[b]edit:[/b] here we go, another permanent ban from another developer who can't take criticism. how about releasing properly working games instead? what a joke...
[b]edit2:[/b] he said I'll get unbanned after he calmed down, hasn't happened yet, so can't reply to comments below either (though I don't even understand the question). the forum topic asking questions also got deleted. wasn't started by me, I just provided the answers. looks like he's also the kind of dev who doesn't want any negative but true info to be found out before people buy the game. even more shameful.
[b]edit3 (jun11):[/b] after the review I kept getting emails from the dev, calling me names, then apologizing, calling me names again, and so on. after a while I told him I'd blocked his email, had enough. he told me to ♥♥♥♥ myself (first time from a dev), then silence. now, a few days later he's emailing me from another address, more name-calling, had to block that too. that's how 'humble' (see comments below) he is. surely this time could've been spent on fixing the game he developed poorly and released in a sorry state, but blaming the review and me for accurately describing the situation is much easier. I have no intention of wasting another minute on him or his games, so hopefully he finds another pastime soon.
[b]chloe[/b] is a pixely [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/427820/]hitman go[/url]-like with a bunny. it's not entirely played on boards like that and there are other characters in chloe's toy box, but the bunny is clearly the main draw (and it's not even playable until level 40). don't be fooled by the cuteness on the store page though, this is [b]yet another game developed without any common sense regarding basic pc functionality[/b].
it came out in an abysmal state, which is par for the course these days, especially for lazy mobile ports, but instead of pushing back release after learning about the issues, they went ahead and published it as is. I still gave the dev the benefit of the doubt and waited a few days, but even after a patch (which was very minor) there are [b]still barely any settings and controls remain horrible[/b]. separate audio toggles had to be patched in (how the ♥♥♥♥ do you release a game without ANY control over the audio?), no volumes, no windowed mode (alt+enter doesn't work), no resolutions, no rebinds, so non-qwerty people need not apply.
[b]72 levels[/b] unlocked one by one. the goal is to get every player character to the exits. thankfully, it's not simultaneous movement if there's more than one present, they can do their own thing. [b]it's all turn-based, no timer or move limit[/b], not even a move counter or rating system, but [b]dying is possible[/b] if you run into baddies or get killed in other ways. then time to start over because [b]there's no undo[/b] either. a hotkey for level reset was patched in at least. excluding undo tends to be a dealbreaker even if everything else is fine, and it's certainly not the case here. [b]most levels are quick and easy, but some are pretty annoying[/b] and providing options is always good.
besides avoiding moving dudes on set paths and annoying cats (they follow the active player once aggroed), there are more territorial evil toys and some control lethal cannons. bombs activate when moved, vents act as teleports (not just for yourself, that threw me early on), balloons essentially do the same (only for yourself). there's a bunch of other stuff and [b]enemies (including cats) can and have to be killed sometimes, even by each other, which is neat[/b].
the toy shop in the main menu offers a few cosmetic-only plain shirts (and nothing else), bought with [b]gold coins collected from harder to reach places[/b] (silver is used on the levels they're on to operate the claw machine). unfortunately, level select doesn't mark stages with uncollected loot, though they're only worth grabbing for the extra challenge, not their use, and there's more than you can spend anyway.
[b]keyboard controls are horribly inconsistent and non-rebindable.[/b] controller might work better but that's not much consolation. arrows navigate the menu, enter selects, fine so far, but esc only goes back from level select, not the toy shop or the visuals menu with a few color palettes for overall looks. only enter can get you out of those places.
arrows browse levels on the current page of the puzzle book (level select), z/x to swap pages (how gamepad of you), enter selects (has to be pressed twice sometimes). oh, and f12 opens the dev console, clearly prepared for a steam release. there's a mouse cursor but clicks don't do anything, of course, and the cursor never goes away. in fact, [b]the game runs in a borderless window that can't be resized[/b], so can't even move the cursor off-screen, as it just changes to a resize cursor.
[b]controls while playing are mixed up yet again.[/b] arrows still work for movement (can't hold to move more), wasd pans the camera (let go and it resets), 'i' for instructions on all the mechanics in the game with no punctuation, and arrows swap pages instead of z/x from before. 'h' is for level-specific [b]hints[/b] (also lacking punctuation, sometimes mentioning tapping in a pc game), 'z' is character switch, 'x' to interact with certain things that aren't just pushed, 'c' for doing mechanic-specific things. for the billionth time, [b]keyboard and controller buttons aren't the same, stop doing this[/b].
also, [b]panning is a lot more annoying than useful[/b]. it's only needed on a few levels and just barely, so it'd be better to get rid of it and scale those levels to fit the screen. or if scaling is too much work, [b]instead of using 4 keys to move the screen slightly around, offer a zoom key[/b], then wasd could be used as an alternative for movement, win-win-win.
esc brings up and exits the pause menu, but if you go to the newly-added settings with 2 whole audio toggles, esc won't go back to the main pause menu but close the whole thing, gotta select 'back' instead. on-screen level numbers got patched in, plenty of room on the screen, especially without control prompts that disappear after a few levels and only show new stuff when applicable. they're always on in the pause menu and the hint and instructions screens, so again, inconsistency.
as good as the idea, some of the presentation (if you're into cute pixel art) and mechanics are, [b]it's impossible to recommend in such a shoddy state with missing basic functionality[/b]. also, [b]it's $1.49 on mobile and I bet it works a lot better there[/b]. plus you can talk to the other toys in the hub world in the mobile version, which isn't possible here, so even though it's just fluff, [b]you get less by paying more if you buy the pc version[/b]. so please don't. it might get patched up eventually, I'll edit and potentially flip the review then.
