April Grove

This game... is underwhelming. Which is a shame because the art style and characters are so charming. I went in knowing it was a game about chopping trees BUT I expected there to be quests and more story development. There's not. You barely need to talk to NPCs and the game is just a loop of cutting and selling logs with no real 'goal'. I am sad cuz this game did look promising.. Easy achievements if you are into that- took me maybe an hour for all of em except the level 25 one. That one took me the 3 hours I spent playing. I would not recommend this game unless you like redundancy.. OR until they add more to it (if they ever do).

8-bit log chopping simulator. Total snooze fest.

"April Grove" is a charming little pixelated top-down light-sim / light-RPG, where you are the new forester assigned in a mystical grove. The GameBoyColor-style pixelart and character design is great (it's like the main shtick of the developer it seems), music and sound is spot on and atmospheric. Gameplaywise it is really downtempo: Go into the forest, get wood for XP and gold, purchase new items, pathways and temporal stat enhancements, converse with different characters, do a quest once in a while, get higher level, cut harder trees that bring more XP and gold. It is fairly simple, (and maybe too barebones and repetitive for some folk) but you get a little agency by chossing different talismans and axes. A minor caveat is, that one or two NPCs retrigger their dialog once, which is a little irritating and some teases for potential regional updates that may or may never be implemented (another shtick of that dev it seems). Still: Got an easing and fun time with it and got to the level cap in around 7,5 hours (you can NG+ multiple times it seems). Achievements are quite easy and quite early to get. Definetly not a masterpiece but charming and well aware of what it is! (A game about cutting wood for 3 bucks)

I'd give this a weak positive. There's a lot to like here if you want a small game that doesn't take a lot of energy to play. It is very grindy. There are several things which seem like they could be added in later. What's here is good, but it isn't fully realized yet and that may not change. This is a game the devs are working on between other games, and it feels like one to play between more intense games as well.

April Grove is a 2D RPG with the focus on exploration, quest completion, leveling up, and upgrading your axes. There is no combat system, only a bunch of trees you must vigorously cut down in order to keep the Grove's immortal logging business booming. Once you've met with April, the spirit of the Grove, you can begin your quest in chopping down trees which she will replenish nearly immediately. You can turn the logs you collect in for gold which you can then spend on new axes, necklaces that give buffs, different color outfits, or things built in the grove to make your journey and job a bit easier. Much of the game is not explained outside of talking to the village dwellers, which can lead to some player confusion on exactly what to do next. As you level up you will be able to cut down progressively more daunting trees, but if you visit April after turning in 100 logs of each tree, you'll complete a phase of her mainline quest. The townsfolk offer some benefits toward your journey, ranging from advice to rewards, so be sure to explore and talk to everyone. Mable will sell special gear that'll improve your progress; Spruce, can change your character's color for some gold; Scallion can cook you some delicious food with bonuses; and Daisy can build collection boxes for logs and open hidden pathways to new biomes. I'd recommend a more dynamic inventory system with a page dedicated to Item Completion and Quest Progress; mainly how many items you've acquired vs. left to unlock and how many more steps in a quest's chain you've left to go. I think this will lead more goal-oriented players to see the full game through. This would also aid in wanting to build relationships with the townsfolk and then strengthen them; especially since several are really sassy about your arrival and you need to earn their trust. Speaking on characters, in one of the caves is an NPC shopkeeper I was sure was going to attack or rob me if I didn't rent something from her. Rent, not buy. April actually warns you about a person in the caves, yet I don't think it's her. There doesn't seem to be any danger aside from those ungodly rent cost and once you swap items, your rental ends. So, Buyer Beware for sure. I really think a Tree Directory would help in identifying what all the trees look like and the value for logs. In addition, what axes even cut them; walking back home to swap axes when 3 of your 4 don't work on your current highest value tree is bad game design. It almost seems pointless to buy axes from Mable and just follow the April questline and use the Grove Axe she gives you since it can cut down the next unlocked tree 5 levels early. Buying up log boxes and paths from Daisy eventually increase in cost, which is fine if you just completely ignore the axes from Mable. Absolutely buy the Lamp and Running Shoes though, they're super helpful. And occasionally throw a 100 coins in the village well for an experience boost. You can keep this up for a secret item. April Grove has 10 Steam Achievements, Cards, and is Steam Deck verified; though you may need to change the resolution accordingly. I can certainly recommend the game, and it certainly took me back to my Gameboy days of Pokemon and Zelda; it's just a shame there's so much interesting content, character, and charm locked behind the tree-cutting mechanic. I respect that it's the premise of the story though and acknowledge that's more personal taste, but the game could be so much more engaging than it's been allowed to be. I also feel a bit strange that a game that is probably 8-10 hours or more can be 100%ed in Achievement regards in around 3 or less. I still do recommend the game and think it offers a decent playtime with well designed environments and characters. It just takes some dedication to see the everything through to the end. Cheers.

I have played for almost an hour and made to level 12. 90% of that hour was chopping trees. If I hadn't read of the swing/cancel/swing/cancel "button mini game" that you can do to increase your chopping speed, I probably would have fallen asleep. All the cuteness and retro aesthetics cannot really hide the fact that the game is a giant slog. It fails at being relaxing because there is nothing to discover or look at and the music has an awkward way of looping by fading in and out, making you painfully aware of the passing time and that you could have spent that time doing anything else. Kudos to you if you find joy in simplicity, because that is all you are going to get here, unfortunately -- at least in the first hour. I don't think I will return to this myself, however.

[h2]Gameplay[/h2] The gameplay loop is quite simple. Collect wood, level up, collect better wood, level up etc. All while turning in quests, getting new items, and exploring the world. The game doesn't have much beyond this, but it's not necessary nor is April Grove purporting to be more than such. It's a chill game meant to be taken slow and kill time which it does well. Exploring was interesting to me, meeting and seeing the character interactions were fun, and the game isn't terrible long. I played it over the course of a few weeks for about an hour per session. There are some parts of the game that aren't complete yet, and as such there are areas inaccessible, some stories without closure, or features without much utility unfortunately. Despite such, the developers published the game in a presentable state because the core gameplay loop works. [h2]Aesthetic[/h2] The pixel art is great. Looloopaa is the lead artist and I always enjoy his work. The style feels retro yet modern at the same time and it's an intriguing blend. The music fits well with the outdoors and peaceful nature that is the grove, and while the selection is limited, it didn't feel repetitive to me. [h2]Extra Notes[/h2] [list] [*]Price: $3 [*]Playtime to beat: ~14h [*]Completionist: Extremely doable; you don't even need to "beat" the game [*]The game is still being worked on [/list] [hr][/hr] [h2]Conclusion[/h2] April Grove is a slow-paced chill game about chopping and collecting wood. It's not the most exhilarating game, but that's not the point. It does what it's meant to well. If you enjoy casual games or need a time killer, this is a fit. Recommended.

A really fun time waster from one of my favorite developers.

Cute chopping game. Good for listening to an audiobook or something. It seems really slow for a while until you realize that the game wants you to figure out how to cheese it as much as possible.

I have to put an asterisk around my recommendation, because I did enjoy the game, but it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea. It's a bit of a deliberately grindy game, but for me sometimes a good grind is nice to pass the time, especially when you can learn to optimize your grind a bit, which this game gives the player a bit of room for. And the promise getting further exploration in the world from the grinding is a good carrot-on-a-stick. Also, as with any other Colorgrave game, it has wonderful pixel art and music as well that you'll get to chill out to. Not for everyone for sure, but if that sounds good to you might enjoy it.