My Playtime: 5.2h (100% achievement, finished the game)
Grindy Achievement(s): No.
Optional Achievement(s): Yes (24 achievements).
Difficult Achievement(s): No.

LiEat is a short story set in a world where human-shaped dragons and humans live together. It consists of 3 chapters, each telling a story of a human and a dragon's travels.

Pros:
- Touching story
- Superb art style and music

Cons:
- Some areas tend to be reused
- Text can be hard to read for some people

Specs
Steam Deck: AMD Zen 2 4c/8t 2.4-3.5GHz, 16 GB RAM, 8 AMD RDNA 2 CUs

Yes.
If you like short, emotional stories, buy this game.

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What separates LiEat from other similar games is its visuals. It's one of the best out there, showing such detailed portraits and several cute cutscenes that show the whole scene in detail. At times, those cutscenes were smoothly animated, showing no difference from the cutscenes until you realized that it was moving.

However, I found the in-game maps to be too bland. Some rooms are reused, and areas are made to look bigger with a lot of duplicate spots that lead to the reused rooms. Luckily, there aren't many areas to cover in each episode, and the game is pretty short and straightforward to begin with.

The story spans within 3 chapters, with each having a time skip of a few months from each other. It tells the journey of a man and a newly born dragon, focusing on certain creatures in each chapter. The world of LiEat lies in a place where supernatural beings exist; all animal-shaped humans are called humans, even though some of them have unique abilities that ordinary humans can't have. And then there are dragons, human-shaped beings that were born with special abilities, along with a retractable horn and wings.

Despite the dragon theme, it's not a story where you fight each other. There are fights, of course, but that's not the main focus of the game. LiEat tells about the strange things that happen in the town, and how you investigate the source of it. It's not that hard to figure out what happened - heck, you can even guess who the culprit is after you meet everyone in the town. If you hate scary games, don't worry, the game isn't scary at all - even scenes that are supposed to be scary were made cute with its silhouette and art style.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1579991267

But again, the investigation part is just the main plot. LiEat shines in a way that is more subtle than that: the interaction between the characters, especially how cute Efina, our baby dragon protagonist, is, and how she grows up in each chapter. You'll see how she bonds closer with her male protagonist too, which finally shows in the last chapter. That chapter is the real tearjerker. There were 3 endings, and all of them will tug your heartstrings.

Gameplay
As a game that is mostly focused on the story, you'll mostly just walk back and forth following the given instructions. Sometimes, you'll be able to battle enemies to level up, although most fights are optional. However, I had an issue in following where to proceed in the last chapter; there were a bunch of places that you need to recheck and I'm not a person that likes to check the same place twice.

There wasn't much tutorial about combat. I didn't know that you could recover your health by resting - I thought looting recovery items by interacting with everything was the way to go. You are also required to interact with everything to find some equipable items that will help you with the game - sure, you can proceed without replacing your gear, but the game will be too grindy.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=748298651

The game can be grindy depending on how you play. If you manage to find and equip the legendary weapons, you can beat the game without worrying about levels. However, enemy attacks can be too dangerous if you don't have legendary weapons, and you might die easily if you don't grind for levels in that state. Leveling up can be boring, but once you get enough level, you don't have to worry about being attacked at all.

Length and Replayability
I finished the game in 5.2h. Each chapter can be finished in ~1.5h, even if you are aiming to get all endings. Each chapter has 2-3 endings, which will have a different story based on the ending you chose. Most endings can be achieved easily, although you need to figure out what is it beforehand. The game will still tell which are the good and bad endings, though. It will show the credits screen and you'll be teleported to a post-game room if you reach the best ending.

Despite its short length, LiEat manages to make such a heartwarming story with a little bit of emotional touch at the end. The game can be boring sometimes with their back-and-forth "backtracking", but the story will be worth it. At first, you'll see the cuteness of our heroine. In the end, you'll be getting emotional with how the story ends. I recommend it if you like heart-wrenching stories.

[b]My Playtime:[/b] 5.2h (100% achievement, finished the game) [b]Grindy Achievement(s):[/b] No. [b]Optional Achievement(s):[/b] Yes (24 achievements). [b]Difficult Achievement(s):[/b] No. [h1]Intro[/h1] [b]LiEat[/b] is a short story set in a world where human-shaped dragons and humans live together. It consists of 3 chapters, each telling a story of a human and a dragon's travels. [b]Pros:[/b] - Touching story - Superb art style and music [b]Cons:[/b] - Some areas tend to be reused - Text can be hard to read for some people [b]Specs[/b] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck]Steam Deck[/url]: AMD Zen 2 4c/8t 2.4-3.5GHz, 16 GB RAM, 8 AMD RDNA 2 CUs [h1]Should you buy this game?[/h1] [b]Yes.[/b] [i]If you like short, emotional stories, buy this game.[/i] [hr][/hr] [h1]In-Depth Review[/h1] [h3]Visuals[/h3] What separates [b]LiEat[/b] from other similar games is its visuals. It's one of the best out there, showing such detailed portraits and several cute cutscenes that show the whole scene in detail. At times, those cutscenes were smoothly animated, showing no difference from the cutscenes until you realized that it was moving. However, I found the in-game maps to be too bland. Some rooms are reused, and areas are made to look bigger with a lot of duplicate spots that lead to the reused rooms. Luckily, there aren't many areas to cover in each episode, and the game is pretty short and straightforward to begin with. [h3]Story[/h3] The story spans within 3 chapters, with each having a time skip of a few months from each other. It tells the journey of a man and a newly born dragon, focusing on certain creatures in each chapter. The world of [b]LiEat[/b] lies in a place where supernatural beings exist; all animal-shaped humans are called humans, even though some of them have unique abilities that ordinary humans can't have. And then there are dragons, human-shaped beings that were born with special abilities, along with a retractable horn and wings. Despite the dragon theme, it's not a story where you fight each other. There are fights, of course, but that's not the main focus of the game. [b]LiEat[/b] tells about the strange things that happen in the town, and how you investigate the source of it. It's not that hard to figure out what happened - heck, you can even guess who the culprit is after you meet everyone in the town. If you hate scary games, don't worry, the game isn't scary at all - even scenes that are supposed to be scary were made cute with its silhouette and art style. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1579991267 But again, the investigation part is just the main plot. [b]LiEat[/b] shines in a way that is more subtle than that: the interaction between the characters, especially how cute Efina, our baby dragon protagonist, is, and how she grows up in each chapter. You'll see how she bonds closer with her male protagonist too, which finally shows in the last chapter. That chapter is the real tearjerker. There were 3 endings, and all of them will tug your heartstrings. [h3]The Game[/h3] [b]Gameplay[/b] As a game that is mostly focused on the story, you'll mostly just walk back and forth following the given instructions. Sometimes, you'll be able to battle enemies to level up, although most fights are optional. However, I had an issue in following where to proceed in the last chapter; there were a bunch of places that you need to recheck and I'm not a person that likes to check the same place twice. There wasn't much tutorial about combat. I didn't know that you could recover your health by resting - I thought looting recovery items by interacting with everything was the way to go. You are also required to interact with everything to find some equipable items that will help you with the game - sure, you can proceed without replacing your gear, but the game will be too grindy. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=748298651 The game can be grindy depending on how you play. If you manage to find and equip the legendary weapons, you can beat the game without worrying about levels. However, enemy attacks can be too dangerous if you don't have legendary weapons, and you might die easily if you don't grind for levels in that state. Leveling up can be boring, but once you get enough level, you don't have to worry about being attacked at all. [b]Length and Replayability[/b] I finished the game in 5.2h. Each chapter can be finished in ~1.5h, even if you are aiming to get all endings. Each chapter has 2-3 endings, which will have a different story based on the ending you chose. Most endings can be achieved easily, although you need to figure out what is it beforehand. The game will still tell which are the good and bad endings, though. It will show the credits screen and you'll be teleported to a post-game room if you reach the best ending. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] Despite its short length, [b]LiEat[/b] manages to make such a heartwarming story with a little bit of emotional touch at the end. The game can be boring sometimes with their back-and-forth "backtracking", but the story will be worth it. At first, you'll see the cuteness of our heroine. In the end, you'll be getting emotional with how the story ends. I recommend it if you like heart-wrenching stories.