GraveBoy CrowFeet - A Quest for Skulls

Sometimes you find that free game on steam that turns out to be absolutely delightful from start to finish, could have been a $10 game. I think the game had fun dialogue, good character design, and actually very intuitive puzzles for the most part, I liked that you color coded the important parts. There have been hundreds of similar games over the years, more on the RPG-maker side, but many of them are either too slow, or don't use original art, so for me this game was much better because it never got boring, I never felt like the game was dragging along, and the locations were always enjoyable to explore. There were some nice quality of life features which I think many games in the medium don't do as well, such as the button for teleporting back home, color-coding, convenient save stations, and the custom inventory with additional hints. Overall it feels like you thought of everything, considering it's a free game, it felt really nice to play and focus on the narrative because there was nothing frustrating or distracting on the mechanical side. More than anything else, I think the world had a very playful vibe to it with the characters constantly probing and poking at you with the dialogue, there was never really a dull moment, everyone had something interesting to say. I thought the game had a nice variety of biomes with enjoyable coloring, it's not a huge game, but it's nicely populated with things to do and visuals that often grab your attention. Despite a simple art direction, the characters were often emoting or showing some personality, either with the dialogue or how the game showcased them. [h1]Pros: [/h1] (+) I liked that the dialogue was fun and not too long, always to the point, the game never really got boring like many similar titles. Overall the game had nice pacing and fair puzzles, as well as enjoyable narrative. (+) Presumably everything or at least most of the game is original art, and I liked the unusual character design, as well as design for the fun and colorful locations, the world-building was interesting for a silly game. (+) Some of the most chill puzzles that I have seen, everything is either color-coded, or has intuitive hints, there was only one that I didn't like. Creative and not frustrating to figure out. (+) Surprisingly has a decent amount of content, can take a few hours at a casual pace. [h1]Feedback: [/h1] [u]Just random notes:[/u] - windowless would be nice, feels more immersive without the panels on top - maybe add another hint for the mirror/ghost interaction, it's a very unusual way to get something, never seen it done like that, I tried everything except that - achievements would have been nice, if the engine supports it [b]Overall Thoughts: 8/10 [/b] I feel like the free games on Steam often get overlooked for various reasons, partially because of the algorithm, and partially because people don't expect them to be worth their time, but this is exception, it's a very charming game, it's fun the entire way, and almost impossible to not have a nice time with it. It felt like you thought of everything, very intuitive puzzles, convenient saves and navigation, and just a charming world full of silly characters to explore. [code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]