fine, but it was distracting and my main problem with the art. I also felt some of the animations were janky and did not fully blend into each other.
The characters often repeat the same dialogue over and over, even the ones you have to visit several times. The characters will have a favorite food, but their animation won't be them eating their favorite food. Seems like a minor thing, but a character that hates carbs has an animation of them devouring carbs, which is immensely frustrating when you spend half the time catering to their unnecessarily precise food desires.
ALSO: Almost all the achievements can be done in a single playthrough, but two are dependent on which decision you make, which means that you minimally have to do two playthroughs to get all the achievements. I consider this game to have very very limited replay value unless it's right up your alley, so I think this is just annoying and a poor decision by the devs considering the rest of the game is incredibly linear and I don't believe this decision even has any major effect on the characters involved.
TL;DR:
Solid game, I think you should play it for the art, story, and characters. It creates a solid narrative and world, while building on cool gameplay ideas (the ship, cooking for your passengers), but a lot of the gameplay is rooted in tedium or minor aggravations. The story and gameplay shines in the front half, lingers in the back half, and has some weird quirks and abrupt endings that feel more like lack of polish / rush than deliberate decisions. I'd up my rating if the back part felt less like a todo list and more like a proper finish.
The overall art direction is pretty solid. Not played a lot of games with this sort of illustration style for assets, and I think it aids the message and overall tone of the game. The art is pretty consistent throughout, and I think it stays pretty attractive.
Audio is fine. The overall SFX and character sounds are decent. The music gets a little repetitive and annoying occasionally, but I think it's solid.
Story is okay. I think it's worth it for a playthrough but most of the characters are not amazing, just competent. They certainly feel real and you can empathize with them, but by the end I was mostly tired of the story, looking to end it. The story of life and passing through is meaningful and the game talks about it in several dimensions, which I think is great, but like others have said the back end lacks, I think in both the characters that you get and the overall pacing.
The gameplay is weak. I'm all for mindless resource gathering, and complex crafting systems, and wandering around a map just looking for different resources to progress, but it takes it to a different level of tedium.
The game makes you feel like you're progressing and building new things and exploring new places, but every action you take for crafting, or gathering resources, is just irritating. They're all tiny minigames comprised of holding the e button then letting go at the right time and usually some amount of waiting. I completed the game and got all the achievements, but I was fatigued of it halfway through. The progression and the story kept me going, but if I hadn't had clear and present goals it probably would have fatigued me out.
The game uses these resource and crafting systems as the primary goals of quests and as a means to segment content, which means that the majority of goals in this game boil down to 'visit place to get [resource]/craft [product]/return [product] to quest giver'. This is fine if you know what you're getting into and you're ok with it. Again, not hard, just tedious.
The rest of the gameplay is mainly composed of the platforming aspects. I suppose it qualifies as a platformer, since the other way the game segments content is by locking valuable items behind some movement upgrade. Despite this, the platforming can be annoying. It's fun how fast you can go, and jumping and flying around is nice, but there's some minor quirks that result in you missing somewhere you think you could've landed, and having to go back to try again, over and over. If it just offered a little more lenience / control, it would be significantly less aggravating.
Beyond that, there are tiny things that prevent this game from being a 4 star that seem to be due to not enough time spent polishing. I personally completed a lot of the non-essential ship upgrades at the end, as I didn't need them / didn't have them available until after I'd sent away my spirits and went exploring. Rather than proper animation stretch frames the player character and others sometimes are simply stretched and squeezed for some amount of frames to display motion. Fine, but it was distracting and my main problem with the art. I also felt some of the animations were janky and did not fully blend into each other.
The characters often repeat the same dialogue over and over, even the ones you have to visit several times. The characters will have a favorite food, but their animation won't be them eating their favorite food. Seems like a minor thing, but a character that hates carbs has an animation of them devouring carbs, which is immensely frustrating when you spend half the time catering to their unnecessarily precise food desires.
ALSO: Almost all the achievements can be done in a single playthrough, but two are dependent on which decision you make, which means that you minimally have to do two playthroughs to get all the achievements. I consider this game to have very very limited replay value unless it's right up your alley, so I think this is just annoying and a poor decision by the devs considering the rest of the game is incredibly linear and I don't believe this decision even has any major effect on the characters involved.
TL;DR:
Solid game, I think you should play it for the art, story, and characters. It creates a solid narrative and world, while building on cool gameplay ideas (the ship, cooking for your passengers), but a lot of the gameplay is rooted in tedium or minor aggravations. The story and gameplay shines in the front half, lingers in the back half, and has some weird quirks and abrupt endings that feel more like lack of polish / rush than deliberate decisions. I'd up my rating if the back part felt less like a todo list and more like a proper finish.
The gameplay might've been boring for me in some parts but there is just so much heart here put into every aspect of the game. Art, animations, music, practically every character is lovable in some way, unique and have interesting background.
And ummmm...
It is possible I cried a little when escorting one of the spirits. Absolutely beatiful game with sometimes tedious gameplay.
And ummmm...
It is possible I cried a little when escorting one of the spirits. Absolutely beatiful game with sometimes tedious gameplay.
acho que fui uma das únicas pessoas que se decepcionou com esse game, enredo fraco, jogo repetitivo, sem graça, chegou um momento do game que eu so tava rushando tudo pra acabar logo.
In Singleplayer sicherlich zu langwierig, aber im Couchcoop ne klare Empfehlung.
Farmsimulator auf nem Bötchen.
Farmsimulator auf nem Bötchen.
Pros:
- Very pretty artstyle, with everything having a unique look and feel. Made looking at mostly the same scene more bearable.
- Characters for the most part were well written and likeable.
- The story it tells, and how it approaches the subject matter was very well done.
- The boat management aspect of the game was probably the best part of the game. Enjoyed spending time trying to figure out the best and most efficient layout for my ship.
Cons:
- Big variation in character quality. Made the worst characters really look bad compared to other great characters.
- Times where the story lulled, and soon the gameplay feels quite repetitive and unable to stop the game from feeling like a slog at points.
Overall:
This game was very enjoyable, with really nice moments and decent gameplay, that on occasion felt stale. The game was imaginative and very different from a lot of things out there. However, at points the game felt quite filler-heavy, whilst we progressed to the next story beat.
- Very pretty artstyle, with everything having a unique look and feel. Made looking at mostly the same scene more bearable.
- Characters for the most part were well written and likeable.
- The story it tells, and how it approaches the subject matter was very well done.
- The boat management aspect of the game was probably the best part of the game. Enjoyed spending time trying to figure out the best and most efficient layout for my ship.
Cons:
- Big variation in character quality. Made the worst characters really look bad compared to other great characters.
- Times where the story lulled, and soon the gameplay feels quite repetitive and unable to stop the game from feeling like a slog at points.
Overall:
This game was very enjoyable, with really nice moments and decent gameplay, that on occasion felt stale. The game was imaginative and very different from a lot of things out there. However, at points the game felt quite filler-heavy, whilst we progressed to the next story beat.
Jogo muito lindo e mas eu acho que se estende um pouco demais no final
se hace bola
Aburridazo despues de un rato
This review contains spoilers
The uncle disappearing made me think it was taking a turn and got me to keep playing but then I grew plants for like 20 more hours and then died. What a journey
Wasn't for me. The aesthetic is very cozy and sweet, which isn't what I went in expecting given the subject matter. But I found the mini-games quickly started feeling more like chores than fun & I had to kind of force myself to finish the game.
It didn't land for me emotionally, either: even the characters I liked felt annoying eventually since all they did was whine for food, and they weren't developed well enough, so whatever life lessons they tried to pass on as I led them on their final journey to the spirit door generally fell flat.
I get the sense this was a very personal & cathartic production for the team that made it, and if it helped them with their grief I'm glad, but it didn't do much for me.
It didn't land for me emotionally, either: even the characters I liked felt annoying eventually since all they did was whine for food, and they weren't developed well enough, so whatever life lessons they tried to pass on as I led them on their final journey to the spirit door generally fell flat.
I get the sense this was a very personal & cathartic production for the team that made it, and if it helped them with their grief I'm glad, but it didn't do much for me.
Lo compré sin saber mucho más allá de la premisa y se ha ganado un hueco entre mis juegos favoritos. Es una pena que la versión de Switch esté un poco pocha en cuanto a bugs y crasheos.
Mi problema con los simuladores de vida es que 1) no hay historia, o importa entre poco y nada, y 2) que no tienen un final a la vista y juegas hasta que te hartes. Si me quitas esas dos cosas de la ecuación, no tengo ningún problema en ponerme plantar nabos e incluso llorar un poco por el camino.
Enjoyed it but it got tedious towards the end.
Very chill, grindy but emotional game. Seing spirits from every personality and helping them out to their journey to Everdoor is awesome. Type of game that everybody should try. I love it's art style too.
Platformer + builder/manger + amazing hand drawn art style + touching story = Completely hooked.