It's an interesting game and a hard recommendation to make at the same time. Personally, I loved it, but I also love games that attempt to explore concepts other that "fun": Pathologic, Cruelty Squad, Fear & Hunger... If you loved those games for the same reasons I did, maybe give it a shot.

It's well written, the art is lovely, the characterization is flawless, the narrative is interesting and the themes are reinforced through its gameplay.

Its world is big and expansive and deep and thoughtful.

The lore is all there and you discover it at your own pace.

It's slow, yes, but that also makes it weirdly relaxing and meditative.

I love the Shade and want to adopt it and take care of it forever; there are few games out there that accomplish this without using animals or puppies. It's unique experience that you have to go into with patience and open-mindedness. If it's not your thing, that's fine; but if it sounds intriguing, give it a shot, it might just surprise you.

A lovingly crafted short game with great writing, a detailed open world filled with interesting and funny interactions and a surprising amount of thematic depth.

Where other AAA fill their massive open world with by-the-numbers content, side quests or soulless content; Boots Quest takes its cues from games like A Short Hike to make it's world feel alive. Every centimeter of this game's world feels purposeful and alive, leading to interesting characters, dialogue and fun side-stories and quests.

It's bare-bones gameplay and mechanics might seem a downside but they play off well with it's general deconstruction of the RPG and Open World genres and tropes. They're truly a red herring for what Boots Quest really is: an open world puzzle game in the vein of classic point & click titles but with intuitive and simple puzzle design. It's not a challenging game by any means, but I don't think thats the point or necessary (or the devs intent for that matter); it wants to tell a story of purpose, desire and self-fullfilment and it does that beautifully (and with a great deal of quips and comedy).

I sincerely recommend it and am looking forward to more games from this developer after what is a great and promising start.