xSweetlife
A game I started on a whim and stuck with because of the gameplay diversity. I liked how the scenery and gameplay changed after every five levels. At normal difficult, it became pretty hard sometimes but it turned out the game is a lot more forgiving than I initially thought because I'd get three stars even when I thought I did badly. It's hard to get back into after not playing for a while because the levels become increasingly difficult as you go on. I mostly played for the gameplay while the story left me feeling 'meh'. The cliffhanger ending didn't leave me wanting for more.
2007
Nostalgic. It ended up being fairly easy while repeating the same tactic every level. It somehow felt cozy and I still enjoyed my short time playing it. It was enjoyable time spent.
This game had so much potential. I loved the writing and dialogue in this game and how your choices actually had consequences. The deduction part of the gameplay was also pretty fun, although I wasn't a fan of any of the timed sequences. I would have liked it more if I got more time/no time limit to add the deductions together especially since you sometimes have to put four different deductions together.
I guess timed dialogue choices make sense but only a few of them weren't timed. I don't get why this choice was made. Either make all the choices timed or almost none of them. At times where you have to react fast, like in action sequences or leading up to them, I totally get it but I barely got any time to even read all of the options in most cases.
Another timed aspect of the game I loathed was a specific point in the game where you had to search a hotel room in so little time I had to retry so often it made want to quit. Eventually I ended up opening a walkthrough and just finishing the game while following along. I'd have never gotten myself through that specific point of the game otherwise which obviously made me dunk down a few points on my final rating.
This game could have also benefited from a skip button for scenes you've already seen because there's no way to skip anything. Referring back to the hotel room scene, the intro part there goes from top to bottom on a giant hotel sign on the outside of the building. After seeing that part about 10 times, I was so done. Don't even get me started on the logos when you boot the game. You can't skip those either and even on my very good desktop PC it took forever to get to the 'continue' button and actually get the game started.
So I did like all of the major aspects like the characters, the music, the dialogue and the choices but there were quite a few things that annoyed me and seriously hindered my gameplay experience.
I guess timed dialogue choices make sense but only a few of them weren't timed. I don't get why this choice was made. Either make all the choices timed or almost none of them. At times where you have to react fast, like in action sequences or leading up to them, I totally get it but I barely got any time to even read all of the options in most cases.
Another timed aspect of the game I loathed was a specific point in the game where you had to search a hotel room in so little time I had to retry so often it made want to quit. Eventually I ended up opening a walkthrough and just finishing the game while following along. I'd have never gotten myself through that specific point of the game otherwise which obviously made me dunk down a few points on my final rating.
This game could have also benefited from a skip button for scenes you've already seen because there's no way to skip anything. Referring back to the hotel room scene, the intro part there goes from top to bottom on a giant hotel sign on the outside of the building. After seeing that part about 10 times, I was so done. Don't even get me started on the logos when you boot the game. You can't skip those either and even on my very good desktop PC it took forever to get to the 'continue' button and actually get the game started.
So I did like all of the major aspects like the characters, the music, the dialogue and the choices but there were quite a few things that annoyed me and seriously hindered my gameplay experience.
2021
The passion Gamious had in making this game jumps off the screen. The characters have personality and realness to them. Every character has multiple sets of clothing they wear throughout the two weeks this game takes place in. There are so many dialogue choices and all of them have impact on how the characters see you and behave towards you.
Playing this game felt like a warm hug and constant coziness, even when some darker topics were touched upon.
I loved the gameplay. I never knew delivering mail could be so fun. The game could have gone on for much longer and I would have been a happy girl.
It wasn't all rainbows and paradise, though. The music on the radio got repetitive and so did delivering the mail after two weeks of doing just that. I think it could have been made even more fun with more events interspersed. I know that's not how real mail delivery goes, but in terms of a video game, it'd have helped break the monotony of driving the same route and putting mail in the mailbox to the same couple lines of dialogue.
The one thing that frustrated me was that Meredith couldn't run. You can hold Shift to make her walk faster but it barely did anything. It made me want to drive the truck everywhere and not walk at all.
There are some little points that could have been improved, but in the end, this game is an absolute gem. And by a Dutch developer which was fun to find out afterwards (I'm Dutch!). I'm excited to play the Christmas DLC, even though it's not Christmas anymore.
Playing this game felt like a warm hug and constant coziness, even when some darker topics were touched upon.
I loved the gameplay. I never knew delivering mail could be so fun. The game could have gone on for much longer and I would have been a happy girl.
It wasn't all rainbows and paradise, though. The music on the radio got repetitive and so did delivering the mail after two weeks of doing just that. I think it could have been made even more fun with more events interspersed. I know that's not how real mail delivery goes, but in terms of a video game, it'd have helped break the monotony of driving the same route and putting mail in the mailbox to the same couple lines of dialogue.
The one thing that frustrated me was that Meredith couldn't run. You can hold Shift to make her walk faster but it barely did anything. It made me want to drive the truck everywhere and not walk at all.
There are some little points that could have been improved, but in the end, this game is an absolute gem. And by a Dutch developer which was fun to find out afterwards (I'm Dutch!). I'm excited to play the Christmas DLC, even though it's not Christmas anymore.
This review contains spoilers
I'm so glad I finally got around to this game. Somehow I was hesitant to pick it up, even though I enjoyed playing the first two games. The backlog tracker showed me I was most interested in this game and it was no disappointment. These games are indie gems. I'm sad the studio hasn't made any other point and clicks because I would play them in a heartbeat. There was so much heart and passion in these games. The art style is completely unique but works great for the game. Every character oozes charm and personality. The accents are accents I have never heard in a video game before but make the dialogue even wittier and relaxed-sounding. I don't think I've ever played a point 'n click where the puzzles were so easily accessible for me. For some people they might be too easy, but it was the perfect difficulty for me. I loved that when I thought of something completely out of the box, it actually worked. It matched my thought pattern perfectly. I played the game on my TV (Steam Deck) with a controller and the controls felt clunky but I got used to it quickly, just like with the first two games. It didn't dampen my enjoyment at all. The story was exciting, I loved seeing old friends and making new ones and the ending was very satisfying. I definitely teared up when the pirate queen came through for us!
2020
A cute short game. I've played the spin-off before I actually played the main game and it was fun to recognise some of the characters who got their own stories in the spin-off! The pastel pixel art style was enough to draw me in in combination with the promise of some adorable meet-cutes and inevitable love stories. I loved getting to know the characters and their personal lives. I think my favourite romance out of all of these might have been Jaren and Ana. How they met and the way Jaren continued to put in effort to pursue Ana stole my heart. I think it was also cleverly done how the characters all linked up to each other in some way. The music was pretty but did get on my nerves at some point, becoming repetitive quick. I would have also liked if I could have used the left click on my mouse to continue the conversation and possibly even move the characters around. It felt strange to just be using the keyboard and having to make myself press Enter every time I wanted the dialogue to continue. It's a game that I enjoyed spending my time with and I'd love to play more in the same vein by this developer.