This review will have spoilers. This review will be in-depth.
5/10 for $25
8/10 for $15
10/10 for $10
I have a mixed review, but an overall positive one. I have fully played it and have done all but 5 of the achievements. I was excited to complete the game on stream, so I wasn't thinking about achievement hunting at the time.
This was the first game I believe the developers released, other than the one that was introducing this world that came out in 2017, which I think was possibly the developer learning how mechanics worked in order to create THIS game.
THIS world is a small open world map. You basically travel a very small island you get shipwrecked on. It is NOT a large game by any means. I finished it in 3 streams. (Maybe 15 hours worth, but I was flailing around. Now that I know what to do, it probably would be a quicker game like 7 hours, 10 hours max.) There are 2 towns you will be in, Lyndow and Nava. Lyndow is a small town with about 7 buildings. Only 3 of which have inhabitants. One inn, and 2 residencies. Nava is the "big" city, which I would say is about 3 times as big as Lyndow. That is to say, not very big, but bigger than the intro town.
Your mission? Is to relax as you travel this land because of your mothers last dying wish. You have been shipwrecked on this island and have lost everything. You travel around helping others around the towns in various quests. One person has his head stuck in a jar, you have to grab someone to help him get his head unstuck. One person has been accused of using an endangered plant thats protected, so he is now in debt cause no one has been buying his goods, So you as the main character have to help him clear his name. One lady lost a box in a cave long ago... come to find out there were only seeds in it.
You will eventually unlock a map, you will eventually unlock quick travel tea, you will eventually be able to travel faster, you will eventually be able to travel at night without freezing and passing out.
As a painter, you will have a quest that will allow you to take commissions from someone called "Art Dealer", which will have you travel around this island taking snapshots (paintings) of various requests. You can have 4 commissions at a time, and they go pretty fast.
**Graphics 7/10 - The graphics are good in my opinion, HOWEVER the reason I'm not giving more points is due to some parts where characters were so DARK for graphic quality. When they were in shadows, they became a silhouette hard to see. And sometimes even when they were not in shadows, they were a silhouette. The graphics are 2019, which I'm fine with. I do not need super realistic for it to be a good game.
**Music & sounds 6/10 - While the music was peaceful, there were points where it got REALLY loud. It also does not have unfocused sounds, so when you click out of the game, all sounds stop from it as well. (A pain as a streamer.) There were 2 people playing music in Nava, and when you passed them their music hit your ear drums out of nowhere. It would have been better to have a softer fade in and out. There was also a storyteller in Nava in the inn, I had my sounds low by this point, as things were tending to be loud out of no where... Despite having my sounds super low (level 10 out of 100), the storyteller decided to be 200 out of 100... I ended up needing to turn my master volume from 60, down to 20 so that the story teller was not screaming in my ears or to my viewers.
The music and sounds could have been equalized much better, and I felt like it fell short in parts.
**Story telling 7/10 - It's no masterpiece. But it is a slice of life. It is quest driven with freedom to explore. There is room for improvements for their future games, sadly I think this one will no longer be worked on. If you want a peaceful game with really nothing heart changing, mind boggling, deep thinking involve, this game is for you. The characters are like characters you would happen upon in life. Some nice, some gruff. Some rude, Some mean. Some helpful. Some liars. Theres only a handful of characters important to you, others are just there to make it feel alive. There's very little of the main story, but each quest has their own storyline. Some quests have another quest attached to it. It's all pretty vanilla stuff though. Nothing bad or wrong with that, but again, its a slice of life, nothing deep.
**Mechanics 7/10 - When I got the map and quick travel unlocked, I was so happy. Let me tell you! Haha. While This game looks nice, and is peaceful; Me, Myself, and I like to zip around everywhere. And the walking speed was too slow for me. I pulled out a bike at every chance I got, even if I was just simply going across a very small town. By the end of the game I was using quick travel tea (Mountainwart Tea) for crossing the map when I needed to. If you are cold in the night, theres an unlockable coat. If you are needing extra glowstones (this games cash) you can save up for a fishing rod (I think 40 glowstones) then catch some fish using mushrooms. You can then either sell those fish, or use those fish to catch large fish to sell. Theres only 3 types of fish in the game. The fishing mini game is relatively simple as well. At the start of the game it was hard to get money, by the end of the game I had no need for it. You can craft water rafts, or a reed boat. You can craft a tent to pass the time. You walk around the forest gathering random things that have a time and place in the game for the most part. Overall, the mechanics are simple because the game is simple. Nothing wrong with any of that.
**Characters + Design 6/10 - As this is seemingly the first game this developer created aside from the 2017 one as a test, I would say the characters and their designs are good. I know I couldn't do better. There is: Deer folk, Bear folk, monkey folk, bird folk, and raccoon folk. The raccoon folk are part of a storyline and stay hidden for the most part. Their designs are stiff, but it works. I feel like it is an inclusive game with varying characters, very nice. I enjoyed the quest of the one bear wanting to date the other bear and it all worked out. I thought that was very cute. I feel like the characters pathing was a little... bad. but they stay put for the most part. Unless time is turning over. Voice acting was fine. There was a character and I forget which now, but his voice sounded... Mechanical. So I'm not sure why that was. No one else sounded like a machine. Theres a hot air balloon, the pilot of that balloon was clipping through the basket. Certain things here and there could have been improved. But it wasn't really game breaking.
**Minigames 3/10 - Not sure what certain things were for, such as the marbles on the top part of the tarnished teapot. The fishing was fine but it felt lack luster. It was easy enough. I did not make tea once, so I'm not sure if there was a minigame associated with that. I was squirreling and flailing to much. So that was on me. If there wasn't, then thats a missed opportunity.
**Repeatability 5/10 - I would replay it to do all the achievements. Once I get all the achievements I probably wont reply it again cause its such a short and small game.
I enjoyed it, and feel like if you enjoy cozy quest driven games over playing with mechanics, this game can be for you.
Some people don't play games to be skilled at the game. Some people use games as an escape much like reading a book, and this would be that type of game.
You dont need any type of skill to play this game, other than maybe reading. But if you are reading this review and have made it this far, then I don't think that would be a problem for you. Haha.
I found 1 bug that might be game breaking, but I'm at the end of my character limit for this. I got past it by using my tent and passing time/ game auto saving every step of the way for the "Elixir of life" quest. Game froze and I had to shut down and restart it for the bluffs zipline hot spring. 4x
