It's On The Mouse

A more full review: The beginning of this game sees you running a human-sized cafe as a mouse-sized mouse maid. It has a sweet little story, not too in depth but that is just right for the light-hearted nature of this game. There are four main playable characters who each boast a unique set of abilities that change the main platforming aspect of gameplay (we'll touch back on this later). The platforming mechanics are fairly fun (also touch back on this later), needing some mastery to score the highest rating on each level with allows you to unlock multiple bonuses and extras in the game. The level progression is quite enjoyable with a fairly linear difficult curve, adding an extra challenge with each step. I can't stress enough that it is fantastic that the entire game is voice acted, with only a handful of instructional lines being without. The characters are jovial with puns and light humour flowing freely from beginning to 'end' (more on this later too). It's fairly addicting and hard to put down, the main character, Holly the Mouse, is very lovable and sweet and the game is simple to understand and enjoyable to play... So on to the issues. Roughly two thirds of the way through the game you take a detour away from running a cafe as you go on a wild goose chase, following other plot lines, with only a brief return to the cafe before being whisked away again. With this we lose some of the silly, light-hearted cafe-running-mouse shenanigans which was a large part of the game's charm. The usual gameplay loop is interrupted and exchanged for something quiet different, not necessarily bad but it definitely is not reflective of the gameplay that had me interested in the first 2/3rds of the game. The most noticeable problem with the changes in the later parts of the game are the moments where you want to restart (to full score all levels for the bonus unlocks or because you fail a level) and the later levels are uncomfortably long, where restarting can set you back 10 minutes or in some cases more, with punishing mistakes which can be purely a matter of RNG. With a fun, light-hearted game this can lead to frustrating gameplay, where mistakes are no longer fun knowing it's about to turn a level into an awkward grind. This culminates in some of the last handful of levels with unclear mechanics that are introduced with no prior explanation, which as explained, wouldn't be a problem if levels were slightly shorter in nature but as with a lot of the 'boss fight' levels, the bosses require you to do the same thing repeatedly, just waiting for an opening to get the next 'hit'. It becomes tedious fast especially when you reset for the 10th time. On to the worst and main offender, the final level. I cannot begin to describe my contempt for this level. Usually a game builds up to an epic finale, a moment which should be a satisfying conclusion to everything that had lead up to this point. The final level is almost the opposite of this. Swapping away from the select-a-character format the rest of the game employs, you are now forced to play all four characters. You swap between them, repeatedly (probably 50+ times) and each time it plays the same transition as the characters 'pass the baton' to one another. While cute the first time, it's an annoyance by the end, slowing down gameplay in an already tediously long level. As you have to change character on a rotational basis, the level decides that you will have to rotate through them in a specific order, turning 1 character change and transition into 3. You find yourself running backwards and forwards through the same void-esk backgrounded level, over, and over, and over. With nothing new introduced to the game except a secondary ability you will use a handful of times, which for the most part is just a reskinned "attack" from earlier levels. There is no urgency, no jeopardy. no danger and no motivation in this level either. The stakes are low where failure is met merely by slowing down your progress. From what I can tell you cannot die, you cannot lose, you are just forced to run back and forth between characters for the best part of what felt like an hour. Instead of the fun cafe-running gameplay in the first half the game you are instead in what feels like a hand-holding tutorial, where all you can do is ferry token A to point B, but only in the way the game wants you to. This ramps up at the very end where the game throws every mechanic in the game at you at once, but with no real punishment for failing, instead finding yourself once again, just slowed as you try to carry another object from point A to point B. The final level overstays it's welcome tenfold and each time you think it's finished rehashing the first 16 levels, it dredges up another one, except with all the joy drained from the fun of running the cafe you started in. If this one level wasn't roughly 1/10th of the game's length, it may have been more bearable, as it is, it's anti-climactic, it's slow, it's boring, it feels horribly forced and if you should somehow manage to not max-score this level, you have to start the entire slog over, just to get those bonus unlocks at the end. Now to touch on a couple of points brought up earlier. The platforming mechanics, while fun, aren't particularly fluid with jarring momentum. Forgivable during the early, silly, fun and un-serious levels, a pain in the later punishing levels. The four playable characters are great but I have to note there are several levels throughout where character choice is compulsory, so if you had a favourite you cannot always play them and if you do not mesh well with one character's mechanics it's time to learn them if you want to complete the game. Finally, to note, I strongly recommend the first 16 or so levels of the game, very fun. Once you leave the Cafe I felt this game sharply went down-hill. From a silly, turn your brain off, enjoy the story and jump around type game being an 8/10 down to the pain of slogging through the last handful of levels feeling closer to a 5/10 finally the finale being a very painful 2/10.

Saw Game Grumps play this one and was interested in the controls overall before jumping in. The Game is a Cute, Insightful take on the different of height (in a much larger way). I wasn't expecting too much and I think I gained quite a lot of fun for just £10. The Story was more impactful than I expected as I was simply interested in the mechanics. Branching from simple misunderstanding to the literal embodiment of bad luck (never would have seen that coming). The Characters have the same personality as an average anime though so I didn't really connect with them (not that I was expecting to anyway). Overall, for £10, I have no regrets. 9/10. It would be a whole 10/10 if there was a free mode in where you could simply run your cafe without any pesky surprises (Ants, Tornado, fires, etc.) Would absolutely return if a mode was set up in where you had to do everything to make your cafe work and thrive (thinking Supermarket Simulator in where you have to restock, clean, etc.). Also, a feature where four employees are engaged in helping the daily shift would be amazing (would make sense to the story as well).

I do want to preface that I have 100%d the game, as I wanted to do so before writing up a review. Overall, my opinions on the game are middling, but it does tend out towards positive because I can see the clear passion that has been put into this game. Pros: - The game is incredibly cute, not just visually and in terms of voice acting, but also in mechanical approach to handling each level while being substantially smaller than the world and all other characters. - It does a very good job in slowly introducing new orders in the café, as well as the unlockable characters, within the first half of the game. Also, for the first 3 boss fights, it manages to communicate how to play without holding your hand, which I appreciate. - The gameplay loop of working the café is quite addictive, and trying to work towards Gold on each level is quite compelling, especially given the bonuses they can unlock. As a result, the post-game rush hour is quite enjoyable, to try and push yourself. - The 3D modelling and game design is honestly incredible, especially in a time when we're flooded with Unity asset flips and AI content. The decision to have interact spaces be wide circles, given the scale of the characters, is very good to avoid making players angry with being overly precise. - And, I suppose it is worth mentioning, yes this game is softcore porn, with some teasing commentary throughout. Honestly, as a game trying not to alienate the wider audience, it does a good job, while being tongue in cheek with what is being implied without being explicit. ...I am now going to apologise to the dev, because I'm going to sound quite harsh, but I mean this out of love, but I do have quite a few gripes. Cons: - The game is littered with frankly unplayable issues at times. There's no volume slider, and settings are completely inaccessible while playing a level. There's no way to turn off SFX, which becomes an issue on levels like 19 and a few after, especially with how loud the rocks can be when they're falling. I did resort to muting the game at times to get around it. - Speaking of level 19, between it and the last 5 levels, I was...more than a little frustrated at the difficulty spike near the end, repeatably having to reset. I appreciate the checkpoints during the later boss fights, at least, but it doesn't change that a lot of them can require quite precise aiming or unclear mechanics. I didn't realise the second half of the water boss fight until I stumbled into it by complete accident. - The final stage as well is...a lot. While I did enjoy it, it does throw out *a lot* of new mechanics out of nowhere, is very challenging, and there's no spawn protection if you end up falling off the map. It also doesn't help how long the stage is, making me very frustrated by realising I'd only achieved Silver and needed to try again. - And finally, more minor because this is bonus content, but the MM EX stages leave a lot to be desired. Even with the sensitivity at lowest in-game *and* on my computer mouse, I constantly found myself fighting with the camera. I also don't really know why you can look down, it doesn't serve to do anything. And, I guess spoilers for Loom mode, but I had some pretty annoying issues with it too. After Stage 1, the game assumed I knew how all the pickups work, and thus wouldn't explain any I missed in Stage 1 but found in later stages. Also, at least for the croissant, every single time I fired it the ammo filled my vision, temporarily flashing me with a black screen every few seconds. It was quite disconcerting, and difficult to play as a result. Conclusion: I personally bought the game when it was on sale for £5, and I feel that is a reasonable price point. Despite my complaints, I do think this game is quite a lot of fun, and would love if there could be a game completely centered on gaining profits and upgrading your cute little café. And I think that's my main takeaway. This is a really nice game held back by the dev constantly wanting to add more and more content? I appreciate the maze stuff, I appreciate the creativity of the boss fights...but it didn't need that? I would have rather had a much more tight and functional café sim, rather than stretching the game out further and further from it's initial scope. I would give the game a 6.5/10, closer to a 7.5 if could fix some of it's more glaring issue. I would like to see more from the dev in future, and I hope they use this game as a learning experience.

Price paid: €5 (sale) • Regular price: €12 Opening It starts cute and looks lovely, but it runs out of ideas within the first hour. After 45 minutes I was left with one clear feeling: charming concept, repetitive experience. The controls feel oddly rubbery, and the repetition hits fast—e.g., the line “Why is human food so big?” popped up 10–15 times in no time. That kind of loop scrapes the charm right off. (Fairness) I know this is a small team—maybe even a solo dev—and I respect the effort. But I have to judge the overall experience as it plays, whether it’s made by 1 or 50 people. I genuinely hope the developer listens and keeps making games, because the ideas are there. What works Cute presentation and a cozy little framing story. A few fun moments where scale and environment actually click. …and what breaks it Controls aren’t smooth—jumps and movement feel off and imprecise. Repetition in both gameplay and voice lines drains momentum. Objectives and progression become too samey far too quickly. Value At €5 on sale, maybe — as a short, curious taste. At €12 full price? No. In its current state it feels like a €3–5 game. Conclusion You can feel the intention to make something good, but the result lands in the gray middle: neither a disaster nor a recommendation—just forgettable. If you’re curious, wait for a deep discount. Recommendation: Do not buy (unless heavily discounted). Final score: 4/10.

Cute tiny girl game is cute.

Very good game, very charming, decent voice acting, and just overall addicting gameplay loop, would be very fun to speedrun. Definitely recommend.

[h2]Review[/h2] I cannot understate just how immensely charming and unique I found "It's On The Mouse". You play as a tiny Mouse Girl serving customers in a Cafe. It's a 3D platformer in which you serve customers despite your size, jumping on chairs and tables to get around. There is about 10 hours of content, not including post game content. Across 25 levels, called "Shifts", you are drip fed new mechanics in the form of, * Menu items * 3 extra playable characters with different skills * Customers with distinct quirks and preferences * Environmental obstacles. Many of these mechanics are related to the narrative unfolding with each Shift, which start and end with visual novel style dialogue, interspersed with in game cutscenes. Eventually, the stack of mechanics turns gameplay into a frenetic rush of 3D platforming and customer management, that is both fun and challenging. Now the dev could have stopped with "cute tiny people serve coffee and croissants to big people in a Cafe" [b]BUT THEY DIDN'T[/b] and that's because this game was clearly a passion project for the developer. Nobody puts in more work than they need to make a sale and 3D platformers are not the best selling genre on Steam but the dev cared enough to devote time, energy, and money to make "It's On The Mouse" an expression of their creative depth and game design skills rather than a simple platformer with a gimmick. Beyond the Cafe sim, this game includes * Unique 3D assets * An over-arching narrative * Boss fights * Areas outside the Cafe * Post-game content * Fully voiced (despite the large cast of characters) * Colorblind support!? Is this the best, most perfect game ever? No, but is it worth your time? I think so. This was done by a solo dev on a budget and I have mad respect for what they accomplished. I sincerely hope that you will give the game a chance. Steam gives you 2 hours to refund a game and you'll know long before then if you enjoy it. Whether on sale or at regular price, please give it a shot and judge for yourself. [h2]A Word About Size Content:[/h2] Foremost, I want to make it clear that while the game includes size-change content (shrinking/growing) this game is designed with a general audience in mind and absolutely worth playing for its' gameplay and story alone. Some people may be quick to write the game off purely because some people are into that stuff and assume that's all this game cares about, that only those people would enjoy it, but that is simply untrue. To the average player, the size differences featured here are just part of the ludonarrative (intersection of gameplay and story). In this respect, it's no different than the well-received "Grounded" games. The size of the characters is what makes the game work as a 3D platformer and pushes the story along, nothing more, nothing less, and certainly no worse than anything you'd watch on TV.

A fun game where you can serve many different customer types. The challenges of each round is different meaning that rounds can rapidly escalate or become unpredictable. Holly and her friends each have unique abilities that can make certain shifts easier, or harder. The boss fights are unique and can be quite challenging especially when trying to get to gold ranking. But it is worth it because the bonuses are fun to play with, and fun to see. A surprisingly twisty story considering the game genre, (most cafe management games I play aren't quite this twisty). Great voice acting, with different characters saying different things to customers, and during certain actions makes it entertaining to retry old rounds with new characters. And again the boss fights are fantastic and can be difficult to predict without playing them a few times so don't be upset if it takes some time to win against a boss. Some pieces of advice while avoiding spoilers: If you are playing a round again and want to skip the dialog/cut scene press esc twice. Color coordination is important for the second boss, so it may be good to have some help there if you are color blind, different maids have different talents, don't be afraid to experiment, and explore. Also for those into G/t or size related fans there are at least 9 different sizey twists before the end of the game. And I am expectant of more so for those into that, this is absolutely a game for you. Big fan, bought a couple of copies for friends.

Short and sweet game about being a lil mousegirl (or bunnygirl- or fairy- or robot girl) maid at a cafe. You greet guests at the door, bring their food they order, all while navigating the cafe that's relatively massive to your tiny character. It's fun to move around the environment, each girl having their own movement abilities. Holly is classic 3D Platforming, Bonny has superjumps, Duni has free-flight (albeit is a bit slow), and Ellie can slide fast and hover through the air bypassing hopping around. Though Holly, the namesake "Mouse", feels like her options are a bit- lacking. As you might expect, having to hop up and down tables frequently means vertical movement is borderline necessary and Holly is the only one who can't bypass this. While fun to move around, I will say it feels unpolished on this front. Sometimes it'd feel I did the same type of jump twice in a row and get completely different results, with a weird feeling of I can't tell if momentum matters or not. I will say I absolutely love how this game managed to sell the scale of things; Jumping a huge gap that's really just 3 feet was fun! Using Duni to try and fly around people as they move around was neat, and so on! The serving customers side is fun; a variety of customers mix things up. From some that forget and constantly change orders, to customers that will wait forever but leave their seats so you gotta remember which seat they were in, to ones that start in a bad mood and you have to go an extra mile to help them. The game also adds some stuff to trip this up as you progress; trying to carry food to a table but fireballs are now floating on the table surface causing you to be more cautious. It's an interesting depth. What I don't like is the increasing complexity on item grabbing; The game doesn't simply add more menu items, instead it adds new mechanics on how you approach these items entirely. From having to paint eggs to having to fire a cannon and then catch it, it started making the focus feel less on the movement and serving and more trying to balance an awkward mishmash of mechanics. The game also seems to get a bit too chaotic at points; I got through most of the game with flying colors relatively fast, but even day 1 your cafe will get overwhelmed with customers, let alone when they start adding stuff to trip you up. For completing the story 100% you get a bunch of cute side modes, namely the "Mouse Maze" where you're made smaller than even the main cast, in a maze of dice doing a variety of things (it's all in playful sport). It's cute, and a fun extra distraction. Audio- could use some work. Music is fine, if a bit repetitive. Voice lines get repeated *way* too often (I understand there's a limit, but for common actions they probably don't need to play every single time since I'll be doing this every 10 seconds). Story was okay. A bit corny, a few things too shoehorned in it felt, but it wasn't ever a point where I felt detracted from it. Short answer; While visibly unpolished and a bit clunky to play at points, still a cute and fun game, and I enjoyed my time with it! Definitely for the smaller asking price worth it if the content seems to interest you! I'd love to see a sequel that's a bit more ironed out (and possibly leans into the "owning" the cafe side. I feel letting a player customize layout and obstacles to suit their playstyle might help alleviate movement issues characters somewhat feel like they have)

This was a very fun game, I love the different characters stories and the mechanics that go into it too. Enjoyed streaming it on my end and enjoying the different scenarios between the boss fights and the challenges provided in the extras as well. The art was very fun to look at as well.