Sights & Sounds
- The visuals have an excellent style to them. Every screen is full of colorful flora, interesting post-apocalyptic architecture, and unique-looking mutant NPCs
- Music ranges from serviceable to good
- Considering that music plays a minor role in the gardening sections of the game, it's a little disappointing that it isn't more memorable. I like how different plants represent different instruments and rhythms, though

Story & Vibes
- This is without question the most relaxing story-centric gaming experience since Spiritfarer. In fact, that's not the worst comparison from a "vibes" perspective (even though the gameplay is very different). Similar to that game, each character has an interesting history that has culminated in emotional turning point that you are conveniently around to witness. That said, Mutazione doesn't tug on the heartstrings quite as hard
- People into "cozy games" will love this one
- Storywise, you play as a teenage girl who has been sent to an island to help her dying grandfather. Initially, you don't know why you're there or what you're supposed to be doing, but you answer these questions progressively as you work through the plot
- The well-written dialogue and the plotlines surrounding each character are where this game really shines. If you don't mind the story sometimes running a little into soap opera territory, this is a game worth playing

Playability & Replayability
- 2D walking simulator? Point and click with minimal pointing and clicking? Let's just say it's an adventure game
- Gameplay largely consists of walking around, talking to people at different times of the day, and growing themed gardens
- If that last point turns you off a little, don't worry. You don't have to water or maintain any gardens, only fill them with plants that fit the defined mood you're supposed to be going for (don't worry, the game makes this obvious)
- There aren't any splitting plot paths to worry about and getting all the achievements is easy with a spoiler-free guide, so I'm not really anticipating a replay anytime soon

Overall Impressions & Performance
- I would heartily recommend this game to anyone who just wants to relax, experience some good writing, and look at some pretty visuals, but the price may be a little steep for a 6-10 hour experience without much replay incentive
- Played extremely well on the Steam Deck. Definitely deserves its Verified badge

Final Verdict
- 8/10. This is an excellent game for a rainy weekend day where you're just sitting under a blanket, sipping coffee, and taking in some casual mutant drama. Maybe wait for a sale, though

Mutazione is a narrative based game with strong ambience, fascinating and likeable characters, a lovely and unique art style, and a story that keeps you coming back for more.

The basic gameplay is point and click exploring, with some whimsical musical elements, but the story is the main focus. The pace is pretty leisurely, apparently you can finish everything in 6hrs but it took me twice that. If you're the type of person who wants to explore every bit of dialogue like I am, you'll probably enjoy Mutazione.

The creators are so good at capturing the essence of small town life that they made me nostalgic for a place I've never been to before. From a technical perspective, I didn't experience any bugs, the game feels well made. I docked it half a star just because the ending didn't full deliver the gut punch I would've desired (it felt a little bit rushed?) but that could just be personal taste.

This quickly became one of the games I'm most likely to recommend to friends, putting it on the same shelf as games like Kentucky Route Zero and Night in the Woods.

My quest to play every game that directly influenced Pentiment is slowly coming to an end. All that's left is Darklands, which I'm slighlty putting off on account of its uhh sizeable prep time lets say.

I think I quite enjoyed Mutazione. I think its narrative around an outsider but not a stranger to the town helping soothe the troubles of a found family in a pseudo sci-fi setting through the power of gardening makes for a compelling tale. I think it works that her being new to this dysfunctional family in the form of a village works well in why they are seemingly willing to divulge their supressed issues although it does slighlty push credibility at times. It does make Kai seem kind of incredibly nosy. Yes we are controlling her but there being no pushback seems... odd.

Mutazione's DNA is apparent in Pentiment as it honestly seems to have influenced several aspects : namely the day night cycle with events which advance time forward, the VO-less dialogue using other elements, namely vfx but also font color to add to character voice and the "being a stranger arriving at a village". In all honesty, of all the games played so far I think its the one ive enjoyed the most. Its less ultimately deflated than Oxenfree and less boring than Night in The Woods.

In general though I enjoyed the various narrative threads relating to adulthood, love, old age, marriage etc. I wasnt however a massive fan of the main thrust and storyline, which takes up quite a bit of the runtime. I sort of enjoyed the ending, which subverted a particular expectation I had . Going Into Spoilers Now :

From pretty much minute one I thought "Okay that thing he took really just bought him a week so hes going to give me a crash course on mystical gardening so I can become his successor when he dies at the end of the game" And I guess the game anticipated this cause its not what happens but Nonno did actually intend for a variation of this. I guess I enjoyed how it was actually Nonno who needed a life lesson in not burying his guilt away although being completely honest, I must not have paid attention to everything because I was a bit lost on the details of the ending and the actual uhh "incident" lets say. Perhaps this is intentional or maybe I just wasnt paying enough attention but either way it does slightly sour me a bit on the ending even if I enjoyed it otherwise.

The Gardening mechanics were interesting, I think they were simple enough to not distract from the main narrative goal of the game but engaging enough I found them gratifying to build. I did not even really question if it was a bit trite how literal their application and relation to the village was. I did however laugh at a serious moment near the climax of the game when Mori's trying to comfort me over the fact that Kai's grandad is about to die by telling me about how when she was mourning, he told her about "A SPOOKY SONG". Sort of undercut the dramatic moment, perhaps.

On the minor asshole nitpicks, I found Kai's sleep animation funny, cause she seemingly undresses and lays down in a single movement like she's ragdollizing. Probably wise to not linger on a teenager undressing but, you could have just shown her in bed directly after a black screen or something? Idk. Also never has it been more obvious that a character moving towards or away from the foreground is just her this.transform.ScaleX and Y being manipulated (yes, be in awe of my light Unity experience). I do enjoy the detail of one of her socks being longer than the other which of course has to switch when she rotates, neat touch.

So yeah, I enjoyed Mutazione and get to tick its box in both my Summer List and Pentiment Inspiration List, how productive!

EDIT : I suppose its fitting that I forgot to mention the aspect I most enjoyed : the art and sound design are excellent

un dos beefs que máis me interesaron na carreira é o enfrontamento entre Darwin e Marx. Darwin soltou un par de chorradas liberais xustificándose na súa interpretación de certas conductas animais. Marx contestáralle algo así como que viaxou polo mundo para acabar atopando na natureza a sociedade industrial inglesa da que procedía. é dicir, a forma de interpretar a natureza reproducía a ideoloxía burguesa da Inglaterra decimonónica, facendo pasar esas lecturas como obxectivas e xusticantes dese modelo de produción. Mutazione ten algo diso polo lado contrario: pretendendo fuxir das lóxicas violentas do capital, acaba atopando na harmonía e sensación de apoio dos ecosistemas un modelo político que lle agrada. o xogo vai un pouco así, ti chegas a unha illa onde se atopa o teu avó moribundo, durante máis ou menos unha semana, formarás xardíns máxicos cos que axudar á xente da vila nos seus pequenos problemas. eses xardíns teñen distintas prantas, con distintas necesidades, ás que ti axudas a crecer tocando cancións. as propias prantas producen sons que, en compañía, acaban xerando a canción ó completo. hai, polo tanto, un traballo de relacións simbólicas triple: os ecosistemas precisan de variedade e colaboración para sobrevivir, como unha canción ten distintos instrumentos con diferentes harmonías, baixos e percusións; como unha comunidade está chea de individuos que manteñen relacións sociais para vivir mellor. todo isto se estrutura con outras decisións moi brillantes: o uso da soap opera, co seu interese nos pequenos dramas locais, para levar a parte dramática de cada personaxe; a historia das mutacións e o pasado en ruinas da illa, para construir toda unha imaxe de outsider, dalgo maldito ou en decadencia, case monstroso, co que moitas veces defínese a xente que vive en vilas pequenas; así como un ciclo de días e franxas horarios para traballar esa sensación do ordinario, da repetición e o costume. entendo que moita xente o considere naif, pero para min aí tamén está parte da súa forza.

"Kendisinden nefret ettirmeyen nadir bir yürüme simülatörü!"

Oyunda başlı başına sadece yürüyoruz, karakterlerin uzun uzadıya diyaloglarını tüketiyoruz, oyunun bize sunduğu olayları inceliyor, haritayı keşfetmeye çalışıyoruz.

Elbette bunlar oyunun asıl amacı değil, oyunun asıl amacını da tam olarak hatırlayamıyorum gerçi, çünkü sonu çokta mutlu etmedi, ancak oyunun diyalogları ve karakterleri sayesinde sıcak anlar yaşadım, sanki karakterin deneyimleri benim deneyimlerimmiş gibi anı olarak kafamda yer etti.

Oyunun en can alıcı noktası bahçelerimiz, oyunda ne kadar keşfetmeye meraklı olursanız oyun sizi tohumlarla ödüllendiriyor. Siz de bu tohumları bahçelerinize ekerek farklı temalar inşa ediyorsunuz, ama bu işin eğlencesi değil. Çünkü bahçenizi düzenlerken asıl amacınız güzel görünmesi değil, güzel bir ses üretmesi, "Nasıl yani?" dediğinizi duyar gibiyim. Bu oyunda ektiğimiz bitkilerin her birinin farklı sesleri çıkartma özellikleri var, bunlarla da kendi müziğinizi üretebiliyorsunuz, bahçeler için verilen temalar bulunuyor ve siz de bu temalar için uygun olan tohumları kullanarak bahçenizi/müziğinizi inşaat ediyorsunuz.

Dürüst olmak gerekirse, oyunda sıkıldığım anlar oldu, bazen çok daha fazla sıkıldım, ancak tempo sorunları benim fazlasıyla keşfetme isteğimden olsa gerek, çünkü tam olarak oyun süremi iki katına çıkartmışım, ana hikayenin süresine göre. Sizin istediğiniz oyun tarzına göre belki sıkılmayabilirsiniz, oyunun mistik bir havası var, oyunun bütünü boyunca neler olduğunu anlamaya ve merak etmeye devam edeceksiniz, tatlı anılar sizi bekliyor olacak!

You play as Kai. A girl is sent away to a strange village in a post-apocalyptic world to re-connect with her extended family. You spend the entire game walking around to the various dozen or so screens, collecting seeds, planting gardens, and learning more about your past and the ties between the village and your family.

I have to give credit to the developers for their tight and well-written dialogue. The characters have, well, character. For the short time you spend in the games (under 4 hours), you really get to know these people, and the dialogue is written in a way that feels organic and like you're listening in on a conversation. Talk of relationship issues, depression, carelessness, death, suicide, and many other emotions that we face in ourselves and amongst our own families. There's an atmosphere that's both uncomfortable and familiar. You will plant your own life in this game and strategize relating to certain characters or hating them. It's just so well done.

As for the rest of the game, there's something to be desired. As you walk around the screens, you will see a hand icon over anything you can pick up. These are usually plants, and you need the seeds to plant gardens to advance the story. There are eye icons for objects that Kai will comment on and a clock icon for an interaction that will advance the story. You never really get lost. Kai's journal gives hints on who to talk to and what area you need to be in. Using a little common sense and learning the screens and where everyone resides helps a lot. As you pick up seeds, you learn songs that help you grow the garden. Each seed grows based on its song, so it's recommended to plant seeds of that type. You can place the seeds with an outline of the plant that will tell you if there's enough space for it. Sing the song a few times, plant enough seeds, and your garden grows. You can then harvest the plant for what you need to advance the story.

Don't get this confused with something akin to Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley. This isn't a farming simulator at all. The planting and gardening are rudimentary at best and mostly uninteresting. I just threw seeds around until I filled up the meter, spammed the correct song, harvested, and off I went. I was more interested in the characters and the story. There's a mystery behind the village that I couldn't wait to unravel, and unfortunately, gardening got in the way. I did love the music; it's amazing and good enough to listen to outside of the game.

The art style is well done. It's bright and colorful, but it can be really dark when needed. The characters have unique humanoid designs that seem familiar but are still alien, and the paper cut-out look just fits so well. I just wish the story was a bit longer, as I wanted to get to know the characters more. I can't really complain about gameplay, as you do move around constantly and patterns change and mix up, so it never really gets boring. This is a great little adventure game that can kill an evening, and you might have a new favorite OST.

I don’t really have an itch for any adventure games or point and click games for that matter. So Mutazione surprised me pleasantly. I would call Mutazione a strictly story game and it definitely succeeds on that part. If you're playing this game for the gameplay though, probably don’t. Most tasks/quests are just go x or talk to x or grow x. Growing or gardening is pleasant enough to do. There are no puzzles at all, I figured there would be but there weren’t any.
Mutazione excels on its cosy atmosphere and great ambience (music is fantastic). It’s warm art style definitely helps as well.
Only problem I have with it is that the epilogue makes you wait real life time to read new letters.

Played from – to: (2021-09-14 – 2021-09-22) - Beaten on PC via keyboard.
‣ 9/10 – I wish I could grow plants with drums.
‣ Game Audio / Soundtrack - 10/10
‣ Graphics – 9/10
‣ Atmosphere – 10/10
‣ Main Story / Characters – 9/10
‣ Movement – 8/10
‣ Final notes: Mutazione is one of those games that many players will probably never play. Reason for this is that this game is very small and kind of hidden. Only mainstream attention can make this game known to more players. However, with all that said I think that this game is a hidden gem in the Indie department. At first, I was skeptical and did not really know what I was getting myself into. But every time I stopped playing, I felt the urge to continue the story. I kept thinking about Mutazione and how it will end. Personally, the story in this game is rather slow paced but that is a good thing. The slow pace of the story allows you to meet and get to know all the characters and the environment around you. I should also mention that Mutazione heavily focuses on the narrative and the story, so gameplay comes second and is rather simple, reminds me of Night in the Woods, so if that is your style of a game that you will most likely enjoy Mutazione. But with all that said I still think this game is great even if all you do is point and click, walk around the same town five or so days in a row, talk to the villagers and water some plants. Overall, I know that this is something that not everyone is going to enjoy, but if you really put in some time into this games rather slow start, you will love the characters and the story it is trying to tell.

Finally played this, no idea why it doesn't get more buzz - great story, outstanding music and beautiful art and animation; I'm glad there's a garden mode that lets you play with the generative musical gardens as much as you want because I honestly might just use it as background ambience in my day to day life.

I did feel like I was running around like a headless chicken a lot of the time when the game asks to find people but doesn't tell you where they are, and I realise this is to encourage you to talk to people around town but I'm too antisocial and that does not appeal to me. Also the second half of the game is in desperate need of a sprint button.

Nevertheless, the way character stories and backgrounds unfold over the course of the game, the places you go and see, and the themes of measuring personal accountability, environmentalism, community and responsibility are excellently executed.

Loved it

Real mixed bag of a game I largely enjoyed but the things that bothered me really bothered me. Most of its characters are very self-aware and fluent in describing their emotions and thoughts, and that makes pretty memorable and real, but it also makes the few who aren't as articulate feel so flat that they become charactiratures by contrast. This makes some key moments of drama feel a little hollow. It creates a fascinating community that is a useful literalization of how communities are part of their ecosystem, but has a really obvious contradiction in it that I won't explain for spoiler reasons but it makes the conclusion to overall feel thuddingly obvious. I dunno, I liked it, but it's one of those games where I could probably talk more about the things I didn't like about it than the things I did. Played as part of the Abnormal Mapping game club.