Recent reviews by EmperorGruumm

This game deserves all the praise it receives. The amount of care and content put in by an indie developer is astounding.

It builds off classic farming and life sims, and adds it's own unique charm. It comes together to make one of the most robust games of the last decade. The content isn't just vast, it's also extremely varied. You are encouraged to strategize, experiment, and explore. You can stick to the game's cozy elements, or you can push yourself with its more challenging elements.

The only downside I can consider is that many of the town's citizens can be somewhat one-dimensional. That's not that big of a critique, since they are each still unique and charming. Also, the game's focus is on building relationships with them, rather than going into deep character studies.

Overall worthy of everyone's time.

A fun and charming puzzle/adventure game. The game does a good job of giving the player all the tools they need to solve the puzzles, but leaves enough blank so the actual "solving" can be quite satisfying.

The point of the game is to find 100 different endings. It's presented as a standard fantasy adventure story, like Zelda. A young adventurer sets out to save the kingdom and the princess.

The map is small with only a handful of different areas, npcs, and items. This isn't a downside, it is actually the most incredible aspect of the game. The amount of different interactions and endings that can be found with the few tools made available is very impressive. Some of the endings start to get similar, but it makes sense when so many possible object/npc interactions are possible.

The writing is good. I wasn't ever laughing out loud or blown away, but there's enough cleverness, charm, and humour, that I was excited to see each ending's splash screen.

The combat and platforming aren't the greatest, but this was only really a problem during a short end game boss battle, and another post game precision platforming section. The controls are more than passable in standard play.

Overall, this fun and clever game worth checking out.

It's like a bad rogue-like meets a bad twin-stick shooter.

I don't understand why this would be considered a "rogue-like" when you can choose what level to start from, and you can simply restart them wen you die. That element seems to fall apart immediately.

Also, the combat fall apart fairly quickly. You're either steamrolling through everything, or being torn apart by traps you can barely see on the ground, or enemies you can't see off screen.

This is a fantastic game. I describe it as "weaponized wholesomeness".

The most impressive aspect for me is how the game is fantastically written with charming characters. Most side characters that you only interact with in passing aren't very deep, but I'm still excited to talk to them whenever they appear around the world. The characters you do interact regularly are quite complex. The game does a great job of introducing conflict between the characters without shoehorning in contrived reasons to argue or disagree, which is especially impressive for how short the experience is.

The sound and visuals are also great! They really take advantage of allowing the player to colour everything. Everything has defined silhouettes that are still identifiable at a glance, and adding your own colours is a simple way to add so much.

My only complaint would be the minimal gameplay. The game is mostly carried on simple puzzles and metroidvania-style exploration as you gain new paint-based abilities. You are encouraged to search for objects in each area that you go through, but that is mostly just looking for hidden objects or paths, and the only rewards are cosmetic items and achievements. These aspects have very little depth, and aren't actually that challenging. There are also "fights", but they are also limited in scope.

Overall, my complaints are small. I believe that the simple gameplay is probably an attempt of making the game very accessible, which I cannot fault. The game's focus is definitely writing, visuals, and mood. I recommend this game, and think everyone should experience it.

This is one of the worst games I've played in years.

Most of the game feels incomplete. I experienced constant glitches and crashes during my playthrough. Unfortunately, I don't think completing this game would leave it much better off, which is fine since the developer seems to have taken their money and ran.

The dialogue and story is a rough mess. I wanted to give some credit that it may have been due to poor translation, but it is a North American developer.

Many mechanics seem poorly implemented or downright broken. Catching a variety of monsters is a fool's errand. You are best off catching or breeding one monster with the highest growth rate, and exclusively using that one. I find it frustrating that there are so many monsters, yet experimenting with new monsters and moves is difficult and pointless.

I strongly recommend you avoid this game, and I'll be making a point to avoid this developer and publisher going forward.

A fantastic, short, and free experience. It isn't awe inspiring or thought provoking, but I'll definitely use this example when I tell people that games are art.

The game does a great job of telling its story in a limited, but refined, package. It's effectively a visual novel with a couple of puzzles in it. The focus is on the setting and a singular story, told through a number of shorter conversations with strangers. The game only took two hours to complete, but I felt this helped the game keep its focus.

The key focus for a game like this is the writing, and the writing in this game is very strong. The art and music does a good job of setting the scene.

Overall, one of the best visual novels I've experienced. The story is strong, but gameplay takes the backseat.

I am forced to buy the entire game again in order to access the DLC. The DLC did not come with my game, and is not sold separately. This is especially egregious, since my version is still being referred to as "Ultimate Edition"

This is the most work I think I've seen put into a parody. If you like The Witness, this is worth your time.

The creators clearly have love for The Witness, and used that to make a great game of their own. Although limited, the art style and puzzles are reminiscent of the original without ripping it off.

This game honestly feels like it could have been parody DLC made for the original game.

The game is cheap and fairly simple, but these aren't marks against it. There's a a lot of content, and its minute-by-minute gameplay is incredibly satisfying.