This is an Indie game with a capital I. Meaning that it has a lot of heart and character but is a bit rough around the edges.

I've been having a good time on (the?) Summery Islands! Everything looks pleasant, with some lovely environments focusing on tropical Asian coasts, light rocky forests and nostalgic wooden cabins. Low-key upbeat music, though the closest thing to dancing for most of the game are the idle animations XD
UPDATE: I didn't expect the map to be that large! And I found it delightfully well-designed, with many great views and some slightly hidden gems. I think for me that was the game's strongest point, just exploring the beautiful world. There's decent fast travel too, you just have to unlock it for each region and figure out that it's there.

The wholesome concept of basically DIY exposure therapy for anxiety was a selling point for me. Obviously very simplified, but collecting courage and gaining hearts was a lovely idea that makes this game stand out a little among all the other "cozy exploration and questing" type of games.

Content-wise, I don't know if all that NPC talk about money troubles, heart disease, neglectful parents, grandma being very old and possibly dying/dead... would be the right thing for anxious kids?? They seemed to be one of the target groups to me, but perhaps not. Or on second (third?) thought, as a former anxious kid I'd find things to worry about all by myself without any prompting, so maybe it doesn't matter... I guess parents will have to make individual judgments here, and maybe tone it down a bit when reading for the younger ones. None of those dialogues are in-depth, and the overall atmosphere is definitely lighthearted.
Very thankfully, there's no fishing minigame... You're supposed to gather scallops for a side quest, but you don't have to. I found one in a chest and its image looked like an empty shell, so I'm going to imagine the pandas eat the shells for extra calcium :D

On the more technical side, there's only very basic platforming. I've been building a reputation for being absolutely useless at platforming, but I've only struggled a bit with the controls being funny. UPDATE: One side quest item is placed in a very difficult location unfortunately (I only tried once, it was too frustrating to fall down and have to walk all the way back).
Speaking of "funny", I think my biggest annoyance has been the wonky camera in some places. Also characters awkwardly facing away from each other while talking, though I guess you could say that's thematically fitting lol

-UPDATE for heads up: Unless there was something wrong on my end, THERE'S NO AUTOSAVE BEFORE QUITTING!! Which is honestly... bad. Make sure to use the manual save function. I'll try to investigate.-
--- UPDATE2: No reply so far, but I confirmed from a different PC that the game did NOT save before quitting. They seem to be very busy working on patches, so hopefully this will be added.
I also posted a list of other issues in the discussions.

Recommended if you're looking for a chill time in a beautiful place, aren't thrown out of that by a few serious dialogue lines and maybe aren't very prone to motion sickness even in 3rd-person perspective (added info on that in the comments).

* * *

If you like chill and story-driven games, check out my curator Peaceful Adventures and Stories. You're also welcome to join the group.

This is an Indie game with a capital I. Meaning that it has a lot of heart and character but is a bit rough around the edges. I've been having a good time on (the?) Summery Islands! Everything looks pleasant, with some lovely environments focusing on tropical Asian coasts, light rocky forests and nostalgic wooden cabins. Low-key upbeat music, though the closest thing to dancing for most of the game are the idle animations XD UPDATE: I didn't expect the map to be that large! And I found it delightfully well-designed, with many great views and some slightly hidden gems. I think for me that was the game's strongest point, just exploring the beautiful world. There's decent fast travel too, you just have to unlock it for each region and figure out that it's there. The wholesome concept of basically DIY exposure therapy for anxiety was a selling point for me. Obviously very simplified, but collecting courage and gaining hearts was a lovely idea that makes this game stand out a little among all the other "cozy exploration and questing" type of games. Content-wise, I don't know if all that NPC talk about [spoiler]money troubles, heart disease, neglectful parents, grandma being very old and possibly dying/dead[/spoiler]... would be the right thing for anxious kids?? They seemed to be one of the target groups to me, but perhaps not. Or on second (third?) thought, as a former anxious kid I'd find things to worry about all by myself without any prompting, so maybe it doesn't matter... I guess parents will have to make individual judgments here, and maybe tone it down a bit when reading for the younger ones. None of those dialogues are in-depth, and the overall atmosphere is definitely lighthearted. Very thankfully, there's no fishing minigame... You're supposed to gather scallops for a side quest, but you don't have to. I found one in a chest and its image looked like an empty shell, so I'm going to imagine the pandas eat the shells for extra calcium :D On the more technical side, there's only very basic platforming. I've been building a reputation for being absolutely useless at platforming, but I've only struggled a bit with the controls being funny. UPDATE: One side quest item is placed in a very difficult location unfortunately (I only tried once, it was too frustrating to fall down and have to walk all the way back). Speaking of "funny", I think my biggest annoyance has been the wonky camera in some places. Also characters awkwardly facing away from each other while talking, though I guess you could say that's thematically fitting lol -UPDATE for heads up: Unless there was something wrong on my end, THERE'S NO AUTOSAVE BEFORE QUITTING!! Which is honestly... bad. Make sure to use the manual save function. I'll try to investigate.- --- UPDATE2: No reply so far, but I confirmed from a different PC that the game did NOT save before quitting. They seem to be very busy working on patches, so hopefully this will be added. I also posted a list of other issues in the discussions. Recommended if you're looking for a chill time in a beautiful place, aren't thrown out of that by a few serious dialogue lines and maybe aren't very prone to motion sickness even in 3rd-person perspective (added info on that in the comments). * * * If you like chill and story-driven games, check out my curator [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35872486]Peaceful Adventures and Stories[/url]. You're also welcome to join the [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/chilladventures]group[/url].