I can mostly say that I had no idea what I was getting into when I chose to play this game. I had just a long list of games to play through and was scrolling at random, and my 2 year old daughter said, "Daddy, play Clue!" while pointing at 'Ihatovo Monogatari.'

Immediately I was captivated by the charming spritework and the music just lulled me in like I was returning home after being away for a long time. The game is absolute pure comfy in an adventure game wrapping, and it was nothing short of a delight to play, to see the people in the town changing and adjusting with each season, each adventure and learning about their lives.

My daughter even started to recognize several of the NPCs with their portraits and kept wanting me to go and talk to the 'Stove Cat' and the 'Big Frog' as I was playing (which admittedly impeded progress sometimes as I had to backtrack to find those NPCs). But it became something of a routine ritual to play this for about 15-20 minutes after dinner before we started to get her ready for bed.

It's a wildly charming, enthralling game that has many direct ties to an early 20th Century Japanese poet and author who's works I'll certainly be looking into in the coming months. You can feel the love and care put into the game, and you almost feel as if you're part of the little town of Ihatovo by the end of it all.

I won't spoil the ending but it takes a wildly ethereal and spiritual turn toward its end and finishing it is like waking from a dream.