This game, along with some crow game and some cat game (of all things) created a Holy Trifecta™️ that made May 9th, 2024 a game that will go down in indie game history forever. Or so what I was told. I know almost nothing about the crow game and I literally forgot the name of the cat game before I was reminded of it. And this game, well I’ll tell you that I think about it right now, after around 2 1/2 hours.
I don’t get the hype. At all.
Supposedly this is a life changing game with unique and intricate puzzles that unravel an incredibly deep story. I even bought this game with the expectation that it would influence my knowledge on game design. However I have seen none of that. All I’ve been doing is jumping around, finding some admittedly unique abilities (eg spring, yo-yo), collecting eggs that don’t do anything for the most part (besides the swan egg), and solving a lot of puzzles.
And the puzzles aren’t mind-blowing genius or anything. They’re mildly unique at best. Some puzzles that I can think of are one with a wave that you manipulate to cross 3 separate points, placing the spring at a certain spot to hit 3 switches without hitting one that sets off crows, and one where you distract weasels from destroying your spring that sets off switches to go through.
Speaking of the animals, this game is similar to Rain World in that the supposedly deep interactions with the animals are underwhelming. Most of the time they just stand there and make noise and don’t do anything. For example early in the game there’s a duck that quacks and that’s it. Doesn’t do anything else. The only useful interactions I can think of are the big rabbit things and the birds.
I have no idea what the story is. All I can describe it as is “you’re a frog and you need to collect 4 flame things for some reason”. The puzzles have told me NOTHING about the story. And supposedly if this game is like an onion then at least give me a hint on how to find and solve the juicy puzzles that MAYBE have lore. But I don’t have a clue on where to find them. The game hasn’t showed me anything. I saw a post saying someone didn’t know what the game was trying to tell them and I wholeheartedly agree. Where is the deep story?
Also, the graphics and music. The graphics make everything look the same, and the pixel art is just okay. Nothing to write home about. The game is really dark visually. Seeing the same shades of blue and black over and over gets pretty old. And the OST is non existent. Just the title theme and the simple telephone save point theme. You will be playing the game in silence with ambience most of the time. Again, like Rain World if you’ve ever played that.
I know some people are going to get mad at me for not giving this highly praised game anything but a glowing review. “This game isn’t for you” why not? I like Metroidvanias (I just finished Islets, a vastly different game but if you’re reading this play islets it’s amazing), puzzle games not as much but I’ll give them a shot if I’ve seen enough good word of mouth like this game. “You are taking the game at surface value” because I haven’t seen anything else that makes me think I shouldn’t. All I see is a game where you hop around and collect flames. Yeah there’s some vague cryptic stuff but if it’s just gonna sit there and look cryptic with absolutely 0 pointers on what it means then it might as well mean nothing. “You haven’t played the game long enough” that has some weight admittedly. Supposedly this is a 25 hour game and I only have 2 1/2 hours in it. Collecting all 4 flames does not seem like it will take 25 hours so maybe there’s a second part of the game I’m missing. I will admit that I haven’t completely given up on the game yet, but the game hasn’t left a very good first on me. Maybe I will finish the game feeling completely underwhelmed and wishing the switch had a refund feature. Or I will join everyone else and say this game is GOTY. Only time will tell.
TL:DR. Don’t get the hype, game is underwhelming and directionless
I don’t get the hype. At all.
Supposedly this is a life changing game with unique and intricate puzzles that unravel an incredibly deep story. I even bought this game with the expectation that it would influence my knowledge on game design. However I have seen none of that. All I’ve been doing is jumping around, finding some admittedly unique abilities (eg spring, yo-yo), collecting eggs that don’t do anything for the most part (besides the swan egg), and solving a lot of puzzles.
And the puzzles aren’t mind-blowing genius or anything. They’re mildly unique at best. Some puzzles that I can think of are one with a wave that you manipulate to cross 3 separate points, placing the spring at a certain spot to hit 3 switches without hitting one that sets off crows, and one where you distract weasels from destroying your spring that sets off switches to go through.
Speaking of the animals, this game is similar to Rain World in that the supposedly deep interactions with the animals are underwhelming. Most of the time they just stand there and make noise and don’t do anything. For example early in the game there’s a duck that quacks and that’s it. Doesn’t do anything else. The only useful interactions I can think of are the big rabbit things and the birds.
I have no idea what the story is. All I can describe it as is “you’re a frog and you need to collect 4 flame things for some reason”. The puzzles have told me NOTHING about the story. And supposedly if this game is like an onion then at least give me a hint on how to find and solve the juicy puzzles that MAYBE have lore. But I don’t have a clue on where to find them. The game hasn’t showed me anything. I saw a post saying someone didn’t know what the game was trying to tell them and I wholeheartedly agree. Where is the deep story?
Also, the graphics and music. The graphics make everything look the same, and the pixel art is just okay. Nothing to write home about. The game is really dark visually. Seeing the same shades of blue and black over and over gets pretty old. And the OST is non existent. Just the title theme and the simple telephone save point theme. You will be playing the game in silence with ambience most of the time. Again, like Rain World if you’ve ever played that.
I know some people are going to get mad at me for not giving this highly praised game anything but a glowing review. “This game isn’t for you” why not? I like Metroidvanias (I just finished Islets, a vastly different game but if you’re reading this play islets it’s amazing), puzzle games not as much but I’ll give them a shot if I’ve seen enough good word of mouth like this game. “You are taking the game at surface value” because I haven’t seen anything else that makes me think I shouldn’t. All I see is a game where you hop around and collect flames. Yeah there’s some vague cryptic stuff but if it’s just gonna sit there and look cryptic with absolutely 0 pointers on what it means then it might as well mean nothing. “You haven’t played the game long enough” that has some weight admittedly. Supposedly this is a 25 hour game and I only have 2 1/2 hours in it. Collecting all 4 flames does not seem like it will take 25 hours so maybe there’s a second part of the game I’m missing. I will admit that I haven’t completely given up on the game yet, but the game hasn’t left a very good first on me. Maybe I will finish the game feeling completely underwhelmed and wishing the switch had a refund feature. Or I will join everyone else and say this game is GOTY. Only time will tell.
TL:DR. Don’t get the hype, game is underwhelming and directionless