Little One - A Visual Novel

After having played through [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/xTentacleBunny/recommended/1070220/]Detective Kobayashi[/url], I was especially thrilled to start another indie visual novel from [url=https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/GiikuGames]Giiku Games[/url]. Not only its gameplay but also the genre is completely different here and thus, Little One does focus more on its mysterious story fueled with stat raising. I always found that stat raising games are quite the challenge since achieving the better ends is very tricky, although it does feel more rewarding than just clicking through different choices. I wasn’t really sure what to expect of this game before I started it, yet, since everything is very mysterious in general, it only felt natural that I had no clue what was happening. Little One opens with Lisa’s friend, Andy, visiting her one day during the night. The unusual thing here is that she didn’t hear from him for years and suddenly he drops by with an unfamiliar boy named Jake whom she never met before. He asks her to take care of Jake until he manages to find a family that is willing to adopt him and despite being suspicious, Lisa decides to help both of them out. After a while, when she gets to know Jake a little bit better, it’s evident that something must have happened to him. Whilst she tries her best to make his stay endurable for him, she is wondering why Jake is behaving that odd. As aforementioned, mystery plays a big role here. I didn’t have a clue what was wrong with Jake although there were hints here and there that completely made sense once I got further into the game. It’s a tough situation for everyone, Lisa just wants to help him but doesn’t know what she is supposed to do since some actions might make the whole thing even worse. However, since it’s obvious very soon in the game that something did happen to Jake, it’s especially hard for him as he didn’t know Lisa well enough to be able to talk to her about his problems. It pains me that a child has to go through things like that. An environment like that force kids to grow up early and every time Jake had a panic attack, I just wanted to give him a hug and tell him that everything is alright. Additionally, I found it pretty heartwarming that Lisa actually cares about Jake. I mean, it’s hard not to after seeing him in this state, yet she never had any obligation to take him in or even to babysit him. It’s evident that she enjoys spending time with Jake as well and just prayed for his happiness. It’s refreshing that a game isn’t about romance, for once, but focuses a child with his unique problems, that are unknown to its reader. I noticed very soon that Jake cares about Lisa as well, although he still tries to keep his distance. So, in short: Yes, this game is rather serious and will make its reader care about this boy and his history a lot. Gameplay-wise, as aforementioned, the main goal here is to raise Jake’s stats. There are multiple stats available here such as strength, wisdom, and intelligence that can be raised each day with an assigned task to Jake. It’s possible to buy items in the shop that increase Jake’s stats as well. Each day, Lisa earns 100 gold which the player can freely choose to spend for certain items although not all of them increase a stat. For special items, there are short scenarios available after buying them which are pretty entertaining, to say the least. Since important information are colored in the text, the game pretty much tells its reader what they should buy and for which day they should pay attention to. However, strength, wisdom, and intelligence aren’t the only stats available here. There are two stats available called trust and fear. These are special stats that determine which ending the player will get out of nine different ones. When the Fear is kept low, the bad end will trigger. To make Jake feel more secure, choices during special events are essential. You see, Lisa only spends a few months with Jake and therefore, she needs to gain his trust quickly with her decisions. To be honest, I often didn’t know what answer was the right one and sometimes, the one I found more sympathetic was actually the one that made the fear of Jake worse. It’s evident that this game has to be played multiple times for achieving all the ends since the true end is very tricky to get. The artwork is very pretty in Little One, especially the CGs. There are various of different facial expressions and a few poses available here that greatly helped with the immersion. The backgrounds are a little bit blurred and kind of remind me of paintings. I liked the cozy atmosphere it created and although there are a lot of depressive moments, it still managed to add something beautiful that still fit with the content overall. The only downside with the immersion would be that this game doesn’t contain voice-over which would have made the characters livelier. Little One is a mystery visual novel that contains stat raising gameplay. To achieve one of the better endings, building up trust through specific choices is essential. I personally found that whilst this game is rather short, I still had fun going through the story to find out what happened to Jake. The character development is decent here so the reader can tell that Lisa and Jake start to care about each other while trying to not hurt the other, which can be quite tricky at times. Overall, Little One is quite challenging and offers multiple endings that make it worth replaying this game. [code]𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐲 [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34470115/]𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞[/url] 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬!

[i]So, it seems that the Voodoo doll was actually cursed…[/i] If I remember correctly, I received Little One for reviewing some time before the official release. However, as soon as I finally got time to play it, my laptop burnt. And I had to have it repaired. Over 12 days… So, either the universe wanted to prepare me for this game, or Sara was quite right about that creepy doll in her store. Or maybe it was even the cat god itself?! Anyway, enough of the backstory. Let us get down to the actual review! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1979140642 [h1]My thoughts about the game[/h1] Little One is the type of visual novels that you start playing with a lot of questions right away. Is there some detective mystery? Or a devious monster is hiding behind those cute violet eyes? Maybe other character are not who they seem to be? What if….? [b][u]For stories like this,[/u][/b] it is very important to hide its secrets long enough to draw the reader into it as deep as possible without getting boring. Little One completes this task successfully, I should say. Compared to the Princess Maker series, it is shorter and has differences in gameplay, which I will mention a bit later. There are some lighthearted interaction between the protagonist, Jake and background characters, but the focus is always on the boy and his mystery. The best part is that this puzzle is not dumped on you in huge chunks – you get the story piece by piece, slowly unraveling it like a ball of yarn. Every interaction is meaningful and shows a bit more of Jake’s past, while also telling something about the protagonist and her background. I also find the story really touching and well-written as it brings to light a very important message – never give up on people no matter how strange, reserved or secretive they can be. Sometimes a person has been hurt so badly that they need a lot of time to open up – and is definitely worth the wait as they can be very fragile and just need some human warmth and help to save themself. [b][u]As far as characters are concerned,[/u][/b] all of them were in the right place and played their roles perfectly. There are Triplets were perfect for the comic relief between serious scenes while also being a vital part of the city, cute businesswomen and supportive matchmakers. Sonia has this majestic air around her – she hides something for sure, but also fits the small town atmosphere perfectly. She and Andy bring their own mysteries to the story. Oh, and speaking of our guy Andy: what an elusive trickster he is! Charming, a bit too self-assured at times, but a major part of the whole secret. There is also Alba, who is actually way more important than you think he is. And, of course, Jake and the protagonist, a common young woman whose name you can choose at the beginning of the game. Both of them have very deep personalities. Introverted, insecure, stubborn, and oh so carrying and warmhearted! Their interactions were the most meaningful and touching. I felt so sorry for Jake all the way through, while mentally supporting my Milena [i](this time I decided to go for a different name and gave Kaede a break)[/i]. [b][u]Now, finally, what can I tell you about the gameplay?[/u][/b] Here we have a traditional mix of a raising sim and a visual novel. Well, maybe only I find it so common as I have played many games like this – Princess Makers of all kinds, Prince Maker (yes, there is one!), Long Live the Queen!, Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem (not exactly this genre, but close enough), etc. The story is presented as an interactive book where you can make choices during various events. So, yes, there will be a lot of reading. At the same time, you can set a schedule for your ward to increase his stats. Pay a lot of attention to this part! The game states from the very beginning that certain stats are required to trigger events – if your Vitality, Intelligence or Wisdom is not high enough by a certain point, you can miss something important. Events also affect Jake’s mental state and how much he trusts the protagonist. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1981454629 By the way, remember I said before that Little One has some differences compared to Princess Maker, for example? First, the schedule should be set every day instead of every week (PM5) or month (other PMs). Also, you cannot encounter random events in the city or walk around it – the only place available is the store. Some items can open new events, by the way. And some are extremely important for the main story! The game will give you hints about them from time to time – like a cup during the first days or a sketchbook later on. Also, no, Jake will not grow up because the whole story takes place within several months, not years. There is no romance for him either, obviously. [b][u]The artwork is honestly amazing.[/u][/b] I loved all characters’ designs, and backgrounds were quite nice. There are not that many locations or people, but all of them start feeling so cozy and darling the more you play that you will hardly even notice this small drawback. Music was also good and worked well with different scenes. [b][u]The last but definitely not least: translation.[/u][/b] For a game with a lot of text, this part is crucial. The reason I mention in in the end of my review is that I did not notice that many problems overall. English text is presented really well and is quite easy to read. Still, I did found some very small parts to complain about. First, there was a single event with untranslated names. A quiz takes place on 30th January, and at the very end of it, several citizens had their names in hieroglyphs. Which is extremely surprising considering available languages for the game – English and German only! Second, lines of code in the text. Speaking of the quiz mentioned above, there was another issue: Jake forgot protagonist’s name at some point and there was a line like this, “[Protagonist’s name] is cheering”. I encountered this problem only once, though. At the same time, there were other instances when lines of code appeared in the text. Once when Jake, Sonia, my character and cat Baron were interacting with each other in the restaurant, there was this mistake: “…..and meows at Jake (audio= meow}.” I assume there was also supposed to be a sound effect here or something similar? But it did not play. And, of course, traditional for almost any visual novel small typos. Example: “You’re dancing was fine”. I am pretty sure they meant ‘your’ or ‘you’ in this situation. But this is such a minor thing, to be honest. Other parts of the text were perfect grammatically- and vocabulary-wise. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1981453897 [h1]Would I recommend this game?[/h1] Yes, without doubt. I have not opened all endings yet, but I am already thoroughly hooked. The game is small but lovely and heartwarming in many ways, while also keeping its veil of mystery until the very end. The protagonist is an awesome person with a good heart, and this is also worth praising. One playthrough took me about 6-7 hours. However, as there are 9 endings in total and, as far as I understood, you will need to complete the game more than once to get to the True ending, you will spend way more time playing this little gem. All in all, totally worth the asking price! [h1][url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/32296668-Casual-Game-Reviews/] More reviews on our Curator Page[/url][/h1]

[h1] Definitely Not Otome but Shotacon? [/h1] A short and sweet review here, I liked the game its a mixture of time management, item collections and triggering events. However it is super time limited so if pressure is not in your alley then i don't think its for you. The story is mysterious, but as the name suggests this is not an Otome, basically you are taking care of a child with a mysterious past. The game leaves tips on how to play it, I remember doing these insane brain teasers as well (I really still don't understand how Pirate A is the answer to the last question gg) You basically raise the child, buys him toys and books, you get closer with him and you find out his secret past and help him. This is basically it, the plot. Whats unique here is that you need to buy SOME items in a specific order and under the correct time frame, otherwise you get a bad end. That's pretty insane considering you have to always look out for clues and there are many things to buy. And progressing more in the game I understood that only some items should be specifically used in the time frame, and other items a cutscene will trigger no matter when after you have bought it. I honestly took notes in the end and each decision matters honestly. Oh and you must also pay attention to the child's mood levels, gain his trust etc. It's a lot of work to do in a small VN, so many multiple things to look out for tbh and can be exhausting. but i guess its a bit satisfying. Not gonna lie, the endings were super hard to get since the game play is affected by these third variables. So yes no wonder the rarity of the achievements, I honestly thing me getting all of the achievements is just luck. The story is worth hearing though, it took an unexpected turn. But i also feel that its just short and it could have been made more interesting like an after story would have been more better. And you are basically stuck in this small town and it feels mundane and boring a little bit, travelling to a bit of locations even in a VN is refreshing really. The characters are fine nothing major interesting. The female lead is a tsundere. All in all an okay VN if you need some simulation and just an interesting read. Not otome of course but there were some hints of shotacon but that could just be me.

Although the visuals and the programming for this game are up to snuff, I'm afraid that a large portion of the dialogue and descriptions comes across as stiff and awkward - to the point where they could've been written by a twelve year old. I'm going to assume that English was simply not the writer's first language and admit that by that standard their grammar might be seen as impressive. But sadly, for a story like this that has a lot of focus on human emotion, it's difficult to draw the audience in to really sympathize with the characters when the interactions are so unnatural. For a significant portion of the game, almost everything meant to convey emotional vulnerability or unexpected emotional depth comes off as irrational or as some downright childish overreaction. I think something that I did like about the game however, was the bits of character development they did with Jake's fiction writings. I've completed one playthrough and ended up with a bad ending - I think my stats needed to be higher, as a crucial choice option wasn't available to me. At the end of the day, I admit the game has its good points... but I'm glad I picked it up on sale rather than paying full price.

I don't have much to say about this game, but I wanted to do a review anyway. The story is definitely bittersweet. It's about a troubled boy, named Jake, who has clearly been abused at some point, and ends up staying with the protagonist. Over a few months, the protagonist has to consider her decisions carefully, so that boy can learn to trust her. This is an extremely important aspect of the story, because if you fail to make the right decisions, the bad endings are very sad. Spoiler: [spoiler]It's revealed in the end that the boy is not an orphan, but an escaped insane asylum victim. For those unaware, asylums were horrible places back then. It is heavily implied that's where the boy was abused. It would seem that the reason the boy feels guilty for the protagonist taking care of him all the time is because he's had to lie about being an orphan and about having a personality disorder of some sort, at the request of Andy, the person who brought the boy to the protagonist.[/spoiler] My biggest complaint is that Andy's endings are incredibly difficult to figure out. I played the game several times and wasn't able to figure out either of Andy's achievement endings. I joined the Discord for help, but while the publisher wanted to help, the devs, apparently, haven't ever given helpful advice. The choices involving his endings are just really unclear as to what they do. Some choices even seem so similar that I wasn't able to deduce any difference between them, but one led to another event happening, while the other led to nothing. If there's that significant of a difference, then why not make the choices [i]clearly[/i] different? Anyway, I give up. No one on the Steam discussions has answers and no one on the Discord has answers. I still recommend it because the story is still worth the read. I really enjoyed it despite the issues with Andy's endings.

Story Premise: Player fills the role of an unmarried entrepreneur, Lisa/custom-name, having a traumatized child, Jake, hoisted upon her by a childhood friend. Try to figure out how to make Jake feel at home and uncover the mysterious root of his trauma. Gameplay: Besides the standard visual novel fair, Little One offers an RPG-like stat system for Jake where the player can guide his development, altering the direction of the story as you improve his stats via the daily schedule, gifts, and events. Narrative branches drastically through the player's choices with nine possible endings. Quality of life features include the ability to save at any time into one of several save slots, a functional and unobtrusive UI, and a fast mode so if you want to start again and take a drastically different path, just hold control and zip through the scenes until you get to where you want to pick up at. I was able to get one minor and one major ending in a single evening sitting and was intrigued to play more to get more endings. Quality: Text has impeccable grammar (did not notice any errors, and I was looking for them!). There was some odd phrasing in a couple places, but still perfectly understood. New plot revelations happened frequently enough that the gimmick (grinding up stats) did not get tedious or annoying. An easy visual novel to recommend for anyone who enjoys the medium. Game length: 3+ hours to achieve 2 endings, will update review after earning remaining endings. More Curator Reviews: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35757962/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUTADXguPhqLcit_r809LHg?view_as=subscriber

Ich hatte keine sehr große erwartungen an dieses Spiel aber der Trailer war für mich sehr ansprechend und ich wurde nun auch sehr Positiv überrascht! Es ist eine wirklich schöne Story die mich sogar an manchen stellen sehr berührt hat da sie sehr Tiefgreifend ist. Ebenso war es aber auch amüsant, besonderes da es dort zu der Zeit manche Dinge nicht gibt die für unsere heutige Zeit eine selbstverständlichkeit geworden ist. Der Anfang des Spieles gefiel mir sehr, es wurde alles sehr gut erklärt und kurz dachte ich dieses Spiel wäre Perfekt für Spieler die zum ersten mal ein Visual Novel ausprobieren und wäre für mich die schon einige sollcher Spiele gezockt hatte ein Kinderspiel! Leider hab ich da mich etwas überschätzt...Tatsächlich ist es mir in dem Aktuellen Zeitraum noch nicht gelungen zwei Enden Freizuschalten und ich muss wirklich sagen das ist eine SEHR Hartenuss. Natürlich werde ich es noch versuchen allerdings muss ich wirklich sagen es ist sehr nervend Aufreibend wenn man eigentlich sehr gute Events Freigeschaltet hatte und dennoch mit einem "Schlechten" oder gleichen Ende bestraft wird... Ich habe bis auf ein oder zwei kleinen Fehlern nichts an der Übersetzung zu bemängeln und der Zeichenstyle sowie die Musik sind sehr schön gewählt. In Allem gefällt mir das Spiel sehr gut, man muss wirklich sehr Gründlich lesen und mir gefallen die kleinen Humorvollen eingebauten Texte. Ich freue mich gern mehr in dieser Richtung spielen zu können und hoffe natürlich bald das wahre Ende ebenfalls zu erlangen!

Не могу рекомендовать эту игру преимущественно потому что я повидал немало визуальных новелл и я понимаю, что эта новелла не может произвести впечатление на опытного игрока. Впрочем, и начинать с этой игры знакомство с жанром не советую. Перевод на английский довольно кривой. Текст наполнен ошибками и в целом повествование довольно сухое и не вызывает эмоций, которые должны стать для игрока главным мотиватором. Персонажи не цепляют, как и история. Думаю, здесь больше проблема с подачей. Игрок должен привязаться к мальчику и стремиться заботиться о нём, но ...эмоций не было, а без них игра сплошная тягомотина. Менеджмент в этой игре кривоват и не проработан должным образом. Вариантов действий тут маловато, и при этом я всё равно некоторыми из них не пользовался для успешного прохождения. В итоге ты просто делаешь одно и то же. Это немного усугубляется тем, что сюжет занимает лишь около 4 месяцев (довольно мало в сравнении с другими играми жанра). Отыгрыш каждого дня не сильно помогает, только делает игру однообразней. Товары в магазине соответственно тоже частично бесполезны. Ладно бы ещё короткие сценки были привязаны к каждому из объектов, но нет. При всём при этом развитие персонажа очень сильно привязано к характеристикам, которые не так просто развить должным образом (и далеко не сразу понимаешь а какой отметки будет достаточно). Условия для концовок также сложно обнаружить даже методом проб и ошибок спустя кучу попыток. В целом игра довольно быстро стала вызывать напряжение, а удовольствия так и не принесла. Осторожно: для лёгкой идеальной игры это не самый лучший вариант, т.к. выбивать нужные концовки задолбаешься, хоть их и не так много.

[h1]Hmm, I feel neutral about this game[/h1] I don't think I would play it a second time. I do like mysteries in stories, but only If I can find out everything, otherwise it's just frustrating. I played the game for a longer time than usual visual novels & I still can't get all endings. I was only able to get all Jake endings. At the start of the game the narrator thing tells you that buying items within certain times unlock scenarios, & that those items will be put in "conspicuous places" in the shop, but I didn't find the places very conspicuous at all. It also said the text would be in purple for hints, but there barely was any. My first play through was very short & very boring. I found myself doing the daily schedule for days, without seeing any scenarios or art scenes. Once I got the hang of it, it was slightly better, but still kinda boring. I feel like that's a common first play through? It doesn't really give any incentive to continue after that, even if the art scenes have such a lovely art style. The text translations were also... Stale? Stiff? There was a couple of cute/funny interactions between characters, but especially for the character we play as, the conversations left much to be desired. Basically the game doesn't help you at all in finding how to do things, even if it said it would. Also on the community discussion page of the game, the developer said their Discord server has lot's of hints for the game. However when I joined, they had things of their other games, but not Little One. It's like they gave up on their game. I find it hard to recommend this game at it's current price, as I think nothing makes up for it. If you happen to get it for free, definitely give the game a go. If it happens to have a good sale, then that's also better than base price, but I still wouldn't say it is worth it. ⠀⠀⠀─────────────────»»❀❀❀««───────────────── [b]TLDR; [i]PROS[/i][/b] ✿ Lovely art style ✿ Good music to to set the feelings of scenes ✿ Enjoyable short stories from Jake ✿ Strategy, schedule making system; ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Schedules raise or lower Jake's personality traits [i][b]CONS[/b][/i] ✿ Stiff, lack of personality speech translations ✿ Tutorial is very basic & a little misleading ✿ How much of certain traits needed to unlock scenes is [i]very[/i] strict ✿ Time window for buying shop items to unlock scenes also seems strict ✿ Not good for inpatient people ✿ Very slow build up in the story with little reward ✿ Seems & feels like developers gave up on the game

So far I love it I like the story and its characters especially Jake he's so cute and have got a couple of the endings just not the good ending yet it still eludes me but I've had fun. It's simple visual novel but it kept me engaged and recommend it.