Only 65 reviews? More people should find out about this game, that's for sure.

I didn't want to play Princess Farmer for a long time. For a very long time, even. I've seen it again and again in my recommendations, but I simply waved it away. At some point I gave up and added the game to my endless wishlist. And then I bought it. And then I played it.

Why the hell haven't I played it for so long? Shame on me, seriously.

As you can probably tell, I loved Princess Farmer, and I actually consider it one of the best game I've played this year.

The basics
This is a match-3 game, and you've probably played one at least once in your life. But this is not the type where you can take any element and swap it with its neighbor — here you have to match elements by moving them up and down only. Very easy to learn, but for me it took some time to actually master.

The game doesn't become boring over time, because the rules and goals change a bit in each level. Also you can choose your play style for every episode:
- action bunny (if you don't really want to think over your every move)
- puzzle bunny (if you want to have a little extra time)
- balanced bunny (a bit of both)

Thanks to all that, levels feels fresh. I've played through half of the game in one sitting and still wanted more.

The plot and everything nice that goes along with it
The plot is nice but I do not consider it to be the strongest part. I won't tell you anything since there's not much to tell anyway. The dialogues are good, and I think that's all that matters in this case.

The characters are great! Each one of them is so cute, it's still hard for me to pick my favorite. Also, I like that your answers in dialogues have an effect on your relationships, even if it's not that big.

Other stuff I want to mention
❤️ 1. Character customisation. You can choose your outfit, a dye, and sparkles. Btw, the transformation animation changes a bit depending on your outfit! Extra cute, love it. You can buy new things for the customisation in a shop, which is available at all times even outside of levels. And during the game you can go back home at any point if you want to change your looks.
❤️ 2. Great art and the colors overall, the music is good too.
❤️ 3. The whole magical-girl anime aesthetic. And as a person who loved Sailor Moon as a kid, I really appreciate Tuxedo Masc!
❤️ 4. The game was designed so that you would feel good. Every part of it corresponds to this goal: from the light and simple storyline to accessibility options. The devs worked hard to create a comfortable gaming experience for every player.
❤️ 5. Fun fact: the game was created by a wife/wife team. Talk about relationship goals!

💔 1. Some dyes are too expensive, I think. I understand they were added for players who would want more goals in the game after completing it. Maybe in the future I'll find my way to earn more currency, but right now it feels I have to spend a lot of time getting more dyes for the achievement.
💔 2. The controls feel a bit awkward if you don't use gamepad. Who actually uses B on a keyboard to close something? That feels counterintuitive.

Steam Deck
Princess Farmer and Steam Deck were made for each other. Works perfectly well!

To sum up
As I said, this is a great game and I'm really surprised not a lot of people have played it. Get this the first chance you get — I promise you, this is a perfect game for a cozy evening. And also, it's very gay, so this is a wonderful choice to celebrate Pride Month ❤️

The plot
You are a witch and you have a job to go to some village and help with a harvest festival. There you meet 6 characters who play a serious part in creating the festival. Each one of them has some problem that you help with for a duration of 2 weeks. I want to say there's more, but that's it, everything else is not significant.

Your character and your choices
I really liked the customisation! First of all, I like the style and that there are a lot of fun and pretty clothes. And the hats! There are so many nice hats, aww, I want to wear everything from this wardrobe. The only bad thing I can say about clothes is that there are not that many masc options. For me personally it was not a problem, because I always make my characters very femme, but if you want to create someone more masculine, you'll probably end up disappointed.

In terms of an actual character you won't be able to express yourself. The choices are shallow and don't influence the ending at all. The only thing they influence is romance — sometimes you'll see an option with a heart symbol. If you always choose them, you can go out on a date in your ending.

The main problem with the main character is they are always annoying and unnecessarily rude. I get that it's part of the plot, and in the second part of the game they change and become friendlier. But it's just so hard and boring to read, ugh.

Your quests and your new friends
Almost every day you'll receive a few letters where your new acquaintances explain their problems and ask for help. You buy stuff you need, tend your garden, and collect flowers to make a potion, incense, etc. Every flower is associated with a planet, theme, and a color, and you'll have to choose your ingredients based on that. It might sound difficult, but in reality the game creates recipes for you, you simply need to follow instructions. The mechanics are so easy, they become boring very fast.

After that you deliver the orders to your clients. Of course, usually you also spend some time with them. The dialogues are okay, nothing special, because the characters are pretty dull.

Looks and sounds
These are perfect in every way possible. I want to praise the people who drew everything in the game because I was looking at every piece of art with freaking heart eyes. People, the garden, the village, tarot cards, potions! Potions are especially pretty... Just look at the screenshots, you'll get what I mean.

Random stuff I want to mention
❤️ 1. You can customize your altar. I've never known I needed this this hard! You can choose the crystals, the flowers, the tarot cards. There is not much need in that, but I loved this anyway.
❤️ 2. There is a tarot-spread option. Cool!
❤️ 3. Closer to the end the main character educates their friends on some practices which are good for your mental health.

💔 1. Autosave only. Why?? It's very uncomfortable if you want to replay the game from a certain point. You messed up with some orders and don't want to get a bad ending? You'll probably need to start a new game.
💔 2. Strongly connected to my previous point, but I want to talk about this separately. You want to collect all of the achievements? You will have to replay the game at least SEVEN times. You will have to do the same orders again and again, skip the meaningless dialogue again and again, tend to your garden again and again. This is just cruel, guys.

I'm a person who likes to collect all of the achievements, and I spent so so much extra time collecting them in this game. I'm not new here, I've even tried messing with save files to load the one I need manually. Couldn't do it, unfortunately.

Steam Deck
Works perfectly fine. In the beginning you'll have to use keyboard to enter your name and then to press some button during the tutorial. Other than that you can use touchpad or customize the layout, as I did. I also liked to use the screen and simply tap the stuff I need, it was easier that way.

Conclusion
If you still want to play this, probably wait for a sale. And if you're a achievement hunter, be ready for some pain as you'll become close acquaintances very fast.

Esther comes to the woods searching for something she needs really bad. You see, she has a fatal disease called Pale Cachexia. If you don't know what cachexia means, fret not, I didn't either. Basically it's a syndrome which causes weight loss and muscle wasting. “But about the Pale part”, you might ask. That you will find out later.

So yeah, Esther is searching for the cure, but instead she finds a girl named Seina. Together the girls are trying to solve the mystery of the disease. At the same time, Esther learns more about her new friend and the mystic manor that she's staying in.

I like this novel but I think it's not for everybody, because it is very slow, even painfully at times. And it takes a while before you really sink in into the story. There are some parts where you'll probably feel like nothing is happening and you're just wasting your time. But I thought it was okay, because the coolest thing here is the atmosphere, not the plot.

By the way, about the atmosphere — the art here is simply amazing. Sprites of the main characters are super pretty. The background art is also great and adds to the feeling. Of course, the last part of this mix is the soundtrack — chef's kiss. It's quiet piano music which helps create the vibe but at the same time doesn't take your attention away from the story.

I'm still not sure what is my opinion on the ending. On one hand, it's fitting for a story like this. On the other hand, I was craving for something much more vivid, and I think the ending would be more satisfying if it had more drama.

To summarize, Pale Cachexia is great on a technical level. The art, the music, the menu design — everything is gorgeous. Plot-wise the novel is not that great, especially in the end. I recommend buying it only if you're a big fan of visual novels and/or gothic stories and want to expand your library a bit.

P. S. I almost forgot — I've played this on Steam Deck (which I'm obsessed with, but we'll talk about it another time). The novel works perfectly fine, but I had to change layout a bit so that I could use buttons instead of a pad when using the menu.

Luna's Fishing Garden is such a wonderful little game! It's an idler, which means it's very easy to play and you can't lose in this one.

Your goal is to collect fish and other resources in order to restore the islands. Most of the time you'll be either placing new plants or fishing. I should say that some fishes are a bit harder to catch than others, but the overall difficulty is okay, you shouldn't have any problems with that.

The art is pretty and very cheerful to look at, the music is nice too. The plot is... there, not much to say about it. Anyway, the idlers don't really need it, so it's fine, it's just not the strongest point of the game.

I recommend this game if you're feeling tired and burnout to play something big or if you simply like casual games. It will keep you occupied for an evening or two, and you can always return to your garden or begin a new game, if you feel like it ♡

Angela He is probably most known for missed messages. (another novel in a similar style). Before playing a new life., check this one out — it's free and will give you an idea whether you will enjoy He's works.

a new life. is an emotional story about a relationship and learning to let go. It's very short, so don't expect any serious character development or anything deep, but you still should be ready for heavy feelings incoming. I went in sceptical, as I always do, and at some point found myself almost crying. And just as the previous work, this novel's art is gorgeous.

If you like novels, especially about wlw, this is a must-have! Since the price is low enough, you don't even have to wait for a sale.

Landlord of the Woods is a point & click game about a person who applies for a new job.

It's not very difficult, and the game has hand drawn minimalistic art which I liked. But it's a bit gory, so be careful if you don't like this kind of stuff.

My only criticism is that sometimes it's not very obvious which objects are interactive. And there was a point where I couldn't progress because I didn't see the arrow to the next screen. Don't be like me, pay attention to the arrows on the screen :D

Anyway, it's a nice and cheap game, so if you're looking for something with creepy, maybe Rusty Lake vibes, you should try this one out.

Ugh... lots of mixed feelings about this one. I want to be nice about First Snow, because I see lots of love for it and I really don't want to rain on anyone's parade. But it's kinda bad.

It's a story about Allison, she's moved so she can attend college and she doesn't have any real friends. But one day she meets another student named Eileen and realises she's fallen in love. That's it, basically.

At first I was excited, even though the beginning was rough, because I thought the novel would become more interesting when Allison would meet Eileen. I got disappointed pretty fast — both of the main characters are too boring. They have personalities, I can admit that, but their interactions just weren't fun.

Allison is okay more or less, she's a bit too much of a dummy sometimes, but we're going to let that slide. She's just not my type, it happens. Eileen, on the other hand... oh, Eileen. She's straight up unlikeable, most of the time she feels too mean and cold. I get it that she acts this way for a reason, but why doesn't she have any good traits? I've read the whole novel, and I still don't understand what Allison sees in her at the beginning of the story. Eileen becomes a bit nicer once she's closer to Allison, but Allison falls in love so much before that. Girl, I get that you don't have any romantic experience, but I'm really questioning your life choices.

One of main reasons I wanted to read this is because I've heard that the relationship feels real and the intimate scenes are written well. The relationship feels real in the way that it's fricking horrendous, I'll give it that, even though I'm pretty sure people in the reviews meant something else. And about the adult content... it's okay in terms of writing. I didn't feel anything, but maybe someone else will appreciate it more. While we're here, I've actually enjoyed the part when Allison was posing nude, I thought this was a fun idea to investigate.

Oh yeah, another thing — the art style is not that great. I'm not trying to offend the artist, I'm just trying to say it's a bit easier to read bad novels when you have a nice picture in front of your eyes. First Snow doesn't even have that one, unfortunately. The sprites might feel okay when you read the main story, even though I despise everyone's outfits. The adult content has left me uncomfortable.

All in all, I gave this novel so many chances, and it missed every one of them. If you still decide to read it after my review, be ready for the plot with almost nothing happening, unlikeable characters (you thought Eileen was the only one? Surprise!!) and not-so-pretty sprites.

But hey. At least they are sapphic. Right..?

Allison, sweetheart, please break up with Eileen, she's no good for you...

“Your letter has interested me strangely. Please write to me again.”

To be honest, Dear Devere is too good to be a free-to-play novel. This is a romance mystery story, it's set in Scotland and told through a letter correspondence. And there is even voice acting (for the main characters)!

The plot begins when Angela Bard just wants to vent and writes a letter to nowhere. But suddenly someone replies to her — someone mysterious called Devere. Apparently he lives in a forest and it seems he has magic powers... wait, what? You follow their relationship, and my god, lots of things happen, I don't want to spoil anything. Even though the heroes meet some trouble along the way, the story is very wholesome.

There are no sprites of the characters, but it's definitely not a bad thing, and it actually suits the story in the best way possible. The novel is still visually pleasing — I've loved the designs of the letters Angela and Devere sent to each other.

I'll be definitely rereading this in the future! Sometimes you just need a short story with a sweet aftertaste, and Dear Devere is a perfect example of this kind.

A Story Beside is genuinely one of my favorite games this year! I'm very thankful that it found me when I needed it most.

This is an RPG Maker game, which caught my attention in the first place — I've played a lot of RPG Maker games as a teenager and I still have a deep love for these, especially when these games are plot-heavy. So let's talk about the plot, shall we?

The story follows a person who would typically be an NPC in a RPG game. The main character is Lyric, and she's an innkeeper in a small village named Pyreside. You will follow Lyric through her entire life and help her with some decisions that have a great impact in the future. Yes, you've heard me right — there are lots of decisions, and I should say that almost every one of them has a consequence. Some of them are very light, some of them can change the life of an another character. And no, this is not your stereotypical "you should choose one of these people, one will die and one will live", oh no. Choices like these are not straightforward at all. Sometimes it's annoying, but I've grown tired of straightforwardness a long time ago, so I really appreciated it. I think it helps you realise your influence more.

One more thing about the choices: you can choose Lyric's partner! There are three options, and one of them is a woman, which is a nice touch. Also Lyric can stay single if you want to.

There are 7 chapters, each one is divided from one another by 7 years. Lyric is not your typical hero, but believe me, a lot happens during her life. I honestly thought that this is going to be a simple storyline, but there is so much drama going on each chapter! And I say drama in the best way possible — it's very reasonable, characters act like real people, and still most of the times I couldn't guess where the plot is going. Lots of people in the reviews say they've cried a lot, and I wholeheartedly believe them, my heart wrenched in awful ways. I don't want to spoil you anything, so I suggest you just play it blindly. There are no TWs except for death, but I mean, that's pretty obvious: you follow the whole life of Lyric, there are going to be at least some people who die of old age.

The game is basically a walking simulator with some dialogues, there are no fights and no puzzles. Only you, the Pyreside village and a whole lot of choices. Every chapter you will need to explore the whole village, and I suggest you checking every corner of the map. That way you'll make sure you've met every character and read every dialogue.

The only thing I didn't like so much is that there's no way to run, the only option is to walk. Lyric is not slow, but sometimes I needed to explore a big place really quick and that was a bit tiresome. But most of the times it was okay, I'm just writing this so that maybe the developers will see this and consider the option for their next game.

In every other way the game was perfect for me, and I sobbed while playing through the ending. I think that in the future I will replay this game at least once just to see the route of another love interest. And maybe I will try to get the best possible ending, since I've messed up some stuff in my first playthrough. Highly recommending it to you, and I hope you'll fall in love with Lyric and Pyreside just the way I did — deeply and irrevocably. ♡

Look, usually I'm very nice to Game Jam games, but this time...

Trapped with Jester is a short visual novel where the main character wakes up in a carriage with a stranger. You guessed it, he's a jester. But he's weird and keeps talking about you summoning him... What could it possibly mean?

I won't tell you more, because the novel is extremely short: I've got all of the endings and achievements after 6 minutes of play-time. And this is what rubbed me in a wrong way. The novel doesn't tell you much, nothing really happens. Even for a Jam game that's too short, I'm sorry. I understand that there's not that much time, but you could at least write a longer dialogue between the two main characters, or maybe give some background without creating new backgrounds and/or sprites.

At least it looks nice, and the jester is fully voiced. But I don't think it's really worth playing.

UPD: Okay, now I know that the rules of the Jam were that the novel should only have 1000 words or less, also there's a challenge to use only 1 sprite, 1 background, and 1 music track. (Thank you again Anta for telling me that!) This explains a lot, but I still don't want to recommend the novel. I wouldn't be honest if I said that I liked it ¯\(ツ)/¯

Stillwater is a short visual novel which was made for a Game Jam (meaning there was not much time to create it). The story is about a private investigator, Hugo, and he is asked to help in a mysterious mansion where ghosts seem to come to life.

You can finish reading it it in 20-60 minutes depending on your reading speed. There are ~7000 words, only 1 choice and 2 endings. The novel is not very deep, but I think it's good nonetheless — its strongest points are the characters and the art. Also it's free, which is another reason to try it.

Now I really want more stories about Hugo, I think he as a character has some great potential! Hope I'll see more novels from this studio ♡