Cinnabunny

Very very cute game. It doesn't have like, a *ton* of content, but even doing nothing is very cozy and cute! You can frolick in the fields or in the mines or just draw water.

This is one of the cutest games I have ever played. Simple and cozy. Would recommend.

So, after putting around 38 hours into this game [b][i]solo[/i][/b] and completing all the achievements, I have finally settled my thoughts on it. Over all, I enjoyed my time with Cinnabunny, but I hesitate to [i]truly[/i] recommend this game. I don't think I would pay full price for this game, but if on sale, I think it would be worth picking up if you're at all curious about it. There was more to my points listed below, but due to the size limit, I was unable to put in all my thoughts. I will not discuss the co-op experience, but my very brief try with it wasn't great. I'll start with the good: [list] [*][b]Cute bunnies![/b] The biggest draw of the game by far. I loved meeting all of the residents of Sugar Creek Burrow, seeing their slight differences, and watching the adorable animations. While there aren't a lot of unique animations, you can see the love that went into them. [*][b]You can play at your own pace![/b] Despite what seems like a potentially urgent task [spoiler]set out from your family[/spoiler] in the story, you can take as much time as you want, and the singular timed mechanic in the game can be disabled in the settings for an even more relaxed experience. [*]For me personally and perhaps you, [b]lots of collectables![/b] I like to collect stuff, it's really that simple. Recyclobots, mushrooms, and birding are the options. They each have their own unique approach to collecting, so you can switch it up as you please! [*][b]A basic deduction mechanic.[/b] All of the residents of Sugar Creek Burrow have their own personal preferences on baked goods, and it's up to you to figure it out! They give you very obvious hints after you hand them something, and so you slowly narrow it down to their perfect baked good. I think it's a lot of fun that you piece together what they would truly enjoy, especially since plenty of "cozy" life sim games have a similar "loved/liked" gift mechanic with very sparse hints offered to the player. I don't oppose referencing a wiki, but I do think it can suck some of the charm out of the game. [*]The biggest thing by far is [b]the dev Rekystudios[/b]. While perusing around various guides and many discussion boards during the latter half of my play-through, I found responses from Reky consistently. They're incredibly involved in this game, and is still taking feedback regarding issues people have been bumping into or struggling with. [/list] Not bad things, just things I found a little odd: [list] [*]Despite being a game about bunnies, where you play a bunny, you can't jump. It's not a necessary mechanic, but it still feels weird? Even more so since later down the line, you have the option to [spoiler]unlock a mount of sorts that CAN jump.[/spoiler] [*]The vertical view of your camera is locked. Something like this wouldn't ordinarily bother me, but it creates a bit of friction with birding, [i]especially[/i] after [spoiler]unlocking the previously mentioned mount. It would be more convenient to run around the forest mounted when trying to fill out your birding log than running about with your binoculars out to stare up at the sky and trees.[/spoiler] I also like to look around freely, haha. [*]In relation to the deduction system for perfecting your baked gifts, I don't think you're ever told that you can take notes on the rabbits? Left clicking on them in the townie UI panel opens up a notepad where you can specify what flavors, baked goods, and shapes they like or dislike. I sort of wish that these notes were taken automatically after dialogue involving their preferences occurred, with a pop-up telling you that it was noted, but I think it's perfectly passable as is. It would also be nice if you could note down the baked good you made that they loved. [*]You have a bed time of 12:00am. Ideally, you are back in your bakery snoozing in your bed of choice or the floor. If you don't make it to bed in time, you're told, "You slept poorly, you should probably sleep in a bed tonight." After a few too many late-night excursions into the forest, I realized that it didn't mean much besides not resetting the area I fell asleep? An "issue" easily fixed by exiting and re-entering the area. [*][spoiler]So, you can eventually acquire bushes and trees that grow supplemental ingredients for your baking. You can either buy them via acorns in the squirrel hideout[/spoiler], or first acquire all the recipes to have the chance of receiving one upon gifting someone their favorite good(s). This is fine, but with the pace I had in my play through, these felt way too late to be of great help in getting the funds needed to finish out the story. This could just be how things ended up working out for me, and I'd be curious to know how the timing worked out for others. [/list] And now, for the final part, elements of the game that I just didn't quite enjoy: [list] [*]I find the map wanting. It pops up within the UI, which wouldn't be an issue except that the UI is quite small, so the map is also small. There's also no marking system, which I think would be exceptionally helpful when hunting for collectables as you could note where they spawn for future reference. As for the physical map, there aren't any invisible boundaries, and the guide map doesn't account for that. I ended up getting lost in the forest early on because I had gone so far North that my position indicator was no longer helpful for navigating back. The butterfly is a nice backup, but even in town, you can easily break out of the cordoned area by using [spoiler]the hang-glider.[/spoiler] [*]Progression of the main story [spoiler](moving your family to Sugar Creek Burrow)[/spoiler] feels a bit inflated difficulty-wise. The cost [spoiler]of moving family members in[/spoiler] jumps exponentially towards the "end". The cost of things going up as you progress makes sense, but this felt excessive. Even after capping all of my baking-related skills, the carrots I gained were nowhere near proportionate for reasonable progress. I had eventually completed all other objectives in the game and it just became a slog of waking up, baking, setting up my stall, and buying more ingredients. [*]You may have noticed that the birding achievement has (as of this review) a 0.4% completion rate. I quickly understood why when I saw that there are no pointers about the birds whatsoever in-game. For the last few I was missing, I resorted to a guide to check spawn conditions because after a point, it wasn't fun checking the forest over and over again aimlessly. With a little digging I saw that the dev, Reky, had answered people in discussions with details about the spawn conditions. I can't help but ask why not include hints in the game? [spoiler]Maybe as conversation with Wren? Or perhaps after you give her bird photos, you can ask pick birds listed in your catalogue you haven't photographed yet to get hints for.[/spoiler] Some birds have [i]very[/i] specific spawn conditions I never would've figured out, so big thank you to Reky and guide makers! [*][spoiler]Spincorn. I think it's a charming mini-game, but there are elements I wish were different. Getting spincorns is mysterious, and methods are never really explained to you beyond the stool you can jump off of. I had no idea there [i]were[/i] other valid methods until reading it in the discussions since I simply got the message "It doesn't seem to be effective," when I failed to acquire one, and a note upon first getting one saying that you should try different methods. Maybe I didn't think creatively enough, and I'll accept fault for that. In the spincorn minigame itself, I wish there was an indicator to help you figure out which direction you were going. Just a simple arrow or line would have done wonders. I kind of aimed with a guess and hoped it worked like I thought it would using M+KB controls.[/spoiler] [/list]