Giraffe and Annika

いい意味でも悪い意味でもインディーらしいゲーム。 だが、丁寧に作られていて良いプレイ感覚が残った。 特によかったのはステージのビジュアルとリズムゲー部分のアニメーション。

Giraffe and Annika is an action-adventure game focused on exploration and story with a gameplay structure similar to that of traditional 3D Zelda games, except it's cuter, the world is smaller (but filled more densely), there's no combat and boss "fights" are rhythm mini-games. Despite technically looking like a PS3 game with a higher resolution, thanks to the art direction, a lot of effort and attention to detail, it's actually quite beautiful. Especially the sky might be the best I've seen in a video game. Mornings and sunsets are phenomenal (there's a full day-and-night cycle). Music is also great, including tracks from the aforementioned boss "fights". Speaking of, even though this isn't a rhythm game (there are only 5 songs/bosses), they're very well-made. The system is simple but fun and they're fully animated: bosses constantly dance and attack in the background. Before each fight - and even during - you can choose the difficulty. Those who aren't into rhythm games will have no trouble finishing boss fights on easy. Hard can be actually challenging. The whole game is generally charming and filled with soul. Clearly a lot of heart and effort were put into its creation. The writing is warm and genuine, the story interesting, mysterious and emotional. The main character - Annika - reminds me of an older Yotsuba from the popular manga: she's full of curiosity and completely devoted to having fun no matter what she's doing. There's a lot of tiny things you may or may not even notice. Collectibles - instead of just adding +1 to the counter - are cat-themed pictures made by different artists in different styles and using different techniques, so not only you get additional costumes for gathering specific numbers of them, but every time you find one, you get to see a nice artwork, and Annika will comment each of them for you too. My only complaints: 1. Time flows too fast. 1 in-game hour is 15 seconds. A whole day is 6 minutes (3 minutes of light, 3 minutes of night). There are beds you can use to sleep until morning or evening, so there's no reason why days couldn't last at least half an hour. 2. As already mentioned, there is no combat. However, there are enemies in dungeons. They either chase you or shoot things at you. It would be nice if players were able to do at least something aside from avoiding them. 3. Swimming drains health instead of a designated "air" bar. There's a lot of quick and free ways of recovering health, but it still could have been done better. 4. Dash bar. It doesn't change anything gameplay-wise, so why not remove it and let players run around freely? I played it for the first time in 2026, so just in case I checked a list of games released in 2020 and yes, Giraffe and Annika is my GOTY 2020. Now I'm impatiently waiting for atelier mimina's next game, Haruka: Beyond the Stars. [spoiler]Objectively:[/spoiler] 9.7/10