A charming romp of a game that seems like it was entirely based on the designer (who hadn't actually made a game before) saying "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if there was an RPG, but instead of, like, serious combat and quests, you literally just flopped and floated around through everything?"

Not to say anything in the game is bad for any of those qualities; it even seems to embrace it, what with how the characters are designed to just have exaggeratedly ridiculous features like thin legs or bulbous heads, and it just adds to the charm and atmosphere of just chilling out where even the game isn't stressing on blowing your mind.

I actually think about Juice Galaxy a lot.

It's a weird little game that wears it's weirdness on it's chest like a badge, giving it's world a slew of different scapes while never missing that "Juice Galaxy" vibe.

I'll be honest, at times I thought the combat was a bit cumbersome, and even after beating every boss with a multitude of weapons, I still think that. But I couldn't imagine a combat system more fitting than one where you kinda just flop your weapon around and smack the hell out of shit. Imagine if they built this whimsical and weird world and gave you the basic slash, shield, dodge roll, and parry button that so many Action RPGs love to dish out.

For an early access open world game, you'd expect there to be more dull moments as you traverse the foggy and mostly unchanging over world, but I was constantly at awe when I was traveling. I've told one of my friends about this twice now, but somehow Juice Galaxy perfectly that "Adventure Time vibe" without really trying at all. I think the OST plays a big part in emulating that vibe but even on it's own, just walking around the over world made me think of the Land of Ooo. (The OST is fantastic btw)

But the real meat of this game is in it's boss battles, which combat wise can still be cumbersome, but their presentation tends to kick ass. Traveling through the Wawsp nest swatting away low level wawsps as the music builds up and you're greeted by an open room and the one who controls them all, The Wawsp Queen. I'll never forget my first time fighting her, the tense build up to her theme and the fact that she actually got hands! I died at least 4 times before killing her.

Every boss fight in this game feels like some grand battle, even though you're a floppy weird guy fighting another probably floppy weird guy. I love it so much.

I will be watching this game with curious eyes, I'm excited to see where Fishlicka takes it!

Admittedly not much of a "game" yet, but still an incredibly original fever dream brimming with cool ideas and psychedelic, yet weirdly chill vibes. The whole world (er, galaxy) feels like splatterings of vividly colored blobs finger-painted by an ecstatic child lovingly brought to life by an older sibling game designer. The absurdist dialogue is hilariously matter-of-fact and what scant "plotlines" currently exist feel like the recordings of imaginary adventures collectively brainstormed between excitable kids on a playground. Even the combat system of manually flailing around your weapon with the mouse brilliantly invokes a kind of viscerally simplistic, childlike joy that only a game that isn't afraid to be dumb could afford to implement.

There's no music in the overworld, but when you've upgraded your character enough to properly fly, they sort of hum this calm little tune as they do so. Combining this with the surrounding scenery of mostly empty grayish rolling hills and foggy indigo skies gave me a sort of unexpected serenity akin to viewing an impressionist painting. The whole game even, seems to want to evoke some kind of impressionist feeling, but it's also not afraid to punctuate the viewings with dumb humor and pop references. The idiocy of the game's humor and its exploding creativity somehow kind of end up working pretty well together, though. I'll admit, aside from these personal takeaways, I don't really know what the "point" of the game is so far, but it's a definitely a vibe.