This game has a wonderful premise and it tries to capture the very specific feeling of playing a game in a foreign language. It is a feeling that I experienced a lot growing up when I played english-only games while stil knowing very little English, or better yet when I tried to make sense of Japanese games.
All of this game is in a foreign language. Text boxes, dialogue, even the instruction manual (that you find in pieces, page by page, by exploring the world).
Because of this design choice, this game achieves an almost perfect "silent narrative", since the player is left to discover everything by themselves, by trying to decypher what the pictures in the manual are supposed to tell you, and making a few educated guesses (e.g. see this chilli pepper consumable item? Gaming literacy tells you that it's gonna either buff your attack or your speed. Go experiment and find out!)
Exploration is pretty satisfying and it's especially tight in the first few hours of the game, with new powers that unlock areas metroidvania-style, and shortcuts that cleverly loop back to familiar territory. By the end you are going to find some very intricate puzzles that can be very satisfying to unravel.
While exploration and puzzles are definitely this game's strong suit, I unfortunately can't say the same about the combat mechanics. I generally found fighting basic mobs unsatisfying, due to the puny range of the main weapon, slow walking speed, and a couple of baffling design choices. Namely, a parry system that is so useless it's straight up unfeasible (parries are often slower than a whole enemy attack animation), a lock-on system that is basically a liability when used in a group fight, and limited equipment slots. No quickbars or weapon wheels here: you equip three items and that's it. One's gonna be the sword, and if you want to use magic you probably have to reserve another slot for a MP-healing item. So have fun having only ONE subweapon slot. Oh and you can't swap the item in that slot while in combat, because for some godforsaken reason the game doesn't pause while in the menu, and trying to fiddle with it while in combat is gonna get you killed in no time.
The game doesn't seem to realise that combat is by far its weakest point, and it keeps throwing at you challenging encounters that are entirely un-fun to tackle. That said, I feel that the bosses were challenging, fair, and decently realised (mainly because they were one-on-one fights for the most part).
To summarise: the exploration, the vibrant world, the charming idea behind the game makes me want to give it 4 stars. I'll strike half a star from the score for the disappointing combat mechanics
All of this game is in a foreign language. Text boxes, dialogue, even the instruction manual (that you find in pieces, page by page, by exploring the world).
Because of this design choice, this game achieves an almost perfect "silent narrative", since the player is left to discover everything by themselves, by trying to decypher what the pictures in the manual are supposed to tell you, and making a few educated guesses (e.g. see this chilli pepper consumable item? Gaming literacy tells you that it's gonna either buff your attack or your speed. Go experiment and find out!)
Exploration is pretty satisfying and it's especially tight in the first few hours of the game, with new powers that unlock areas metroidvania-style, and shortcuts that cleverly loop back to familiar territory. By the end you are going to find some very intricate puzzles that can be very satisfying to unravel.
While exploration and puzzles are definitely this game's strong suit, I unfortunately can't say the same about the combat mechanics. I generally found fighting basic mobs unsatisfying, due to the puny range of the main weapon, slow walking speed, and a couple of baffling design choices. Namely, a parry system that is so useless it's straight up unfeasible (parries are often slower than a whole enemy attack animation), a lock-on system that is basically a liability when used in a group fight, and limited equipment slots. No quickbars or weapon wheels here: you equip three items and that's it. One's gonna be the sword, and if you want to use magic you probably have to reserve another slot for a MP-healing item. So have fun having only ONE subweapon slot. Oh and you can't swap the item in that slot while in combat, because for some godforsaken reason the game doesn't pause while in the menu, and trying to fiddle with it while in combat is gonna get you killed in no time.
The game doesn't seem to realise that combat is by far its weakest point, and it keeps throwing at you challenging encounters that are entirely un-fun to tackle. That said, I feel that the bosses were challenging, fair, and decently realised (mainly because they were one-on-one fights for the most part).
To summarise: the exploration, the vibrant world, the charming idea behind the game makes me want to give it 4 stars. I'll strike half a star from the score for the disappointing combat mechanics
Reviewed on Jun 27, 2022