Recent reviews by Mz Cookies

Pocket Oasis is a gardening game where you take care of plants on your little balcony across various European cities. I loved the idea of it, but after playing, I realised that it is moreso a game that you have in the background that you sometimes attend to, or one that you play for a bit and then come back to. It is extremely, extremely slow paced and is not what I expected after reading the storepage at all

Pros

• Cute, watercolour hand-painted art
  
• Variety of plants and objects to choose from
  
• Said to utilise real geographical weather data to influence the ingame climate.

Cons

• Almost no tutorial
  
• Unnecessarily difficult and unclear controls
  
• Extremely slow-paced, plants do not seem to grow quick enough to harvest to progress

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When I first heard about this game, I was excited at the concept. I generally enjoy gardening, slow-paced, relaxing games where there’s not really an end goal, but more a focus on creating your own space and the journey to get there with lots of small goals to meet. Yet, in Pocket Oasis, I found it extremely frustrating and lacklustre. You are not explained anything, sometimes a bird comes with a few hints, but it is rare. I worked out that you need jam(?) to purchase new plants, items, pets etc. This jam acts as the game currency, but how you get it, is not clear. You can harvest chillies which give you very very few, and sometimes fertilising the plants seemed to give some as well. Then you must click on it in the top left corner to I suppose, turn it into jam. But the amount it takes to form 1 jar of jam is also unclear.

In essence, you must harvest a lot of fruit and veggies to keep your supply up! I always made sure that each plant was within the adequate range of water and fertiliser. However, eventually, you reach a point where you are harvesting so rarely, that you cannot unlock anything else and you just have to wait…. Until your plant becomes infected with a pest. To rid the pest, you must use the currency you are saving up to finally decorate your garden with, but have to purchase the pest removal item instead. Most of the time, mainly due to the confusing controls (sometimes drag and drop, other times point and click), the bugs would just come back, and I did not have enough jam to buy more pest control so the plant would die. I felt extremely restrained when trying to decorate my own oasis as I was so restricted by the very little currency I had, and eventually, I ran out. Most of the plants I bought did not seem to bloom in 1.5 hours and I am unsure if they are growing in a more realistic time, or if it was the wrong season for them to grow. The catalogue does not seem to mention which seasons each plant is, so I bought blindly. My blueberries, kiwi nor eggplant never grew to a harvestable state which meant I had almost 0 income coming in.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3249890099

Due to the lack of a tutorial, the game is hard to understand, and I am still not clear if this is supposed to be almost like a background, interactive wallpaper game instead of a game you actively play when launched. I felt no motivation to continue and was unable to decorate how I wanted to due the games own constraints and feel that very little QA or testing went into this before its release.


Featuring watercolour, handpainted art, the style is rather unique and feels very homely and comfortable. The sound is a faint but uplifting and equally relaxing, making the perfect atmosphere to potter around and tend to your plants. These are the best elements of the game.

This game was played using a keyboard & mouse, and with the following PC specs.:
AMD Ryzen R5 7600x 5.4 GHz
32GB DDR5 5200 CL36 RAM
Radeon RX 6800 XT
2560x1440 resolution
NVMe 3.0 SSD
Windows 10

It saddens me to not recommend this one, as I had high hopes for it…but I can’t help but find it a big disappointment. I suspect this is supposed to be played sparingly to let the plants grow, but for a $AU20.50 game, this feels rather expensive for a glorified idler. I was hoping for more of a simulator where my plants can thrive, and I can create my own little greenhouse. Instead, it was more like reality where not only do my plants die irl, but also virtually now too.

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Deep Beyond is a short walking simulator that tells the story of sea exploration, missing treasure and family. It is a very simple game that will not take more than a few hours and features very abstract, contrast art that is certainly different, but I cannot say it was particularly appealing to me.

Pros

• Simple premise and gameplay feels very relaxing
  
• Fully voiced
  
• Chapter select
  
• Final decision at the games conclusion
  
• Easy puzzles

Cons

• Not much context is provided for the story
  
• Artstyle and overly saturated colours began to give me a headache
  
• Story is a bit theatrical and cliche with the "bad guys" trope

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You play as Lily, a sea explorer who searches for missing treasure. Accompanied by Howard, a father-figure who helped raise her after losing her family. They both are on the lookout for a final disc to complete a map to find the valued treasure. Lily can traverse underwater with the help of her trusty suit and helmet and is determined to solve the mystery of the hidden treasure. Despite being slightly cliché and a story we have seen done a million times before, this short narrative was fine, but just does not stand out amongst the many more popular treasure-hunting games. There is no real motivation to care about any of the characters as the playtime is so short and the “bad guys” trope is forced pretty dramatically, almost like in a Disney show where it felt a bit strange and overly theatrical. My favourite element was Lily’s dog, Chester, who follows her around wherever she goes (on land).

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3248076976
I felt the story was portrayed rather strangely and in an odd order. Albeit being only a few hours long, I did not feel that I had enough context for who Lily’s character is, why does she want this treasure, what is it etc. The historical name of the keeper of the treasure was mentioned consistently but not explained until much later. This had me confused, thinking I must have missed some vital lore and must have misunderstood. However, after going back, I interacted with everything that I could, I just feel that the story is told a bit unorderly. It would have been nice to interact with more optional objects to hear the narration explain a bit more of the background to players who are searching for it.


Deep Beyond is predominantly a walking simulator with very few puzzles thrown in. Even underwater you walk, not swim (due to diving gear?). You cannot run and you walk very slowly. There are only minimal objects to interact with, so most of the time is spent enjoying the scenery and unique visuals.

The puzzles that are present are ok, nothing too difficult, moreso just minor traversal obstacles. Turn an object X amount of times to remove the blockage, push something into place so you can traverse it. Line up a pattern to have it match the template and so forth. The game is very easy and felt more cinematic to play as it can just tell its story without the player ever getting stuck or frustrated.

As stated in the introduction, the visuals are undeniably abstract and unique, however I did not find them attractive or appealing. Actually, quite the contrary. The bright, overly saturated colours combined with slow movement speed seemed to cause some strain on my eyes and after finishing the game, I felt a little uneasy. The ocean is a bright orange, the background all blends into one hue of blue, characters are missing eyes, the sky will be bright neon yellow. The artistic style of Deep Beyond is definitely unique and I am sure many will appreciate it for its variance and charm, but Even without the slight nausea, I did not find it pretty or bad, just strange, but certainly memorable.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3248076957

All characters are fully voiced and dialogue is better than I expected. There are not many lines and there are no dialogue choices (until the end you can make a final decision), so you are mainly watching the story unfold infront of you, without your input. It is very slow paced and even opening doors will take a few seconds to watch the animation, but I really enjoyed the cutscenes and listening to the Lily’s charming narration as it felt genuine.

This game was played using a keyboard & mouse, and with the following PC specs.:
AMD Ryzen R5 7600x 5.4 GHz
32GB DDR5 5200 CL36 RAM
Radeon RX 6800 XT
2560x1440 resolution
NVMe 3.0 SSD
Windows 10

Playtime: Around 2 hours for 100% completion. Just over 1 hour to complete the game.
Note – I became stuck trying to find the last achievement so it took me a bit longer, however there are no missable achievements as chapters can be reloaded.

Controller Recommended? Player choice

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3248077192

Replayability value: No. For the last chapter, you can reload it and just choose different options to see the small difference in endings and for related ending achievements.


Deep Beyond is a quick and easy walking simulator that will take no more than 2 hours of your time. With a short, albeit slightly cliché story to tell, a cute dog to keep you company and an easy 100% achievements at a fair price of only $AU7.50, I recommend it for those looking for a relaxing, stress-free game. However, it is best to keep in mind that if you are prone to motion sickness or known to have similar issues in video games with overly saturated colours, I recommend checking out some clips of gameplay prior to purchasing to see if you feel this is right for you.

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Paper Bride is the first game of a 5-part Chinese folklore puzzle series. It is point and click with quite clever puzzles and a more traditional style. Its incorporation of Chinese folklore make it stand out from the rest, albeit it can be a bit hard to follow for non-Chinese audiences. However, its visually stunning and creepy atmosphere combined with an in-depth story, challenging puzzles and cultural focus make it a game I recommend.

Pros

• Heavy incorporation of Chinese folklore
  
• Challenging puzzles
  
• Visually stunning & spooky
  
• Detailed story

Cons

• Some puzzles can be a bit difficult to understand
  
• Some elements to the story were hard to follow

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Paper Bride is heavily inspired by traditional Chinese folklore and this game serves as a great medium to learn more about Chinese culture. You play as a groom on his wedding night, only to realise that something is horribly wrong and the bride, wearing a traditional red wedding dress is now all in white with a ghostly, pale appearance. She then vanishes into the night and decorations surrounding him, including food have all strangely turned into paper.

The protagonist then tries to discover what happened to his bride, where did she go and what exactly is going on. The ambience is ominous, and the game does a superb job at creating a creepy, unnerving atmosphere. The game then taps into its mythology inspiration for the backbone of its story with various plot twists throughout.

I enjoyed the story but felt that some items used in rituals were not fully explained and I did not understand the full significance of ceremonies or felt like I 100% understood small things such as the way statues were placed and what significance they held. I always found myself wanting to further understand and turned to Google to answer my questions that the game did not. Overall, it is still a great way to experience something new and be exposed to a culture you may not know nothing about previously.


Paper Bride is a point and click game that is separated into 5 chapters. Each chapter takes place in a small area usually with 3-4 scenes that you can move between. There are no item hotspots or checklist of tasks to do. You keep important items in your inventory and use those to complete puzzles. There are also some very clever puzzles that I found quite challenging, and it is expected that you will heavily investigate every inch of the scene to progress. However, there is also a handy hint option that recharges quickly and will provide full solutions if needed. Specific puzzles can also be skipped with the only consequence being unable to get 100% achievements.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3240673849

Some puzzles were easier such as moving around sliding blocks or jigsaw puzzles. Other puzzles required a lot more effort, going back and forth to memorize a specific pattern to be able to emulate it elsewhere. Taking notes is definitely needed in this game. Some of the puzzles that I found more difficult were deciphering Chinese characters and being able to memorise specific characters to use these in a puzzle combination, for example, a numeric code. Whilst at first I found this premise quite interesting and unique, having to go back and forth constantly to try and match up which is which became more annoying than fun, even relying on screenshots. Overall, I am impressed with the standard of the puzzle difficulty and it is not what I expected. The handy hint option is needed for those who don’t wish to spend copious amounts of time being stuck, but the game is quite short overall.


Visually, the game oozes creepiness and is very dark with great sepia tones and a grainy style. The visuals were one of my favourite elements to the game with every scene being simple, yet well designed.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3240673002

Adding to the spooky factor was the excellent ambient sounds and atmosphere it created. Even the minor clicking sounds or sound of opening cupboards felt like it created tension. There was no voice acting for me but after reading some other comments, I believe the VA is in Chinese and if playing in English, it may default to no VA which is a shame.

This game was played using a mouse only, and with the following PC specs.:
AMD Ryzen R5 7600x 5.4 GHz
32GB DDR5 5200 CL36 RAM
Radeon RX 6800 XT
2560x1440 resolution
NVMe 3.0 SSD
Windows 10

Controller Recommended? No

Replayability value: No, only for achievements, especially doing a no-hint playthrough.

Paper Bride is a unique puzzle game with heavy cultural inspiration. The series seems impressively popular and is fairly priced at only $AU11.50. Despite the game being made as a method of sharing it internationally, and not just centred in China, I found it still a bit difficult to follow with not enough explanations of item significance and some of the language-style puzzles being slightly fatiguing. Overall, it is a great way of experiencing traditional folklore you may not have been introduced to before and is sure to appease puzzle fans looking for something a bit more on the challenging side.

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Whisker Waters is a cute RPG centred around cats and fishing. Despite its overwhelmingly cute and wholesome appearance, the game itself feels very unfinished and lacks some core features that it so desperately needs. The game is filled with many things to do, but it is hard to focus on these as the awful, choppy performance and terrible camera angles started making me feel nauseous so I had to stop. I hope to return to the game if some of the issues mentioned are patched in future updates as there does seem like a fun game underneath the issues, just needed more time in development.

Pros

• Excellent character creation
  
• Absurdly cute. Cats & fishing = winning combo!
  
• Variable fishing mechanics

Cons

• Floating objects everywhere you look (including needed objects such as wood or apples)
  
• Missing textures with severe clipping
  
• Lack of quest markers or directions on quest items, locations etc
  
• Severe frame rate drops in towns
  
• Choppy camera angles and movement that became nausea inducing
  
• The same song seems to play on loop the entire game

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You play as a young feline who has aspirations of improving their fishing skills and finding out what happened to the prestigious Fish Rangers, and can they live up to their expectations? Explore the area, help out townsfolk and complete ample quests. There are many different regions to explore and the environment is semi open world, with more villages unlocking as the game progresses.





Whisker Waters sets out to combine two lovable things, cats and fishing. It succeeds at this and managed to draw in the “cozy gamer” crowd, myself included… however, sadly, it so desperately needed to be Early Access or have more development time before release. I see great potential in this and am disappointed to see it in such a poor state at launch. I am hopeful that developers Underbite Games will continue to update and improve on its current issues.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3237432905&tscn=1714641446

The crux of the game is that you run around, complete standard fetch-type quests for characters and of course, fish. Fishing was ok and had a few different mini-game variations to try and keep things fresh. It still wasn’t as fun as I thought it would be, given that it is the games main feature. Collecting different bait will attract different fish, some fish will be easier to catch than others, some may be scared if you cast your line too close to them etc. I found it difficult to tell which fish is which before I caught them, as many look the same from a distance and there is no way of identifying them prior to catching them, unless you can recognise their colours just at surface level. There is also a light combat element which I did not expect. You have a spear and can hit enemies, but take one hit and you will “die,” but will respawn at the entry to the hazardous area, so it is very forgiving.

Quests
Besides the performance, I found quests to be rather frustrating. There are no quest markers or icons on the map. There is no way of telling which character is going to give you a quest, or a simple “hello” dialogue. This means you must interact with everyone to see if you might get lucky and get a quest. There is no ability to track quests either, there will be no map pinpoint, only a vague description that typically only makes sense if you remember where you originally picked up the quest. Even if you have found the needed item, the map will not distinguish the quest giver, so you have no idea where to take it, or which region it is in. These are core features in most RPGs and to have them completely lacking here just felt like a big waste of the players time.

Performance Issues & Motion Sickness
I cannot quite describe why this game induces such bad motion sickness, but even at higher frame rates, it just feels very choppy. Moving the camera angles quickly gave me a headache and lowering sensitivity did not seem to help. Venturing into highly populated areas resulted in a FPS tank from 90 to around 40-50 which made the motion sickness much worse. Trying to catch bugs or scratch on scratching posts will often cause the camera to rotate to a strange angle, being blocked behind a tree or within the ground or skybox, blocking the cute animation. My character was commonly missing one leg and there were floating objects everywhere. Apples floated in the air beside trees, logs were also floating which was frustrating as this was a quest item that I just could not get without purchasing them due to most being floating out of reach.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3237463251



The graphics are very simple with some expected missing textures but overall is quite cute. Unfortunately, the many bugs undermine the simple but effective visuals.

Sound is very lackluster. The same song seems to loop on repeat for the games entirety, or at least for the first few hours. There is no voice acting and a severe lack of ambient sound.

This game was played using a keyboard & mouse, and with the following PC specs.:
AMD Ryzen R5 7600x 5.4 GHz
32GB DDR5 5200 CL36 RAM
Radeon RX 6800 XT
2560x1440 resolution
NVMe 3.0 SSD
Windows 10

Playtime: 2 hours for me until I had to stop due to dizziness and motion sickness.

Controller Recommended? Player choice.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3237433492

Replayability value: No, but I suspect it has a hefty playtime with all side and main quests.


Whisker Waters has many areas where it needs improvements and could have benefited from more development time, which may not have been a viable option for the Dev team. However, I hope developers will take onboard the constructive criticism and continue to improve their game, especially patching in quest icons and fixing the motion sickness / camera angles.

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Distant Bloom is a cozy exploration game with a large focus on sustainability and restoring the environment. With crafting and farming as its main gameplay, it’s a laidback, relaxing game that you can easily pick up and put down again and is great for wholesome game fans.


Pros

• Wholesome concept of sustainability / preserving the land
  
• Farming & crafting
  
• Helpful mini map to follow
  
• Interesting & quirky characters

Cons

• Experienced a few freezes which involved having to restart
  
• The beginning has lots of back and forth fetch quests which are a bit repetitive.

You play as some sort of alien species who has been searching for a new home. After a long search, you and your crew come across a new planet that is not what was expected. It is unkempt and devoid of life, filled with garbage and wilted plants. Make it your perfect home and fill it once again with life, bringing greenery to every corner.



Gameplay starts off quite slowly with lots of dialogue and running back and forth to the main ship everytime something is collected. This does improve the longer you play and more areas open up for you to explore at your own pace.

The farming is done in selected quadrants where you can plant seeds to bring the area back to life. You have to match the seedtype to the soil it is being planted in (eg dry, hot, wet etc) and also try and be diverse in your planting so no two plants that are the same are beside each other. Filling the area with blooming plants/trees will then bring the area back to life and allow the plants to be harvested for other seeds or resources that can be used in cooking.
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3235903857

You slowly get more equipment and skills that will help you clear debris and allow you to reach new areas, gain access to new resources and expand your seed inventory and meals you can cook. Overall, the game by nature is rather repetitive and does stay mainly the same throughout. The map function is great, but I still did struggle getting around specific obstacles sometimes, as the map only points you in the direction of the next objective and not where to exactly go.

This game was played using a controller, and with the following PC specs.:
AMD Ryzen R5 7600x 5.4 GHz
32GB DDR5 5200 CL36 RAM
Radeon RX 6800 XT
2560x1440 resolution
NVMe 3.0 SSD
Windows 10

Controller Recommended? Yes


Distant Bloom is a cute game where you can change the world around you for the better. Watch forests bounce back to life and steer the future in a healthier direction. There is no combat or difficulty, it is simply all about calm restoration, farming and crafting in a friendly alien society! If this sounds like the type of game for you, I highly recommend giving it a try.

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What Have You Done, Father? is a psychological-horror-narrative-adventure with investigative themes. Developed by a solo developer, Darkania Works, the graphics and overall gameplay I found especially impressive for a one-person team. Those interested in the game should keep in mind that the story is twisted and rather perverse and there is a large sexual element with some slightly erotic scenes which may not appeal to all.


Pros

• Detailed scenes and graphics with lots of objects to interact with
  
• Bizarre but nefarious story filled with twists and turns
  
• Collectables
  
• Focus on investigations
  
• Spooky elements that keep you guessing

Cons

• Some erotic scenes are completely unnecessary
  
• Chapter menu does not stipulate where missed collectables are

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Being only 2 hours long and filled with twists, I will keep this section light and spoiler-free.

The game is set “somewhere in Europe” (this is a direct quote, it does not stipulate the country) but you play as Father Mathias Marton, a respected priest. You share your home with two other men who are studying to become priests and they both seem to look up to you. You receive a troublesome call from a young lady named Marina, asking to come over to speak to you about a problem that is upsetting her. You welcome her in with open arms and that is where the game takes a dark (and strange) turn.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3232266995


Mathias is battling his own demons, the demons of temptation and sin. The game discusses his struggles with this with particular themes on lust, wrath, murder, homosexuality and despair.

Sexual Scenes: Necessary or not?
Without revealing the plot, upon the final conclusion it becomes apparent that the sexual scenes in the beginning were…. Not really there for any reason and had no purpose what-so-ever. I see the developer has wished to compare these scenes to those in The Witcher series and instead of being outright sexual, to be seen as erotic/sensual, but The Witcher is a very different, detailed game with more complex interpersonal connections, something a 2-hour game simply cannot mimic and perhaps why it felt a little off to me. The scenes are not graphic and there is no genitalia shown, but it seems to wish to attract a specific target audience. The priest himself has the smoothest skin and is societally attractive and alongside the female character, they match all the tropes and common male fantasies that I simply thought this game was heading in a very different direction! The camera angles will take every chance to showcase the female characters body or body parts and this happens right at the beginning of the game, so I was not sure if this was adding to one of the many soft-porn games on Steam, but I can safely say that it is not. After this section ends, although there are lots of detailed descriptions and references relating to sex, these make sense with the plot and the priest’s sinfulness and regret. Once again, without being able to reveal too much, these scenes were completely different to the rest of the game and was not a necessary feature to add in my opinion, but choosing to cater to the majority audience is something I can understand, but may make some people confused in the beginning. I also was not bothered until the conclusion where the whole thing just seemed pointless and a tad confusing. I do not think the game needs a censored version or any “hardcore” warnings, but it is just something to be aware of, especially being right at the beginning, it can paint a very different picture of what the game actually is and may deter some, or conversely, lure some, only to be disappointed when the game takes its more horror/walking simulator approach.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3232266750


Now that the fun stuff is out of the way, so what is the game? You explore the rectory and interact with every nook and cranny to learn more about the objects significance and find interesting collectables that discuss previous priests corrupt history. You can talk with some of the other characters and although there isn’t really dialogue options, you feel a bit more involved as you do select the next dialogue option. Gameplay is most similar to a walking simulator title with a narrative focus. Interacting with different objects will yield 2-3 sentences before the prompt disappears, however I did find some lines that seemed to trigger a bit too early in the game for them to make sense, or the same lines will just continue reappearing in further chapters.

Gameplay is very linear and segregated into small chunks in small areas. There is no way to get lost and it is always clear on what to do next. Minor things can change around the location and I enjoyed exploring everywhere first to find the collectables before proceeding with the story objective.

Slowly you will unravel more tidbits about the narrative and begin to question your own sanity and if your own lived experiences can be trusted. I enjoyed the uncertainty and found the gameplay to be there just as a mechanism of telling the story which feels quite cinematic.


Both visuals and audio were surprisingly decent for a solo project. My only real minor complaint was that the characters overly smooth, unrealistic complexion and appearance felt reminiscent of a barbie doll and felt out of place given the gruesome happenings and corrupt setting. Albeit, this is a small complaint and overall, the environment was inherently detailed with decent voice acting and audio.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3232266390

There is a section where a character screams repeatedly and it felt surprisingly authentic and was rather unnerving, definitely the intended effect on players. It made me immediately scramble around trying to find the object to make it stop. This was a good example of how the game created its tense atmosphere without relying on jumpscares or gore.

This game was played using a keyboard & mouse, and with the following PC specs.:
AMD Ryzen R5 7600x 5.4 GHz
32GB DDR5 5200 CL36 RAM
Radeon RX 6800 XT
2560x1440 resolution
NVMe 3.0 SSD
Windows 10

Playtime: 2 hours with a focus on exploration. Approximately 1 hour if you rush the story.

Controller Recommended? No, I don't believe it is supported.

Replayability value: No, it is a short story with no decision making. Only for missed collectables.


What Have You Done, Father? is a strange game that matches its unusual title. It is predominantly a narrative adventure with psychological horror elements and investigative themes. Being developed by only one person, there is much to credit here and the game felt as if it had a much higher production value than many solo-developed projects that I have encountered. Despite some seemingly unnecessary slight erotica, its story managed to draw me in with numerous twists and turns throughout. Exploring the small, but detailed spaces to comb for more information felt enjoyable and rewarding. Although the game is definitely on the peculiar side, overall I enjoyed my time with it and for the fair price of $AU10.25, I recommend it.

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Deep in the Woods is a puzzle, mobile game with beautiful art. Emphasis on the mobile part though, as there is no functionality here for PC with clunky controls classed as “touch-based” and a lack of basic necessities such as side scrolling arrows. Despite the nice-looking art, its lack of core functions and extremely obscure story leave behind a game I cannot recommend.

Pros

• Beautiful art resembling a painting
  
• $AU4.50 fair price

Cons

• Lack of core functions
  
• Direct mobile port
  
• Extremely obscure story trying to find a balance between cute and horror
  
• Obtuse puzzles with no direction or hotspots

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After the protagonists father gets killed in the tutorial, you set off to find the wolf (spirit?) who did it and you travel through different seasons to complete puzzles and minigames to progress.

The game struggles to find its identity between cute and horror and ends up with a really strange mix of both. I have played games that have managed to find this balance, but it is quite difficult to achieve, and Deep in the Woods just becomes a bit of a strange disaster. See cute birds fluttering about and then pan to the next screen and there is a dead human with pools of red around him. Right from the get-go I was confused, and I like both cute and horror games but this game seemed to suffer from its lack of direction.

The controls are bizarre and clearly just for mobile users. There are no arrows on the sides of the screen, instead you must hold M1 and drag it side to side to constantly shift between scenes. I ended up feeling sick after 30 minutes and had to stop. There are no hotspots so most of the time you are clicking around at nothing, trying to see if something is a puzzle. You have an inventory where you can store items and then drag them onto objects or puzzles when needed but the puzzles itself seemed just as unusual as the story. There were some more normal puzzles such as tile puzzles and memory based ones, but others such as the very first puzzle you have to click right at the correct spot, multiple times… but the game does not explain to you where is that first spot? For an hour or so long game, I heavily relied upon gameplay videos to be able to get myself through. There is lots of backtracking and sliding across your screen back and forth with little feeling of motivation to continue, besides the pretty backdrops.


The visuals are the best thing about the game, but the strange horror twist does not seem to blend well with the style.
Audio sounded slightly staticky and does not fade after cutscenes, it just stops abruptly.

Controller Recommended? No

Replayability value: None


Ultimately, I found Deep in the Woods to really test my patience, with a lack of a hint option, obscure puzzles, weird story (not in a good way), lack of an exit game option (you can press escape to prompt it but there is no visual cue), lack of hotspots and the mouse navigation from area to area was nauseating. The price of $AU4.50 is appealing but it seems the developers were in a rush to get this onto the PC platform, and I cannot recommend it.

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Promenade is a hidden gem amongst its platformer genre and its cute graphics should not be confused with it being a kids-only game. Featuring extremely variable, challenging gameplay and smart puzzles with new mechanics introduced constantly, it always managed to keep me on the edge of my seat.

Pros

• Extremely variable gameplay
  
• Cute, whimsical world
  
• Smart and intuitive puzzles
  
• Simple traversal design that can be difficult to master
  

Cons

• Can be unclear on where to go next

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There is not much of a story in the game. You fall into a watery cave and are saved by a cute octopus-like creature. This creature then joins you on your mission to repair the Great Elevator. Each time you repair a level, more cogs are scattered across the map for you to find.


As I said in the introduction, Promenade is most definitely not just for kids, the gameplay is fairly challenging. Don’t let the cute aesthetic fool you! The core mechanic is that you can double jump once you’re holding something. This can be enemies or any random object that you can pick up. This will then propel the object down, thereby elevating you upwards. A double jump (when done in mid air). This simple, but unique premise evolves over time and there are constant new changes being introduced that help keep gameplay fresh and exciting. These jumps sometimes also need to be chained to reach high places, so grab something, jump, swing off a hook and then quickly grab another floating enemy in the air to propel yourself even higher. Falling does not result in any damage (as long as you land on the ground) but you will need to start climbing from the beginning again.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3219093723

While the protagonist does have a health bar, it refills at constant checkpoints and the game is fairly forgiving when you do die, or fall off the edge. Typically respawning you on the last solid ground you were at before.

The main goal is to collect each of the parts of the cogs to be able to power up the elevator and get to the next phase. The cog parts can be found all over the place, with some easier to obtain than others. Some may be behind a large puzzle section and a boss fight, whereas others you may just be able to climb up a few obstacles to nab. Not all cog parts need to be done to progress the game, there are many extras here for completionists or achievement hunters to enjoy.

I never knew what was around the corner in Promenade. Boost yourself through the level while riding a rocket, swing from chimpanzees hands, corral the chickens back in the coop, complete gravity puzzles or travel through space. The game is absolutely jam packed with creativity and many of the puzzles were exceptionally well designed and I could not help but admire the developers (Holy Cap’s) ideas.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3220118098

Knowing where to go
This is the only part of the game that made me a tad frustrated but it is not necessarily a fault of the game. There are no indicators telling you where the remaining cog parts are, or where you have already been. There is a journal page that will tick off completed levels, but the universe is exceptionally large that I found it difficult to remember where things were, or how to get there again. I spent far too long aimlessly wandering around trying to find areas I hadn’t been to yet, or trying to find that one area by the beginning of the game that I need to return to. This is definitely a personal preference, or perhaps an accessibility feature, but it would be nice to be able to be shown some directions, or even a map when completely lost.


The world of Promenade is undeniably wholesome, boasting its light, pastel aesthetic and cute creatures. There are no weapons, and you cannot kill any of the enemies. You can pick them up and throw them, but they will respawn shortly after and are the main way to traverse.

There is no voice acting but the cheery upbeat soundtrack reminded me of older style platformers like Kirby. Each time you locate a cog, a little flute tune will play, representing a sort of congratulations, you did it! Did I mention the game was wholesome?

This game was played using a controller, and with the following PC specs.:
AMD Ryzen R5 7600x 5.4 GHz
32GB DDR5 5200 CL36 RAM
Radeon RX 6800 XT
2560x1440 resolution
NVMe 3.0 SSD
Windows 10

Playtime: 5 – 10 hours for a playthrough, but there is much content to discover to keep you going for double that.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3220118213

Controller Recommended? Yes, definitely.

Replayability value: Yes, the game is brimming with things to do, especially for completionists.


Promenade is a top-quality platformer that is bursting with creativity. From its smart puzzles, engaging and everchanging gameplay to its whimsical world, there is just so much to love here. Its looks can be deceiving, and it is definitely more challenging than its cute graphics let on. I highly recommend this for all platformer fans.

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Season: A Letter to the Future is an artsy little exploration game focusing on memories and the importance of the world around us, and its past. It has an interesting narrative and a very slow pace, being careful to not answer all of your questions. This will be either a hit or a miss depending on your own wants from games. I enjoyed my playthrough, and it does raise some thought provoking questions, but I found the experience to be more aligned with those who have a preference for free exploration and spirituality and for those who like to come to their own conclusions in games.

Pros

• Gorgeous environments to cycle through
  
• Let your creativity shine through via your journal decorations
  
• Relaxing and stress-free adventure

Cons

• Not much background information on specific characters or topics that I found the most interesting
  
• Sluggish navigation, lots of clipping into objects

Season: A Letter to the Future is a very symbolic game that is careful not to give too much away. Much of it comes from your own interpretation on things you find. Quite honestly, I am very much not the target audience for this style and prefer definitive answers, however I still found enjoyment in the game and encourage anyone who is interested to form their own opinions.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3218224017

You play as a photographer, a young adult in a small, cliffside town who learns the season is about to end. Seasons seem to resemble eras or times of great change. With this new information, she sets out into the world, outside the safety of her village with a mission to document, photograph and record the life around her. To preserve this information for future generations to come and act as a sort of historical piece. What exactly the protagonist chooses to focus on is up to the player, as it comes up in conversations, whether she is looking at talking and learning from other people, exploring the nature etc.

However, the story never really loops around to tell players, who is this protagonist? What is her life experience? Why is it such a big deal to leave the village, why does no one else do this. Why does she feel compelled to do this and no one else? What is this war that keeps vaguely being mentioned? The beginning of the story encompasses some sort of protection ritual that seems embedded into the local culture, but what culture? I found I had so many questions right at the beginning and although some get answered, most are left open to interpretation and it meant I did not feel connected to the protagonist. I see other reviews calling the game a testament to human emotion and how it showcases emotions such as grief very well, except I never once felt this as I did not feel I had enough information to allow this. That being said, I reiterate that I do come from a scientific background and prefer logical, analytical and sensical media with definitive answers and clear stories. Much of the game focuses on religion and spirituality and whilst it does not seem forced or preachy by any means, it once again was not something that I cared for in the slightest and this did negatively impact my view on the game.


Gameplay is very slow paced and relaxing. Cycle around large open, forestry areas and find benches to sit on and sketch the view. Become immersed in the environment around you and listen out for every sound. The sound of water pitter-pattering onto the ground, a frog calling out or wind chimes playing in the distance. Record these sounds, photograph anything that interests you and decorate your journal page with them. I definitely found this relaxing, and it helps you appreciate the world around the character, how the smallest of sounds help to create an atmosphere. The importance of recording and remembering these sounds when one day, they may be gone. These journal entries ensure the past is not forgotten and that future generations may share a glimpse of this era and moment in time.

Cycling around was much more satisfying than I realised, and it felt very freeing to get on your bike and just take in the sights. However, the bike (and your character) become stuck on almost everything. Turn slightly into a bush and your bike will unrealistically come to a complete stop and the character will be standing beside it. Generally, these issues were only minor and did not impede on the overall game too much.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3218223673

Every area is separated into subsections that relate to a specific journal page. Journal pages will either have set item outlines that you need to find the corresponding object to photograph or sound to record to continue. Most journal pages will just have the name such as “ shrine path” and you can fill them with absolutely anything to complete it. These can be 6 photos of the same blurry sky or whatever you like. Pages can be decorated with stickers and will certainly appeal to scrapbook fans and creative people. These pages are what this season will be remembered by.

There are also very few characters you will meet along the way and conversing with them and learning about their pasts was some of my most memorable moments in the game. Although the main village area was slightly confusing to navigate, I liked the focus on freedom and exploration. Start wherever you want and explore everything, or just do the bare minimum. There is no set order or obvious “side quest” explanation marks above characters heads, there is no rush or demands. It is very much up to the player.


I adored the visuals, specifically the stunning sunsets and photography. The luscious open fields of green, the sound of wind rushing past you as you cycle your way down the top of a hill. Tune into the smallest of sounds to record. Crickets chirping or papers rustling, become completely aware of your surroundings and document it all. Voice acting was also decent and I wished there was more of it. There is no self narration as you explore and cycle around (sometimes when interacting with objects) but the silence also helps players to resonate with their own thoughts.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3218224073

This game was played using a controller, and with the following PC specs.:
AMD Ryzen R5 7600x 5.4 GHz
32GB DDR5 5200 CL36 RAM
Radeon RX 6800 XT
2560x1440 resolution
NVMe 3.0 SSD
Windows 10

Playtime: 7.5 hours. I did take my time and completed it to 100% achievements.

Controller Recommended? Yes

Replayability value: No.

Season: A Letter to the Future has left me with mixed feelings. It very much has an ideology that you will get what you give to the game and how much time you take exploring, and pondering over its mysteries and characters. I did take my time ingame and reached 100% completion but will soon forget this experience. The story is not something that resonated with me due to my personal preferences as previously discussed, and I did not find I had enough understanding of the game lore or characters. However, it is clearly purposefully designed this way and I am sure that many will appreciate this artistic choice. Despite my comments on the story, the atmosphere and world is stunning and I loved exploring on my bike to find out any tidbit of information that I could.

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CaseCracker is a text-only “hacking” game most similar to the popular Orwell game, or another indie title, Cyber Manhunt. I enjoy these cyber-detective-who-dun-it style games, but CaseCracker falls short with a clunky HUD, overly complex intertwined stories with especially poor English translation that fails to properly convey tense and context.

Pros

• Optional mysteries to discover
  
• Little handholding
  
• Complexity

Cons

• Very poor English translation
  
• Clunky, unorganised HUD
  
• Overarching story

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You play as a tester to a new system the police will be using to solve cases. Only accompanied by an Officer that you can ask for hints, you are practically on your own. There are five cases, and each are soon revealed to be interconnected with an overarching plot, which I did not enjoy. The absurdity of the plot and muddled information was hard to keep track of, and trying to link all the cases together just became a convoluted mess. I would have much preferred if each case was individual.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3215305498

At the beginning of every case you are presented with the background information on the victim. From here, you must use keywords to search for related information and follow trails that will ultimately lead you to the perpetrator and more understanding of the crime. Some trails are optional and are related to extended questions that typically are for achievements only, not relevant to the actual case. These were tricky and a nice way to reward players who have to find each and every bit of information.

Searching for keywords was hit and miss. Mainly looking for names of people or locations to hear their testimonies, find motives to execute a search warrant, type serial numbers into databases and find more tidbits of information, etc. All characters are Chinese and thus have Chinese names, so be aware that to westerners, this may seem confusing as many names share the same first/last name and added to my confusion. I often got characters muddled up (also due to the confusing UI) which would hinder solving the case greatly. Recommend keeping strict notes on everyone!

Players can use the ingame notes tab to jot down pieces of information however they please. This was a handy addition as it was easy to switch to the notepad and have all information readily accessible. You can also reach out for hints if stuck, or ask for the full solution. These will deduct your case score which does not seem to impact anything, but you can improve your score by successfully answering the “extended mysteries.” I did have problems using the hints as they often were not specific enough or seemed to discuss a latter part of the scenario which I had not encountered yet.

Once the cases start getting more complex, all the sudden you have 50+ tabs with clues that open up to folders of information. Trying to find that most important clue? You have to scroll through them all to find it. You can search keywords within clues, but often I remembered the name of the clue itself, but kept doom scrolling until I finally located it as it would not show up with a keyword search. Specific bits of information also cannot be copied, they must be manually noted down and then re-typed. This leaves it open to error and typos, especially with long foreign names and continuously scrolling back and forth to check the spelling. I liked how in other similar games, specific phrases could be highlighted and copied to your clipboard, or clicked on itself.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3215306967

English translation
Understandably, English is not the developers first language, and it is clear the game has been hurriedly translated into English to try and appeal to a wider audience. Whilst you can get the idea what the text is trying to say, nuances, tense and context is often completely left behind. In a detective game, these details are paramount and sometimes it was difficult to understand if a character is talking in past, present or current tense. This especially confused me when trying to work out alibis and if someone’s opinion of someone changed after hearing something, or was it that way all along? Understanding these were mostly guesses. Some examples of poor translation include “healthy people taking it by accident will probably feel a bit heady.” “She quitted”, “he doesn’t get long with people… but he’s miraculous at work so I kept him along.” Each of these sentences you can gauge what the meaning is behind it, but I found it hard to take seriously, and when getting into the nitty gritty of cases, phrasing and tense especially mattered. Each textbox is generally filled with sentences of similar structure.



CaseCracker is completely text-based and there are no cutscenes or visuals. There are some photos of each character which help to put a face to the name but that is about it. Mysterious audio loops in the background, trying to amp up the stakes of the case. I found it too loud but there are handy settings to tune down the music and sound effects.

This game was played using mouse only, and with the following PC specs.:
AMD Ryzen R5 7600x 5.4 GHz
32GB DDR5 5200 CL36 RAM
Radeon RX 6800 XT
2560x1440 resolution
NVMe 3.0 SSD
Windows 10

Playtime: Approximately 6 hours

Controller Recommended? No

Replayability value: You can go back to past cases to solve the extended mysteries and mop up last achievements. You do not have to replay the game from the beginning which I enjoyed.


The premise of this game greatly appealed to me as I love delving into mysteries, especially text-based where I have all of the tools required to slowly reveal all the information. However, CaseCracker proved more frustrating than enjoyable. With a clunky, overpopulated HUD, confusing intertwined story and told through very poorly translated English dialogue all culminated in a poor experience, one I would not recommend to others. In the beginning, I liked the case complexity, but the technical side of the game made it hard to manage and ultimately felt like a bit of a slog to the end as I stopped caring about the story. Perhaps for those looking for more old-school type of games this may appeal more to you, and especially if you can play it in the developers native language of Chinese.

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