Beastro

[h1] An adorable gardening-deckbuilding fusion of Inscryption and Animal Crossing [/h1] I was really looking forward to this game, and I had a great time playing it. Although it’s not perfect, it’s a lovely experience and I’d recommend it, with certain make-or-break caveats depending on your taste. You’re told you can prep as much or as little as you want for the combat, but 10+ minutes of the same prep before you even enter the restaurant (and build your deck) feels mandatory for every single day, especially for rarer ingredients and especially at the start of the game. I wasn’t super bothered by it, but I also play in 30-90 minute bursts; it can definitely feel tedious if you play for multiple in-game days in a row. There’s way more emphasis on the gardening and prep work than the deckbuilding aspect. You have one chance a day to build a deck. If that’s your cup of tea, this gardening-deckbuilder might be great for you! However, if you’re looking for a gardening-DECKBUILDER, I don’t think you’ll enjoy it. The combat is more about winning flavor rock-paper-scissors and having bigger numbers instead of tailoring your build and effects to a unique style. I also intentionally left out “cooking” in the gardening-deckbuilder fusion description. The cooking takes way less time than any other part of the game. Compared to prep’s 10-15 minutes and combat’s 10-20, your daily cooking takes less than 2 minutes. Even though cooking is literally core to the story, in gameplay, it feels minimally impactful. You make all your patrons’ foods in one go and spend 60 seconds delivering them all, and then that’s it. The only other game mechanic with cooking is ingredient Tetris for the caretaker. In the game’s current state, the replayability is pretty limited. The maps never change, so you’ll almost always get exactly what you expect every time you venture out. It can get pretty repetitive. I hope more content gets added in the future, even if not an official story mode! All that being said, I do really like the game. It’s very much a cozy game with relaxed vibes and an adorable aesthetic that I really want to see more of. It has its flaws, but they aren’t deal-breakers for me and don’t majorly inhibit me having a good time. I’ve also made a quick list of my pros and cons. Pros: - Adorable art styles and designs for the characters (with some minor personal customization available) - Unique gameplay loop and mechanics - You can pet the animals - Cute story - I love that every food has its own 3D render. It’s always a treat to cook something new and see it come to life before serving it Pro or con, depending: - Heavy emphasis on gardening and caring for your animals - Maps are the same every time; no random generation - 3 playable deckbuilding characters Cons: - Extremely limited replayability - You’re locked out of your save after finishing the game* (there are workarounds by continuing at your last save and losing the final battle, but this isn’t clearly stated) - No way to save besides returning home in puppet show combat. I lost 20 minutes of progress after getting soft-locked for no reason after a regular enemy combat. I feel like you should at least be able to save your progress at mid-map campsites, even if you want to continue on the adventure. - Gathering ingredients in town can be very tedious, especially since navigating the town can feel confusing (the map isn’t helpful when you don’t know what direction you’re facing) - Helpful features such as ingredient fetching are easily overlooked or difficult to locate in town - The dialogue system is a bit buggy and doesn’t always show the correct character - Most townspeople have very little characterization and are more set dressing than people. All they do is repeat one line and order food. Considering how small the town is, I was expecting a bit more substance from the limited characters we have.