Lil Gator Game is a charming open world exploration game that puts you in control of a self-named hero (I named him Zucchini). The game starts off showing a flashback of you and your sister playing a fantasy game that you created in the real world, using your imaginations to create fun new scenarios to play through during your play time. A few years pass, his sister goes away to college, and in her absence Zucchini longs to play the game with her again. One weekend she returns to town, but to Zucchini's disappointment she is too busy working on a school project to give him any of her attention. He comes up with a plan to play the game with his friends in hopes of gaining the attention of his sister and getting her to join in on the fun. The story was charming from the get go and one of the game's biggest highlights.

Lil Gator Game's gameplay takes very obvious inspiration from Breath of the Wild, but thankfully it didn't feel like a knock off or cash grab. This gameplay style gives players total control over their movement, allowing them to traverse the game world with ease. You can climb cliffs (with a stamina meter), glide, shield-slide, and attack enemies with a melee and ranged weapons. There are a lot of similarities between the two games, but Lil Gator Game still played different enough to make it feel like something special.

In Lil Gator Game you are given free roam of the game's world, a large national park. This park is populated with NPCs that are looking for assistance with some sort of a simple task, such as finding a hidden item or destroying nearby targets. Upon completion you'll receive a reward, usually a new piece of gear or some currency, and the NPC will become your friend and will head off to the park's main camp (where everyone is going for story reasons). Throughout the park there are cardboard cutout monsters, created by your friends, which when destroyed will reward you with currency. This currency can be used to purchase new gear, such as hats, shields, and new weapons. These monsters can't actually hurt you, and in fact there is no threat of death in Lil Gator Game, which makes for a relaxing, stress-free adventure.

I had a good amount of fun with Lil Gator Game, but it wasn't without its faults. The gameplay loop was really fun for a few hours, but at about the two-and-a-half or three hour mark my interest really started to wain and I found myself wanting the end credits to make their appearance. The game's soundtrack didn't help matters either as the limited track list got repetitive and a bit grating. I actually finished the last bit of the game with no sound as I just didn't want to listen to it anymore. The soundtrack was quite good, just very repetitive.

If you're in the mood for a low stress, cozy, open world game, I think most people will thoroughly enjoy Lil Gator Game.

Completely charming. The writing is hilarious and feel good while avoiding schmaltz, reminding me a bit of the humor in Frog Detective except a little less “lol random.” It captures a child-like sense of play so well, with grown-up responsibility peeking through at times to ground it in a sense of reality.

It also bests Frog Detective for me by having gameplay that steers well clear of ever just being a tedious vehicle for its writing. Instead, it’s similar to A Short Hike’s concise distillation of Breath of the Wild’s open-world brilliance. Lil Gator Game is slightly less minimalist compared to A Short Hike, which I appreciated but wouldn’t say was strictly good or bad; overall its a pleasantly similar experience.

I’m so disappointed that I spent a gift card on this game. The only reason it is getting more than a one star is because the art and music are pretty good. That’s the only good things I can say about this game.

The negatives vastly outweigh these things. Frame rate issues, boring gameplay, infuriating movement and controls, and the fact that this game is 15 dollars are just a few major issues for me.

The thing that made me most mad about the entire game is that the coolest section, or what would’ve been the coolest section, is just an auto scrolling chase sequence in which you have literally no control. It would’ve been fun to escape yourself during this section, but instead you just watch it happen, and it sucks.

I don’t recommend anyone buy this game unless it’s price is heavily discounted to 3 dollars or less.

Hoa is (1.) a stunning display of artistry, breathtaking in its peaceful simplicity, but also (2.) underbaked and boring and I don't like it.

If you've looked at any screenshots or footage, you'll already have thought "huh, big Ghibli vibes here", so we'll just skip that part. Beneath the lush, cozy art style lies an extremely basic rough draft of a game. Across 8 small "worlds" (if we can call them that), you control a cute lil triangle baby who catches butterflies to wake up giant creatures, each of whom remembers you from when you were an even smaller baby.

In practice, this is sort of like the most basic Metroidvania imaginable, with a map containing decent verticality, a small number of collectibles/currency in each area (we're talking single digits), 4 or 5 earned abilities that allow you to progress, aaaaaand that's it. Beyond the music and visuals, I truly mean it when I say NOTHING compelling occurs in Hoa. Bland, combat-less platforming leads to sparse, spread-out collectibles which lead to awkward and vague dialogue with the big critters which leads to a baffling ending sequence.

[Structural spoilers from this point on, but no story details:]

After the game stops repeating gameplay, you observe a fairly long chase sequence which would have been the most engaging part of the game, but for some reason you aren't allowed to participate. (Severe Halo 5 cutscene energy) This is followed by what could be a dream sequence or some sort of limbo maybe?? I tried looking up what it was supposed to mean and couldn't find a legitimate answer anywhere, only encountering theorizing redditors, most as confounded as I was. Then instead of giving any closure, the final cutscene shows events from before the game; events which have already been related to us by the big magic animals along the way.

If you've ever been on a date with someone you were incredibly attracted to, but after an hour realized "there is absolutely nothing going on beneath the surface with this person", eventually ending the evening in a deflated state of stupor, that's what it feels like to play Hoa.

A generally relaxing and comfortable afternoon experience with occasionally gorgeous presentation; that’s the real driving force behind enjoying Hoa, a game which is otherwise over very quickly and never wishes to adventure far beyond press X to jump. That saving grace in the form of visual and audio splendour is apparent most in the opening couple of stages where the the music is clearly performed by a live orchestra and lush greenery is everywhere your eyes can scan across the screen. Both of these welcome attributes slowly but surely disappear until you’re left with a black and white canvas accompanied by virtual instruments. Admittedly these final 30 minutes do push the gameplay boat out a little further in the guise of reversed controls and wonky perspective but it almost comes across as an afterthought, as though you can hear the developers suggest that games tend to need a little more than pretty music and vibrant images, the answer to which is yes, and no.

I always feel these artsy indie type side scrolling relaxing platformers should be right up my street. Yet they never quite actually do it for me. I feel they are always missing something, and each one it's a different key ingredient needed to make it actually shine as much as the art and music tells me they should.

Hoa certainly nails presentation. The game is gorgeous with a great use of vivid greens, blues and other primary colours and the general art design is reminiscent of Studio Ghibli at times. Like a mixture of Laputa Castle in the Sky and Ponyo maybe? It does have an odd freeze or hitch sometimes when text appears or moving areas but not a big deal. The music is nearly all piano melodies but they are gorgeous and don't wear out their welcome unlike Squaresoft's RPG I am Setsuna.

I was enjoying a lot of the game even if it was a bit repetitive. Go to an area, explore by mostly jumping and collect 5 butterfly's to get a new move to progress to the next area and repeat. It was simple and relaxing and sometimes in the evening that's what I want. Not something that's going to take to much effort to play, just something that's generally pleasant. Unfortunately at the end Hoa just fumbles the ball and faceplates bashing out it's teeth and it's just really weird to me. There is a long sequence that should have been playable but isn't that goes on for too long but ok fine. However the last level following that is like every video game cardinal sin. Dream sequence? Check. Reverse controls? Check. Upside down sequence? Check. Reusing earlier game assets for padding? Check. Honestly it's awful and the actual ending felt extremely unsatisfying to boot.

The ending was either just pretentious, they didn't really have a full story plan or had to wrap up for budget. I'm not sure but in the end I finished feeling just...disappointed by it all.

+ Gorgeous artwork and use of colour.
+ Lovely piano tracks.
+ Generally easy going mostly.

- Has a weird hitch / freeze when transitioning screens or into text.
- Ending sequence is just awful.