Reviews from

in the past


A clear and transparent influence/inspiration for Psychonauts and also possibly the literal worst game I have ever played. I am convinced that this game was originally going to be Alundra 3, but it got rushed out with the name "Dual Hearts" around the time Kingdom Hearts got released in order to confuse parents and get them to buy this instead. It's the "Ratatoing" of video games.

Not a single soul on any planet in any solar system in any universe in any timeline playtested this game, particularly on Hard Mode. The final boss is almost certainly impossible on this difficulty and, according to gamefaqs anyway, you can't even 100% the game due to DPS checks that are impossible to make in this setting. I did beat it, to be clear, but it required a game shark at the very final phase of the final boss.

At least the art director clearly had fun with this game. No one else ever will.

This game saddens me by the fact that it has a lot going for it, but falls flat in the gameplay department area and poor pacing.

The ideas this game has are outstanding and one of a kind, I love the character banter, artstyle, the world, etc.
But the worlds themselves feels like they weren’t taking any risks and afraid to commit to an idea and start sprinting with it. So now left with levels that are trying to do something cool, but paced so poorly and lack of to explore some are, I’d just want to finish point A to point B so I can get more story. Felt like they were trying to go through Banjo Kazooie or Mario 64, but anime.

I am in love. Legitimately a new all time favourite.
I've heard a few times that the best games are the 7/10s, the messy projects that demand your patience but have the ideas and heart and ambition to reward it. Dual Hearts is this game through and through.

What you will put up with: Mildly janky controls, not enough sound, the occasional block pushing puzzle and a few boss fights that range from tedious to infuriating.

What you will receive:
A beautiful sleepy island town full of hangoutitude that you will come to love and appreciate along with its adorable and charming low-poly-anime townsfolk.
A series of levels that range from spyro to psychonauts in their approach to interpreting dreams, not all of which hit, but none of which outstay their welcome.
A whole ass grand JRPG narrative contained within the confines of a sleepy little town, Persona style.
An absolutely fantastic soundtrack.
So much optional content, so many secrets, all rewarding you for caring about being in this space and exploring everything it has to offer.
And MOST OF ALL,
Your cute round little pig moomin failson best friend who I will die for 100 times over.

I struggle to articulate just how much I love this game and how happy it made me feel to just exist in its spaces. So many little hand-crafted spots and moments, deeply unnecessary, placed in there with love.

It'd mean the world to me if this review made one other person find and love this game, the same way that a random offhand forum comment did for me <3

Kinda like the style and the general vibe here, with some interesting ways of animating/styling things, but the puzzles feel a little laborious to complete (too slow) and it's more of a puzzle game than anything else so if that element is kind of jank the rest of it doesn't hold up.