Smushi Come Home

A hidden gem in my book. At the core the game is a platform-exploration game with few puzzles and even those are quite easy to solve. For the graphics, you can actually adjust how much pixelation you want in the Settings. In the screenshots from the game’s steam page, those are taken with minimal or low pixelation, but if you turn it up to max, it becomes a Game Boy looking game; so depending on your taste, you can customize that. Audio too, the game has a nice and chill soundtrack, it is overall a cozy game, and in difficulty too, with the only challenges in this game being related on collecting some of the cosmetics. And those cosmetics are the mushroom cap/top (however the mushroom umbrella is called). As for the story, it is a simple one, you play as Smushi who gets lost in a forest and wants to return home. Along the way you will meet all kinds of NPCs, some giving you quests for bonus powers, others will give you skills and upgrades for them, and others will advance the story. They come in different shape and sizes, from fellow mushrooms to capybaras and spirits. Story also continues post-game, it is not just free exploration, it opens up a whole new area. So, for the gameplay, the main mechanic being platforming, and to help with this you get a bunch of skills (or better said equipment) which helps you out. The first and most important things you will use are hooks and a glider. You use the hooks to latch onto walls, and I mean any wall, from glass bottles, to trees, to flower pots, etc, basically if it’s vertical and solid, you can climb it. But it has restrictions, you can hook only once (twice with an upgrade). The glider, well, it helps you glide. You can increase air time by doing spirit quests, as for it’s main upgrade, it is just a small boost when you start gliding. Other things do not get upgrades and are less used but they are essential of getting you in certain areas, like the sword which allows cutting vines. There are also 2 currencies in the game, purple and green gems. The green ones are used to buy stuff from certain NPCs and the purple ones are for cosmetics, both are found just through exploring the world. But as fun as the game was, I gotta mention the negatives, and they are minor, more like pet-peeves. The one that annoyed me is the fact that the hook mechanic latches on walls when you don’t wana. So this is automatic, meaning jumping near a wall surface will latch you on it if you want to or not. And the other being the fact that you cannot pan the camera upwards, and for a game which has vertical platforming in some areas, this sure is an inconvenience. That is about it. It is a game with no combat, no deaths, it might be annoying if you missed something and wana return to a zone, but post-game you get a teleport item so you can revisit areas with ease. The only real downside of the game might be its price, I do not think it is worth 20$ but if you catch it in a sale/bundle, then it is full rec from me.

all hail the squishy mushroom

渺小的自己或许能给予他人最真诚的温暖。

JUEGAZOO, LO AMEEE

phenomenal talking simulator

Short, fun, relaxing and sweet. If the state of the world's got you feeling blue and you've already played "A Short Hike" give this one a shot.