Recent reviews by Renlish

Achievements are obnoxiously difficult but once you figure out the mechanics of the game, it's easy to play. Half the fun is beating your own high scores.

A+ cozy game.

Like many others have said, the game involves a fair bit of reading (and remembering) information. Not reading through the information given to you WILL affect both your understanding of the story and enjoyment of the game.

That said, Strange Horticulture is a delightful little indi gem. I bought it on a whim, expecting more of a "Papers Please" experience but I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong about that. Similar mechanics, totally different game. You spend time collecting and identifying plants for your shop in order to help the residents (and visitors) of Undermere. You do this via way of deliveries from your customers and friends and also exploring the map of Undermere and it's surrounds and referencing your book which has (occasionally infuriatingly vague) descriptions of each plant you discover.

So... Pros and cons time...

Pros...

There's a cat.

Choices and discoveries made will influence the story and, indeed, you are given four different possible endings which gives this game a bit more scope for repeat play-throughs.

You can pat the cat!

The graphics are simple and pretty and the soundtrack provides a lovely atmosphere. This is peak cozycore gaming.

The story itself is great. I personally found it very engaging, especially since I enjoy narrative-driven games.

THE CAT PURRS!

Cons...

It's relatively short. I finished the game in 7 hours. Is it worth the $21.50 AUD I paid? I'd say it's on the cusp of acceptable. I would love to see new chapters or new stories added to it in the future.

The puzzles are a bit simple and once you've worked them out, most of the puzzles that follow become a bit repetitive.

On the whole, however, I thoroughly enjoyed the game and recommend it!

TL;DNR: If there was an option for "Recommended but wait for a sale", I'd choose that. In any case, DEFINITELY wait for a decent sale. $20+ for this one is highway robbery.

Long version:

To be fair, this game is very sweet. I love the concept and it's nice to chill out to. The art is lovely and it can even be a little bit of a challenge to figure out what each item is and where to put it. It does allow you a little creative freedom as to where to place most things; so long as they're in the general vicinity of the right spot, you can arrange everything to your heart's content. I liked how as you progress through each stage of the game, you learn about the character for which you are unpacking. In that, it really good. I can't not give it props for the story progression.

My main issue is the length of game play time. For $28 AUD I expected a heck of a lot more than a couple of hours. I probably would have finished this much sooner but I am a fussy player and enjoyed decorating/placing things. For that amount of money, I expected at least a few more scenarios. Perhaps one for the main character's sister and parents since obviously (if you've played the game all the way through), there's something else to the story to be uncovered there.

So, yeah, give this one a miss if value for money is something that is important to you. If you like games with chill vibes and a nice little story, regardless of cost, go right ahead.

Let's just get one thing out of the way first. I hate cleaning. I hate anything resembling housework. Hate it. Avoid it at all costs (much to my own detriment)... So when I saw friends playing this game I thought, "Why? WHY? Why would you want to clean things IN A GAME?" Games are for blowing stuff up or making stuff or ... well, anything BUT cleaning.

But their enthusiasm drew me in and on a whim I bought the game.

AND NOW I CANNOT STOP CLEANING THINGS. I mean, my housework? It still isn't getting done, but I'll be damned if I let any more mud sully the walls of my skate park, or my RV, or my Penny-Farthing...

It is INTENSELY satisfying.

The only thing I hate - and I mean LOATHE - about the game is that each item/object you clean dings as complete once you reach a certain percentage. No. NO. LET ME FINISH CLEANING THE THING. I STILL HAD DIRT LEFT TO CLEAN!!

But yeah... buy the game. Clean all the things. Become addicted to the brrrrrrrrrrsssshhhhhhhh..

UPDATED REVIEW AS OF 10th December 2022: Still a great Early Access game. You absolutely get your money's worth. Development is slow, however and requires patience.

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Three words: SO MUCH FUN!
Three more words: BUY THIS GAME!
A bunch more words: DON'T BE PUT OFF BY "EARLY ACCESS".

In all seriousness, I've not had such a great time playing co-op in a game since the very early days of vanilla WoW. In the last 24 hours since downloading Valheim, my partner and I have been playing for 14+ of those.

Valheim has seemingly come out of nowhere and, where bigger games are failing, this one absolutely delivers on all key points:
*The graphics are both simple and beautiful at the same time.
*The story arc is engaging.
*The music is a pleasure to listen to and very atmospheric.
*The mobs are challenging without being ridiculously hard.
*The building mechanics are great even though they're a bit fiddly - and this is something I would expect to be looked over as the game develops further.
*Not a single bug encountered yet, which is unheard of in early release games as far as I am concerned.

Whilst it's recommended to play with 3-5 people, we've had relative success with just two - with a little trial and error and smarts. And lots of "RUN AWAY!" Getting squished by falling trees is hilarious. Winning against the mobs is exhilarating.

The developers are to be commended for a stellar job in putting this one together. It's fantastic.

To be very fair to this game, if there was a button for "It LOOKS amazing but the game-play sucks", that would be what I would choose. I love indie games, particularly beautifully designed games, and this is what initially drew me towards Spiritfarer. The reviews I read were promising, so I bought it. Unfortunately I was disappointed.

The pros of the game... The graphics are very pretty with beautiful colours and animations, the music is lovely, the concept is very different and very appealing. On the whole, aesthetically, it's STUNNING.

The cons of the game... It's boring! I am sorry (not really) but it is absolutely boring. The mechanics of the game are also clunky with all its highlights and menus and weird controls and the quests are very grindy as opposed to entertainingly challenging.

It was pointed out to me that this is probably a game that you need to be in a certain mind-set to appreciate, but I don't play games that way. I play to relax - this game just hit all the wrong buttons in that respect. I found it frustrating because I was wishing that there was more to it. It plays like a child's game. I'm in my 40s. ;) If you like simple, pretty games, then absolutely buy it. If not, maybe give this one a miss or wait for a decent sale.

Five years later and it still holds it's own. It's a beautiful narrative adventure. Each action you choose affects the story in some way. The "puzzles" are fairly easy to manoeuvre around and solve. Initially the dialogue is a little silly (or "hella silly") but you eventually forget about that as the story plays out. The music is what truly makes the game shine - it's beautiful.

Pros:
Gorgeous soundtrack
Careful character design
Beautiful graphics
Engrossing story.

Cons:
Clunky dialogue
Controls are annoying (dragging mouse to perform an action - should just be a click)
The game is quite short - I'm a slow player but those who are more adept at moving through games like these would be able to complete it in a few hours.

My only real complaint about the game is that whatever direction you go, whatever choices throughout the game you make, you will always come down to the same final choice at the end and that's a bit disappointing. It would have been nice for the developers to work in a few different options for the the end-game that could have been triggered at some earlier point in the story. I think doing so would have given it a greater sense of what the developers were actually trying to achieve with the "butterfly effect" concept of the game.

It's hard to explain what GRIS is; the short description of the game doesn't do it justice at all. It's the story of a girl working her way through the stages of grief. And playing this game, you do get the feeling of working your way through difficult times and coming out the other side. Those of us who have dealt with inner turmoil in varying degrees will find it a familiar concept.

In a few words, this game is simply beautiful. It's serene, it's sad, it's uplifting, it's invigorating. If you're after a fast-paced, action-packed game, GRIS is not it - please keep scrolling - but if you are after beautiful visuals, an epic soundtrack and just enough challenge to keep you going back, absolutely get GRIS. It's a beautiful game to relax to and just appreciate. I've played this a few times on my Twitch stream and every time I do my audience say that they love how they can chill out and watch it unfold with it's stunning animations and artistry.

If you're a fan of the films and/or a dino geek (like me) then you'll love the game... for the first hour you play it. Then you'll mostly enjoy it as you progress to the point where you cannot unlock anything else you might need, no matter how many contracts you complete successfully (most are easy and extremely repetitive, probably to help people make money). It becomes extremely boring and repetitive. There are other reviews that go further into depth on this point. Read them. They are correct.

It is a BEAUTIFUL game. The models, rendering, textures, sound effects, etc, it's all there. You can tell exactly where they've spent the money and that part of it has paid off, which is why I have played it as much as I have. But style over substance is never a great thing. The game-play is virtually non-existent after a certain point - and you reach that point extremely quickly.

I am glad I bought this while it was on special - paying close to $80AUD is robbery considering the game play value which doesn't meet that price at all.