Since there seems to be some confusion among the other reviewers - this is not a game *for* kids, it is a game *made by* kids. Which begs a serious question - Should I even seriously review a game made by school kids? Well, if I did, that would make me a real-life stuffy critic the likes of which David Sedaris wrote as a joke[www.thisamericanlife.org]. Yes, the other reviewers are correct. There are things about this game that are very unprofessional and unpolished. That's because it isn't professional. Even if the public has to pay to get into the school play, it's not supposed to be compared unfavorably to a Hollywood blockbuster. That's not the point.

Would I be recommending this game if it were made by a proper indie studio? Certainly not. But it wasn't.

So instead of telling you whether it's worth your five bucks, I'm going to tell you how I liked it. So, did I like it? Yes, I did. It won't ever be game of the year, but I found it cute, amusing enough, and short enough that the limited mechanics don't have the time to become aggravating.

When I first saw this on kickstarter, I had rather high hopes for it, however playing it for myself has led me a bit disappointed. The art style, while nice, seems a bit bland, with the proportions of some objects rather odd. The animations for the main character also look stiff, as though a few pixels were moved and was deemed "Good Enough."

I didn't play the game for very long, but with no real story element, or reasoning to dig a hole in the ground, it makes the game rather dry and boring. After finding an old key and being transported elsewhere, I immediately dug up an apple and saw the fortune teller. This either skipped an important dialogue box, or the game simply didn't have one to begin with, however it immediately told me to dig up a different apple and bring it back without too much help but a basic description. I may have overlooked something here and it may have told me the actual kind of apple needed, so if it did, I do apologize. While looking for apples though, it told me the kinds of apples, which to me was feeling a bit pointless for a game, since as a person I couldn't care less about the actual kinds of them.

When I tried to replay it to test whether or not the quest dialogue box was different if I hadn't grabbed an apple yet, I instead spawned in a spot where I could not move from, thus rendering the game unplayable. Screenshot for reference:- http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=492487753

I am sorry, but this game gets a 2/10 from me.

For the price, this game isn't worth it...

If you're getting this game to support the developers, sure that's worth it. But if you're getting this game wanting something to _play_, then... don't. There's no game to play, so to speak. You can finish the entire game in an hour, and you'll wish you hadn't spent that time.

A few major points which irritated me whilst playing:
- Controls are... awkward, to say the least. It's not a game you can play on keyboard, unless I missed something. I got it to work by a combination of keyboard+controller... to talk to someone I had to use the controller to initiate the dialogue, but I'd then needed to switch to my mouse to click to advance the dialogue... I nearly quit the first 5 minute of the game because of this.
- There is no puzzle. There are riddles, yes, but they make no difference whatsoever to the game. There are quests, yes, but every quest is pretty much solved by randomly digging around hoping you'll dig the item you need.
- Game is buggy... at one point I spent 5-10 minutes digging around and not finding my objective... which was OK, as there was a troll that said that I needed to give it certain items so that it would let me pass, and yet I could just walk past it across the bridge to continue the game. At one point in the game I was transported to another place and had to walk back to where I was... for no explanation.
- There is no plot. I'm neutral on this one as the game's supposedly made as part of an educational effort of some sort...
- Until the very end, I failed to figure out how to save the game, so it was a blessing that the game was so short.

I backed this game on Kickstarter, and kinda wishing I didn't.

The Hole Story is a simple adventure game where the solution to almost every puzzle is to dig something up. It's full of puns and amusing references. It looks a bit like an RPG, but does not have any RPG elements.

It only took me about half an hour for the playthrough where I finally completed the game. The first playthrough crashed on the way back after collecting the artichoke, and I got stuck (could not move) once on the second playthrough.

It's a unique, entertaining little game, especially considering the team behind it. But as short as it is, with limited replayability, and the bugs I encountered, it's hard to recommend it at $5. Grab it on sale and enjoy the brief little jaunt.

https://youtu.be/KIzzXdAgrDs

While it is clear this was a small team of new developers it's hard to recommend the game for issues around the controls, pacing, and overall focus.

This game had little story, no introduction, and terrible controls. Looks cute, but don't be deceived.

Charming adventure game with kooky humour, silly puns, cute art, and a likeable girl main character. Probably best suited to kids, with simple puzzles, but enjoyable for adults with child like hearts!

It has serious problems with bugs and crashing, though. As a Kickstarter supporter, II wish the adult mentors had given the girls a hand with the level of debugging needed before a release. Save, and save often.

This game is truly PUNDERFUL

It constantly crashes, which really sucks. And there are so many bugs. But I love the game. Well I love it up til the unicorn guy because Ive never gotten past that due to crashes. I love that it was made by women! Great job :)

Finally got round to playing this after backing it on KS. A fun little game made by some talented young minds.