• Combining the combination of a first-person perspective, 2D characters, and 3D environments, you'd be forgiven for thinking Smile For Me was an FPS game after browsing a few screenshots. Instead, what you get is a very colorful adventure game with a distinct approach to character design. That, and a few puppet shows
  
• The palette you see in most of the promotional art carries forward into the game itself. The world, while colorful, is adorned with mostly muted hues, like the pea soup color of the sky or the dead-looking ochre grass. In a way, it pairs nicely with the cute-but-creepy atmosphere arising from the game's story
  
• The cast, too, is a colorful bunch. Quite literally. Some of the characters you'll encounter have green or purple skin. I think they're all supposed to be human (with a few notable exceptions). Each features that sort of flat paper doll look you'd expect from an FPS, but with a glowing aura that helps them stand out from the background
  
• The puppet show FMV dream sequences were a nice touch to add another wrinkle to the visuals. Games like My Friendly Neighborhood have done a bit more with the "creepy Muppet" concept (and some may contend that series like FNaF and Bendy draw from the same well), but it's still effective here
  
• The soundtrack is short, but pretty great. It's composed primarily of electronic tracks that bounce between serene and spooky. I especially enjoyed the jukebox you find in the Lounge. The "funky" and "film" variants of the track that plays there are pretty great
  
• I was a little disappointed to see that there's no voice acting, even in the puppet show portions. Instead, you have the Animal Crossing style gibberish that doesn't really serve much purpose due to the presence of subtitles in those portions

• In Smile For Me, you fill the shoes as the small child of florist who helps out with deliveries. Without any real explanation, you wake up in an apartment building housed inside an environment that you'll soon learn is called The Habitat
  
• A habitat is meant to house live specimens, and the one you find yourself in is no different. As you wander out to begin exploring the strange mess you've found yourself in, you'll find yourself face-to-face with its (mostly) friendly occupants. It seems that no one here is truly happy, and because this is an adventure game, it's incumbent on you to figure out what's wrong and how to fix it
  
• The game tips its hand fairly early with the horror elements, but that's mostly in the service of introducing the antagonist, Dr. Habit. Each character you encounter is receiving treatment (either willingly or unwillingly) of some sort in order to improve their overall happiness and outlook on life. As you'll see, it's fairly clear that Dr. Habit has some less-than-conventional ideas on the topic of mental health that are, in fact, not so healthy
  
• As with all games that touch on the subject mental health, it's worthwhile to stake inventory of the approach. What's unusual about smile for me is that it apparently doesn't have too much to say in that regard. It's neither sensitive nor insensitive; with things like depression and anxiety mostly being hinted at without ever being appraised or judged. A little surprising, but the game doesn't put forward much by way of message or moral
  
• Instead, it's content to let you get to know each of the characters a little bit, introduce their issues, and, after completing their questlines, suggest a small lesson, insight, or platitude. Nothing complex, but with a 3-5 hour runtime, Smile For Me doesn't really intend to present a psychological dissertation

• If you didn't just skip to this section, you'll have ascertained that Smile For Me is a fairly standard first-person adventure title. You'll run around and meet 22 various NPCs, determine what you need to do to cheer them up, and (usually) solve some puzzle to assist them
  
• In terms of puzzle difficulty, most are fairly straightforward, but others can get a little devious. Take, for example, the quest that stumped me the longest. Long story short, you need to take a picture of someone's butt for a photographer. Unfortunately, you'll see that all characters turn to face you at all times. You'll need to figure out how to use the various items you find to cause a distraction that will turn someone around long enough to play voyeur
  
• Others don't take much thought. For example, another NPC will simply give you a boxing glove and ask you to go around punching people. The only difficulty there is remembering where on the map each NPC is standing
  
• One peculiarity of the gameplay is how you communicate with NPCs. Instead of choosing responses from the typical dialogue trees you encounter in games like these, your communication is limited to either nodding or shaking your head with the mouse.
  
• One restriction that bears mentioning is the game's internal timer. There's a day night cycle in place, and Dr. Habit's strict rules require that everyone be tucked snugly into bed by the time curfew rolls around, meaning that you have a limited time each day to mess around. I don't actually know what happens if you don't make it back in time; I was able to make it back without much trouble once the music changed and the timer began ticking down
  
• You'll also note that the game keeps track of how many in-game days have elapsed since you began your journey. I'm not entirely sure if there's some restriction on the maximum number of days you're allotted to reach the finish. In truth, it almost seems like there may have been some grander plan for the time system that got scrapped during development. Beyond the daily cycle being used to advance time for some quests, it doesn't seem to have much other bearing on the game
  
• There are a few different ending options: one "true" ending, a more neutral ending, and a less-than-ideal one. Obtaining the true ending will require you to pay attention to the lore as you're playing through in order to complete a puzzle and obtain an important item. You'll also need to cheer up all 22 NPCs. I suppose that means that there's a modicum of replay value here, but only because the game lacks a manual save option that would allow you to go back to see the other endings

• As I played, I kept expecting Smile For Me to hit some sort of emotional crescendo, throw in a huge twist, or make some sort of statement. It never really does. Instead, it feels like there's a bunch of buildup with no payoff. A lot goes into inflating the balloon, but without any satisfying "pop". Instead, it's content to make fart sounds and flop limply the floor as a conclusion
  
• Still, though, it's an entertaining enough game. If the aesthetics strike the right chord with you, you're likely to get more out of the experience than I did. Fans of adventure games with a big narrative focus or intense puzzles are bound to feel a little let down, though
  
• Ran admirably on the Steam Deck, but I found switching over to my computer and using mouse/keyboard controls to be a little simpler owing to the FPS-like presentation

5.5/10. Smile For Me has personality in spades, but maybe hedges its bets in a way that neuters any message it's trying to send or any jokes it's trying to make. It's a fine enough adventure game if it's on sale and you have a few hours to burn, but you wouldn't be missing out on some hidden indie gem if you decided to play something else

game good :thumbsup: love limbolane