The following is an abridged transcript of a YouTube review I did for this game:
Lili: Child of Geos, and this might surprise you, takes place on the island of Geos, a fictional island in a not-precisely-specified location, and the main character is a young girl named Lili, who goes there for her college thesis, specifically to study the local flowers native to Geos. There, she learns the island has a native population of local automatons made of wood known collectively as the Constructs, who seem to have a sort of social caste system that leads to the plot's central conflict. The upper class are known as Spirits, greater tiki-mask-like entities that pride themselves on the local species of flowers that can grow from their backs – a sign of considerable status on the island – and the wooden Constructs, who outnumber but are markedly less powerful than the Spirits, are pretty fed up with their supposed betters and their treatment. However, the Spirits don't merely cultivate the flowers for their own arrogance – though that certainly is a factor – but they are also a source of power, and tearing them, forcefully, from their hides greatly diminishes their strengths. Thus Lili, not bound by the social order and not above raising a fuss for getting an A in her classes, begins harassing everything on the island and tearing flowers like a woman possessed. It sounds only slightly more psychotic than it actually is.
Graphically, I'm legitimately impressed that a small team was able to make the game look this good. It's very stylized, giving everyone a very distinct design, which is saying something as most of the characters in this game are not human. Lili herself is quite a cute and endearing character, drawn in an almost Pixar-style, with large, expressive eyes and a simplistic overall design. Her role as scientist (or soon to be scientist) is obvious from a glance, as is her role as flower-tearing terror given her athletic appearance. The constructs, meanwhile, are large, oftentimes between one-and-a-half to two time as tall as our heroine and oftentimes barrel-chested in the most literal sense. The Spirits, as said, are distinctive due to their large, exaggerated masks and large, lumpy bodies. It makes them both alien and strange looking while adding an air of familiarity enough to not make them TOO alien. And the overall world is just lovely to behold; I really believe this place is alive and full of inhabitants. It's really great stuff.
The music in the game is pretty good too. The overworld theme is a serene piece, and the 'battle' music rapidly picks up tempo. I don't really know what kind of genre it all falls into, but it sounds great and I like it. The sound effects are great too, being largely cartoony and slapstick-y. I don't really have much more to say than that – I really am impressed with the game's presentation as a whole, baring in mind that, from what I can find, this is the work of 5 or 6 people.
The game bills itself as an adventure-RPG hybrid. It is not. It's actually more of a puzzle game that has a few stats you can improve over time both with permanent stat boosts and equipment – but these include stealth (how much you can sneak up on a Spirit before they notice and run), speed (chasing said running Spirits), and stamina (how long you can jump atop a Spirit and how many mistakes you can make). You chase after Spirits, leap on them, and enter a quick time event where you need to rip the flowers from their back – corresponding to their health – and avoid the prickling thorns you need to ignore and actively removing the bombs that harm you if you don't swiftly remove them. All Spirits will have 4 growth spots you can target, corresponding to the face buttons on your controller or set keys on your keyboards and thus the main gameplay throughline of the game is established.
At its heart the game is a bit of a collect-a-thon at times, between gathering coins, white flowers, and keys, the first two being currencies on the island and the latter being a method of advancing to new areas to harass other Spirits. The game's “puzzle” element falls on the QTEs. It also claims to be 40 hours... and it isn't. To clear the story mode takes just 3 or 4 hours and to get all the achievements would, at most, take double that. But it is clear to me that a lot of the negative Steam reviews hinge upon false expectations players had going into the game – the current banner on the Steam page (at original time of writing) has Lili dressed up in a costume resembling Link's from the Zelda series. And while I'm certain the much-maligned marketing was never meant for malice or misinformation, it has resulted in much misunderstandings and that's really a shame.
Fact is Lili Child of Geos is a unique game with a distinct personality and gameplay to call its own. And I think that should be celebrated. While I completed the game and got about 75% of the game's achievements in about 4 or 5 hours, I legitimately enjoyed this game. I liked meeting the quirky individuals and while the laughter the game provoked did not – as the marketing promised originally – make my sides ache, it did more than once put a smile on my face. While the constructs and spirits are generally more on the forgettable side, I found Lili herself very endearing and her interactions with the island's residents are genuine and oftentimes humorous indeed. By smashing vases and doing side quests, the former of which respawn when the map loads anew and the latter come in quantities a-plenty, Lili and collect-a-thon her way through a mountain of coins and flowers, the latter can be exchanged for more cash or used at certain vendors unlocked as you progress. Lili can be dressed up to the nines and the game has a hat obsession the likes of which would make Team Fortress 2 nod its head in solemn approval. Further, as I mentioned earlier, our stats can be raised at a particular gym unlocked early in the game and equippables can further supplement our stat growths.
Another thing is the game is quite forgiving. If you leap atop a spirit who's just too much for you, you merely fall off and get taunted, but Lili cannot truly die or fail in her missions. You can then dust yourself off, reassess your strategy, and chase down the spirit anew like a crazed ex-lover hellbent on getting their attention. You can also decide to leave and come back later, after getting better equipment and consumable items. The Spirits never despawn or leave the maps they call home and you can even rechallenge them later for a better result. See, when you assault one, you will be graded based on time and accuracy. If you get 3 stars, you also claim the Spirit's mask as a token for a... somewhat macabre collection of trophies signifying Lili's win. These are, by no means, mandatory – just a nice collectible token you can shoot for if you want to get everything you can.
All together, is Lili worth it? I'd say yes.
