Paws of Coal

令人惊喜的hidden gem……！美术和音乐很有童话/老式动画的感觉，但文本量意外地大，行文也相当老道，精炼却不失优美，整体上玩着很舒服

This is a very cute game that has some clever and even funny writing. It touches on things not often seen in computer games: class struggle and scientific method. It does succesfully bring a taste of both. Since the main character needs to process similar information multiple times to deduct the truth, his animal interlocutors are varied and interesting. Narrative choices are strong, subtle and eye-opening. Class struggle is illustrated by workers strike, and shown not to be a clear-cut situation. The game is not perfect and with a bigger budget could have been presented better. As is, most of the game is presented thru narrative interface. There are some bugs, but nothing game breaking. It is a self contained prequel of a possible bigger game, with more cuteness, class consciousness and science! Definite recommendation to buy, play and with that support alternative, more mature vision for games.

Чудесный, хотя и очень короткий квест в жанре расследования. Основа геймплея - поиск фактов для расследования, будь то причина болезни или поломка лифта. Действие происходит в мире Trip the Ark, немного похожем на Redwall (с другой историей и географией, другими, но тоже с антропоморфными животными, разделенными на касты). Отличная атмосфера, персонажи, приятная графика, соблюден баланс диалогов (не слишком короткие и не слишком затянутые).

Great art and a good, short story. Kinda buggy but not unplayable.

Adorable! I enjoyed this cozy game. It was very straightforward, nice side scroller, and the storyline was easy to follow. I loved figuring out the mystery and while short was perfectly priced!

A really well written puzzle game with nice dialogue and characters. The setting feels like a snapshot of a much bigger, living world with it's own history and culture that makes all the dialogue and books much more interesting to read. The game is very text heavy but it all plays into the simple and engaging deduction game play where everything you read provides some information to help you solve the central case without ever feeling dry or tedious. Depending on your reading speed and deduction skills you'll probably finish the game in 2 hours. The movement is sometimes a bit janky around the stairs and can feel slow but it is never game breaking and often just a bit annoying or funny. The only true detriment is that there isn't a sequel or more of this detailed setting. Overall I would say it's well worth full price if you like investigation or adventure games.

love it

The controls are clunky and somewhat buggy, but serviceable. Got soft-locked by choosing particular dialog options that should've been mutually exclusive - after having interacted with everything, I just don't have enough info in my journal to come to a logical conclusion.

Small interesting game, though the journal can be confusing.

Fun! Lots of reading, but I like how this game logically solves the mystery! I didn't experience any crashes.