Cricket: Jae's Really Peculiar Game

Finished this game on the Switch, but I wanted to leave a review of it here! I loved its battle system! It felt great to find out which team combos were my favorite. Loved using Symphony, Charlie, and Twila the most with their combination of great moves, damage, status conditions, and reach! Stacking the enemies in columns requires you to think ahead as you knock each of them out so you can optimize your strategy for them. The game's overworld was also fun since you can run into stuff in the environment or into the NPCs to get a reaction out of the world! The story was deceivingly deep, too! At the beginning, I was expecting it to feel more about Jae than anyone else, but the game ended up having much more depth to all of its characters, not just Jae. It was great to learn more about them and see all of them hang out and help each other. And the world itself might seem just like ours on the surface, but it has a lore of its own which was also interesting to discover! Looking back on it all, it has to be one of the best turn-based RPGs I've ever played! I'd definitely recommend it!!

It's been a while since I enjoyed a new game that much. I really liked the fight mechanics and the dynamic between the characters. It's a fun and charming simple RPG.

The game and story are very grounded. I won’t spoil anything, but most players will relate to the issues this game explores. It’s honest, emotional, and manages to mix that with humour in a way that feels genuine. It reminded me straight away of the South Park games – both in tone and basic mechanics. Gameplay is fun. Hiding spots reward you with better gear, but do get repetitive. Combat works, though it could be more dynamic. I ran into a few issues: Two random crashes, usually after the game stops responding to my gamepad inputs. UI and settings feel unpolished: On launch, you’re asked to press any button, then shown three save slots where you can load or continue. The Options menu is extremely limited – no fullscreen windowed or borderless modes, and no proper exit option (you have to Alt+F4 the game). The resolution setting doesn’t actually change anything. I tried selecting different resolutions, but the game stayed the same. Textures are blurry on QHD, especially in fullscreen. Clearly designed with 1080p in mind, which makes it feel a bit off on higher-res displays. Even though you can play with keyboard and mouse, I found the gamepad surprisingly more intuitive — and I almost never prefer gamepads, so that says something. This feels like a game with great heart and potential, but it's missing polish and attention to detail. The issues I mentioned would have been obvious with proper playtesting. Unless this free version is meant as a public test, the current state makes it feel unfinished. That said — there's definitely something here. With more polish, this could easily become a little gem.

I hitch-hiked to the moon. I fought squirrels, loan sharks, cosplayers and sports drink mascots with a garden rake, a traffic cone and extreme acrobatics. I overcame road blockades, racial discrimination and student debt. I met a duck. This game is a relatively simple but delightful JRPG in the style of Earthbound or Omori, featuring turn-based combat with some bells and whistles. It's surreal and whimsical, and sports some top tier writing that most indie games can only dream of. The characters are charismatic, distinctive and funny, with great lines of dialogue all the way through, both when it comes to jokes and important lessons about friendship, growing up and overcoming adversity and past traumas - you will literally laugh and cry. I only have minor gripes - zero when it comes to dialogue, but at times I wish there had been more to do, mechanically speaking, in the various areas you explore, other than chatting, fighting and finding items in danish butter cookie tins (like in all JRPGs, I finished the game with a lot of unused items). Combat was fun but it felt harder in the early game and relatively easy towards the end, especially after I figured out a couple winning strategies. It doesn't matter (because there are more items than you need), but coins sometimes dropped inside walls. Even so, I had a great time playing this game; I wouldn't hesitate to play more games by these developers and would love to see more of these kids.

Absolutely incredible game It's SO frustratingly close for me to easily consider it a masterpiece, but I still love it all the same. [h3]The Good[/h3] While the gameplay, visuals, and music are all mostly top notch, I ultimately found the characters and dialogue to be what [i]truly[/i] sets this game apart. Considering the wacky premise of the game I wasn't expecting that much and figured there might be a good moment or two, but it kept on surprising me. It tackles quite the number of topics with [i]genuine[/i] care and understanding. It's hard to describe as it never really goes that deep and is mostly kept lighthearted, but the impact can be felt. It's just as funny as it is bittersweet. I nearly teared up at many points (maybe SOME water eye) as you really feel for the characters, especially if it's something you've experienced before or even still working through. They're probably the best written kid characters I've seen in quite some time and the game really comes together because of that. It's not perfectly executed with some things either happening too fast or too slow, but it makes up for that. With that being said though, there is of course the rest of the game. I don't think much needs to be said on visuals/music as they speak for themselves, but for [b]gameplay[/b] I have a few things to touch on. This is what I originally thought would be the game's strongest aspect (and a large reason why I played the game in the first place). I'm glad I held off until a few patches as I likely would've been far less satisfied on this front. The difficulty [i]especially[/i] I care a lot about as being pushed to interact with the game's systems makes it far more engaging and satisfying as long as the systems facilitate it. Thankfully, the game is about as mechanically solid (and responsive) as it gets. Boost, buffs/debuffs, positioning, character switching, team attacks nearly with all unique effects, [b]it has it all[/b] and you get access to a lot of it very quickly. Not much customization, but it's satisfying enough regardless and the game is short enough to not be a problem. I heard how easy the game was before so I cranked up the enemy scale slider thinking the max on it (x2) would be the intended 'actually presented a challenge' point, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got my ass [i]handed[/i] to me even as I slowly adjusted it down to what felt right. I liked having the assist circle for my attacks, but not for the enemies as it feels better to naturally adapt to their attacks. Even as someone with a lot of experience with these kinds of games, putting it on anything above 1.3x made things [i]quickly[/i] go out of control. I would've liked traditional difficulty options, but I had no problem experimenting with the slider. For a first playthrough, definitely DO NOT touch the hard mode button though. [h3]The meh[/h3] Now for the only flaw of the game that actively got in the way for me: the [b]map design[/b]. There's nothing outright terrible and a lot of it is quite good. However, there is something you will notice very quickly when exploring about and that's [b]space[/b]. Nearly every screen in the game feels 20%-50% bigger than it should. This by itself wouldn't be that bad, but the game often demands that you find specific things within them and you're likely to just waste a bunch of time. There's one or two times where it feels like absolute filler, and others where it's a mild annoyance. Heavily depends how you feel about it. The capability of the map (that you look at) is also quite limited I also expected a little more out of a certain character and the ending but it doesn't hinder the overall experience too much Anyways that about does it for me. Fantastic game that deserves far more recognition.

This is a wonderful game. I'm so glad it got gifted to me. I have a long ways to go, but as an avid fan of Mother 2 (aka Earthbound) and Mother 3, this game is an absolute must play. Bravo to Studio Kumiho - this game deserves far more notice than it gets.

I see that there is now a "quick save" option, but it still kinda sucks. It sucked when Dragon Quest did it. It sucked when Majora's Mask did it, and it sucks here. Just don't ever delete my save. I will buy this game when there is a proper save system.