Within five minutes of meeting Avery, i already knew I had just encountered the best character in all of gaming.

As time has passed, I sometimes encounter a problem when I play videogames, and that is: I sometimes forget to have fun. Maybe it's because I stress over something related to the game, other things like work or chores, or I simply just not I'm a good mood and I can't find anyway to disconnect and submerge completely in the game. Now of course this is far from happening all the time, videogames are by far my favorite form of media and that's for good reason, I still enjoy them full heartedly, but I would be lying if I said I sometimes didn't just... couldn't connect with a game, even if it was extremely good, and I was just thinking ''Ok, how long before I reach the end and I'm done?''.

Then this game comes and it's the equivalent of 46 doses of dopamine in vein.

This one is a game that's very hard to talk about in purely objective terms, in great apart 'cause I played it with my girlfriend, which made it even more fun than it already was, but I think I'm not exaggerating when I say this game is probably one of the most heartfelt experiences I've come across in the entire medium. It puts you in the shoes of a lil alligator, which I named ''Gazpacho'' and it was probably the best decision I've made in the entire year, and drops you on an entire island to explore, meet friends, do quests and build a town in the playground, and this gameplay loop that rewards you with little cosmetics and special objects what makes this experience so... happy, just pure happiness. It invites you to be a kid gain, to do crazy or pointless stuff just for the pure pleasure of doing it, like doing tricks on a skateboard or floating around using a balloon, or just simply exploring the island. There's no map, but it doesn't need one, the isle might feel gigantic, but it's not only visually clear and just by looking arounf you know exactly where you are, but it feels like there are things at any corner without it feeling crammed.

The quest themselves are honestly fairly simple, some of them just consist on walking around or doing a fairly simple task, and while this could feel a bit underwhelming, it never overstays its welcome and the dialogue makes every little interaction worth it. I loved every single one of the little goofballs I came across the whole experience, again, me and my girlfriend reading all of the dialogue with silly voices did made it even funnier, but the dialogue itself is hilarious and full of charm, and it got us just bursting out laughing a ton of times, I really mean it, this game is funny as hell, man.

The fun times and hilarious moments made it that when the game took a pause and it had interesting and heartfelt moments even more rewarding, it never got sad or tragic, but it tackled things that I wasn't expecting at all in a masterful way, and it was both cute and precious, and some of them really warmed my heart. Is a game that has a surprising number of things to say, and every step of the journey it just got better and better.

It may not be perfect, its own design philosophy has certain quirks that are not the best, like doing quest without even noticing and as such skipping dialogue and certain moments, but, how can I not love a game that made me feel so much joy? One with which I had just so much fun bumbling around and remembering the sheer entertainment of playing, both videogames, and in real life.

A game that should have lasted three and a half hours took 10 hours for me and my girlfriend to reach the end, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I took my time, and we had so much fun. I won't forget Gazpacho's silly adventures for a long time... in great part because of Avery seriously how do you make a character that good and funny HOW IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE.