Giraffe and Annika

It's better than Call of Duty: Ghosts.

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

Adorable.

[i]Did I wait until December 25th specifically to play this game just for an achievement? - Why yes, yes I did. [/i] Edit: I finished the game and w-- wut is that ending ;w; omg. I highly, highly recommend playing through this. It's an amazingly sweet story even if the controls are a little buggy with the platforming sometimes. ----------------------- With that being said. I'm currently playing through this game and will update with a proper review once I complete it. From the first 20ish minutes I've played my first impressions are that it's pretty cute. The controls are a little touchy but nothing I won't get used to over time. I really like the graphic novel cut scenes and I'm absolute trash at rythm games but I like to think I try haha. Can't wait to play more of this. I can see where the hype came from.

アンニカの快活で朗らかな魅力を堪能できた一作。 総プレイ時間は短いながらも、ストーリーを楽しむつもりでプレイするなら、エンディングまで楽しめると思います。 いろいろなコスチュームに着せ替えできるのはよし！

漫画形式でのストーリーが好きです。

一个慢热的开发地图+箱庭地牢的可可爱爱的动作探险游戏，还融了音游。 不过存在着部分地图边边角角有软锁定的卡死位置、存档读档后任务进度异常（比如找兔子的任务）、没有可以查看当前任务的地方等等。 瑕不掩瑜，还是值得一玩的。

Мяяя ❤︎

[h1]Gameplay[h1] wise, I wouldn't recommend this as a Rhythm game mainly because it has 5 rhythm music (3 for each initial dungeon, 2 for the ending part). My reason for giving it a positive review is because it is a really nice and cozy linear game. It may look and feel open world but progression is linear and areas are inaccessible unless you progress in the story and solve puzzles. And this is what the game is for the most part, a puzzle game game with a touch of platforming and a very small part, a rhythm game. [h2]Mechanics[h2] are fairly simple but I do have slight issues in the game design regarding mechanics. For the most part, they work well where they are needed to work. But that's my slight issues they only ever work on specific things and never together. Some of them even work only on a small portion of the game and never being tested together. Though I only consider this as a slight issue because the game is meant to be a cozy chill game about a girl and her [i]friend/s[/i]. If you expect combat in this game, it has 1 portion(3 instances) you can sort of fight back and never again used in other parts. [h2]Art design[h2] on the gameplay portion, they know what they want and it's really cute and adorable. For the comic strips portion, I like the environments shown in the strips but the characters being plastered in just feels off putting, the background and characters has a disconnect feel to them. [h2]Sound Design[h2] it's really good, from the background music to the rhythm games and even the sound fxs really fits the theme and feel of the game. [h1]in conclusion[h1], you don't need to take this game seriously when it comes to the bad parts I just mentioned. As I have mentioned a couple of times above, this is a story based, cozy, and chill game. The game works as intended, and I don't think I encountered any CTDs. you can play it, progress and learn the story of the characters and move to another game. You can also replay the Rhythm game parts even outside the story segments of the game.

推薦指數 5/5 玩家將扮演橘色貓少女，踏上一段充滿奇幻與溫柔氛圍的旅程。 遊戲的敘事在 2D 與 3D 探索之間穿插進行，整體節奏輕快，不論是地圖探索、解謎，還是地城挑戰與 BOSS 戰，都設計得相當用心且具有趣味性。 畫面風格相當清新可愛，劇情溫暖有趣，搭配的音樂也很有水準。雖然不像 3A 大作那樣龐大豐富，但操作簡單、節奏舒適，溫馨治癒，是款值得一玩的輕冒險作品。 建議開始時先進設定調整鏡畫面設定，預設值很容易讓人頭暈。 個人買了 OST ，很喜歡當中一首 BGM＜Crab King's Achame Dance Time＞