(This is the 1,500th game I've logged on the site! BACKLOGGD FOR LIFE)

The PS5 showcase in the summer of 2020 sold both me and my wife on the system, and one featured game that interested us was Sackboy. Once it came out, reception was middling, so we held off on buying it. But when it hit PS Plus earlier this year, I ran out of excuses to keep putting it off.

The co-op seemed like the preferred way to play, so my daughter and I started making our way through... and she lost interest REAL quick. Now, she's beaten Mario 3D World multiple times, so the genre seemed like a good fit for us, but the whole thing just felt uninspired. The movement is boring, the level design is boring, the enemies, the collectibles, the music, etc. I've tried to keep playing by myself for a while, but while the game is clearly a competent platformer, there's not really anything going on here that stands out from its peers. This is the kind of game that could be fun with the right group or if you were a kid with like 3 games, but in my 30s with a shortage of free time, I can't justify sinking more hours into the gaming equivalent of an ambivalent shrug.

♥ I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH! ♥

At first I played this game because I was like: "oh, cool! a game made in Godot, I'll check it out as I love the engine and it looks like it could be a fun cute game!", I was not prepared for what followed, the character creator... has PRONOUNS ♥ (and is pretty neat overall), move over pokemon, it's time for wokemon! another thing that shocked me early in the game: it has voice acting?? AND vocals in quite a lot of their music?? this is already blowing my expectations out of the water and I'm only a few minutes in at this point.

The concept of this game is really fun! It has fairly simple main story, but is at times quirky and doesn't take itself too seriously and just focuses on making the game an enjoyable experience which I hugely appreciate, it's designed as a game first with a story to match it. The companions are fun and interesting without being too annoying and you can make them into a BF/GF (Kayleigh ♥) The monsters are fun and silly with goofy names, but I still love them all! PLUS you can fuse ALL 120 of them for 14.400 different combinations! :0

The combat mechanics and features are just SO good! Types don't just determine damage numbers, they give different buffs and debuffs, which are SO cool and interesting and make the combat so fun and intricate. Also sometimes types can change, like for example hitting an ice type with a fire move, turns it to a water type for 3 turns and there's so many other things like that that make a lot of key fights very interesting with unique strategies and fun situations! also fusing your two monsters together combines their stats, moves and action points, but leave you with one move per turn which just adds another layer to this insanely impressive system!

The world at first felt very small as I explored a huge chunk of the map within the first hour, but there is so much content, each location (except for the starting beach) is memorable with unique vibes and it's own story, the world movement is nice and smooth, with monster ability upgrades slowly letting you traverse the world faster/ more easily and it's all insanely well paced imo. The town is nice and cosy and works as a place you often return to for supplies/ quests/ switching companions.

The MUSIC wow. It absolutely slays, every song fits the vibes and really just adds a lot to the experience. I mentioned songs with vocals earlier some music like the fight music, has DYNAMIC MUSIC, so whenever you fuse your monsters in a fight, it fades the vocals into the music and makes the moment feel really EPIC, that moment literally never gets old as the music is just that good!

The art is nice and cute, everything just fits, the 3D pixel voxel like world fits really well with the 2D pixel art. The more detailed art like the characters during conversations also fit in well, overall the vibes are fun and energetic.

The design is nice, because I can tell the devs actually just wanted to make a fun experience, there are so many little nice attentions to detail or sidequests that don't impact the game but have a nice story that just make the game feel more like a complete experience, rather than making decisions that feel more corporate like a lot of AAA games nowadays, this game has been made with love and care and the personality really just shines through in this game and that really makes it a special experience ♥

I will definitely play through this game again! it has built in speedrun timers and custom games that allow stuff like perma death which is so thoughtful.

Overall this game is actually so amazing, everything just works well so together and I really enjoy spending my time playing it, I really hope this game gets big as it absolutely deserves it. Worth the money, great experience, my favourite game in many years!

Thank you for reading! So sorry for the word vomit but I needed to share my thoughts on this amazing game!

The art is stunning. It’s amazing to be able to move around the painted space, and Southern France is such a rich location.

The gameplay can be additive and a charming, tactile and grounding. It can also be disruptive and redundant. There’s also a canoe they call a kayak, and that you paddle as if it’s a kayak.

The story in the past is cute as it is made up of summer moments. I used to spend this long in the South of France in the summer, and felt similarly about it. I was annoyed to be away from friends — annoyed is too strong a word — and it felt like a far cry from where things happened. But I always ended up having a great time.

The game doesn’t linger in that enough, telling this distractingly complex story of family fallout over generations. It’s unclear and rushed through, a story larger than the game.

You follow Mimi as she returns to her late grandmother's house after many years away. She has no memories from before her final visit, but Grandma has left her some notes and memorabilia that starts to jog her memory the more she looks. It's obviously something happened during that last summer, but what?

Unfortunately, the story wasn't that interesting, and I felt like all of these little nuggets of information never really came together in a cohesive way. None of it built up to the main event, so it felt like a waste of time.

Visuals

Dordogne has an absolutely gorgeous watercolor artstyle. It's done in more muted tones, with lots of greens and browns and reds. The main location is Mimi's grandmother's house and I felt like it looked great, lived in but not cluttered. You move around in 3D, but items and backgrounds are 2D, which gives it a distinct look.

Sound Effects + Music

Dordogne does have voice acting, which I enjoyed. It's mainly Mimi's narration and some cut scenes. There are also some cassette tapes you can find and play feature other characters like Mimi's grandfather.

The music is soothing and relaxing, but it is repetitive. I know it doesn't make sense for such a short game to have a wide variety of music, but I wish there had been more. The sound effects are fine; there aren't too many of them.

Gameplay + Controls

I initially dismissed Dordogne despite it's gorgeous artstyle because I wasn't sure of the gameplay and story, but since it was on Game Pass, I decided to give it a try. I hated the controls immediately. You have to complete a bunch of tedious actions like opening Mimi's bag, lifting out papers, turning keys, closing drawers, etc. And it's not just a matter of clicking on them, you actually have to do the correction motions. I almost quit after dropping the key twice while trying to open the front door! But I stuck with it to see what else was in store. Well, it was more of the same.

I did switch from my controller to keyboard and mouse for Chapter 2 to see if those controls feel better. Not really. It's still awkward, but there is a bit more control with a mouse than a joystick. However, either way there is an odd delay between selecting an object and the action. For instance, when Mimi is opening the windows, there's an oddly long pause between me clicking on the window and her actually opening it. She just stands there for a moment, then sloooowly opens it. I wish it had been more responsive.

You control Mimi in the present (2002, actually) and the past (1982) as she wanders around Grandma's house. Some objects can be interacted with, which is how we uncover a memory, which in turn is how we get sent to the past. There you move through the memory, taking pictures, collecting words, and earning stickers. You'll also be creating pages for Mimi's scrapbook using these collectibles, which was actually pretty fun. Unfortunately, the main actions are far more tedious than fun.


Replayability

I would absolutely not replay Dordogne. Once was frustrating enough. Although to collect everything you would need to play multiple times, since you can't get all of the choice-based collectibles in one playthrough.

Overall

Dordogne was a fine game. I like narrative driven games, and I love unique artstyles, but my initial hesitation about the gameplay and story were correct. I'm glad I gave it a shot, but I should have followed my instincts.

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