Ann Achronist: Many Happy Returns

Really enjoyed this game. The story is fun and the concept is great. I had a ton of fun playing this and would definitely recommend it.

Ann Achronist is a time-travelling game which remind me of Majora's Mask, but instead of a 3 day cycle, you have only 1 day. However, instead of having one big quest of saving Termina, your only objective is to improve your own life. This leads you to live the same day over and over, but with a different objective each time. For example, one time you might just be trying to apprentice Matt to the librarian, who will ask you to retrieve some books, and the next time you will try to apprentice Matt at the bakery, but must first learn how to bake some bread. The ability from one timeline will also help you in the next. For example, in the librarian timeline, Ann will have learnt to read, which allows you to read books and find knowledge which will help you in further timelines. Throughout the game, there were a few moments in which I wasn't sure where to go, however these moments didn't last very long as there are indications of what you should do next, such as asking Remedio and Selma, or looking at the quests you still haven't finished. So overall, I find those moments of uncertainty a good thing, as it lets you think for yourself rather than just follow a set of events chosen by the game. In terms of the game's length, I find it maybe a bit on the small side (it took me around 12 hours to get the final timeline and all achievements), however that also means the game doesn't need any filler content. I believe the creator also said that some quests are still to be implemented, as can be seen in the patch note for the "Alpha" patch. One of the only problems of the game is the number of bugs and typos. However, the developer (MaybeLaterx) who I speak with on the official Maybe Later Games Discord ([url= https://discord.gg/WzU6qcB]link[/url]) is listening to all feedbacks and working hard to patch all bugs. Looking at the patch notes, I can also say that I personally only suffered one crash, which was outside the gameplay itself as it just happened when trying to change the grapical quality. For future readers, the current version of the game is version 1.1.1, so check the patch notes as the game is likely to have been updated to fix some of the bugs. Overall, I think the game was brilliant, and you should play it if you liked Majora's Mask, but are also looking for something more story-focused. At points, I found elements reminding me of some of the biggest indie title of the recent years: [spoiler]it reminded me of Undertale for the way Selma judges your actions, especially in the later game, and DDLC for the last timeline's atmosphere[/spoiler]. If you are interested in games dealing with time or just want to play an unconventional game, I'd recommend you to try Ann Achronist.

A really good first showing from the developer. The dialogue and characters are the highlight, and I especially liked and sympathised with the main character Ana, her struggle and desire for a better life while not really knowing what that entailed was something I think most people can understand. The game takes place entirely within one village, with multiple 'endings' everytime you manage to change the course of Ana's present, being able to unlock more things to do in the village as you gain more Ana's with more abilities. I'll be honest, I never knew I'd be so excited to unlock the ability to read. I don't want to get into the story because I really think the game is far more enjoyable if you play it yourself without any guides or any idea where the story is heading. I will say, getting your palm read and asking for guidance in the village are good ways to find out what you can do next to complete more quests and unlock more abilities. Definitely happy with my money spent.

Good.

Disclosure: Daniel Carter is my bff and I got to playtest and watch this game go from a half-formed idea to a really polished adorable narrative adventure. It was crazy cool. The central premise of the game is that you have one day in the past which you replay repeatedly with new skillsets to work your way through a series of progressively better outcomes for yourself in the present. You even canonically retain your knowledge of each iteration in-universe. It actually reminded me a little bit of Virtue's Last Reward which has a similar parallel timelines mechanic, and VLR is one of my favorite games ever! Anyways, so the objectives revolve mostly around not-so-subtly influencing the life of one of your ancestors and returning to the present to see how that affects Ann's life. It's rarely all peaches and roses though, since cause and effect is unpredictable, and hence the need to keep going back to fix your progressively weirder messes. The writing is full of heart, and the characters all have their own fun and unique personalities. There's one stand-out in particular, but I'll leave you to figure out who that is on your own :) The setting is really flavorful as well, and a lot of the dialogue and descriptions had me laughing out loud. The endings were sometimes quirky, sometimes weirdly funny, and sometimes sad. The art for them was beautiful. It's a lot of fun to return to Alderdale, gradually learning the ins-and-outs of how that particular day plays out, and how you can change it to your benefit to ultimately work towards the best ending. Most of all though, I wanna give massive props to Dan, who spent what feels like ages making this thing real mostly on his own (writing aside). It may not be super obvious if you've never seen 'behind the curtain', but developing a game, even a relatively short one like this, is a huge undertaking that takes effort, love, patience, and most of all perseverance. The world is littered with half-finished games that were given up on and I'm so so glad this didn't become one of them. Keep on killing it, Dan :p