I loved the game, but it might take a few hours to see its exceptional creativity, it's a bit stale and repetitive at first, with a few technical issues. However, the world is just so quirky with clever exploration, full of weird characters and dreamy vibes, and underneath, the passion for poetry and storytelling. The only two big negatives is that it takes so long to just backtrack for every sheep and to wait for every tree narration, and then 2 hours later the game offers you a Quake-like tech to move faster, it's @@@@@ hilarious. Takes about 6 hours to finish (not full exploration), there are more things to collect. (The game is shorter now, they added a way to listen to poems while playing)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3748086876
(Personally the characters in this game make me #### my pants, so silly)
A little goofy with the tone of the narration, but in a very endearing way, I think your enthusiasm for unusual writing is very infectious, and I assume the title is spelled that way intentionally. I actually really enjoyed the game, even though it could use a few updates for some superficial problems, it felt like the game had some issues with the music looping. The game is a little too descriptive with some of the writing, there will be some sexual things and weird kinks in it (text-only), which does not bother me, just wanted to mention it. Even though voice acting multiple characters is a little silly, honestly it's not that bad, not by indie standards, I have seen a lot worse. If nothing else, it feels like the voice actor at least played a bit into the poems with the annunciation.
The narrative is not focused on anything specific, it has some social commentary, introspective, existentialism, philosophy, and creative process. It might be easy to dismiss the game as a silly experience due to its presentation and occasionally silly writing, but it's a very deep and thought provoking experience, I can't express how it makes you feel when you done, it's something special.
To make progress through the game, just deliver every sheep in the area to the tree, and it will allow you to progress to the next area in most situations (sometimes you may need a few extra items). It's actually a decently large game, could easily take over 6 hours with some collection content, and it has a decent variety of visuals and locations. Granted, you cannot skip the large parts of narration at the tree, which is another thing I don't like. The writing is fun for the most part, but I do wish I could skip some of it, sometimes it could take 2-3 minutes of narration which hurts the pacing.
[h1]Pros:[/h1]
(+) I liked the design and personalities of the characters, and there are a couple of really cool looking locations as well, I loved the dreamy look of the library, and I like the biome changes
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3747938520
(+) In my opinion the writing in the game was very compelling, it just takes a few hours to understand the bigger picture and what the game is trying to say
(+) Nice collectathon experience, fun achievements, navigation with some power-ups, the map has various things that you have to pay attention to
(+) Even though it's not like great voice acting, I think the voice actor did a good job with it, at least I felt like there was some enthusiasm reading those silly parts
(+) Has more than a few hilarious moments
[h1]Feedback:[/h1]
[u]QOL:[/u]
- let the player skip the tree narration, I understand that it's a big part of the game, but it should be optional, some of it is just too long, and ruins the pacing
(they added a way to listen while playing)
- I know there is a ring that makes you move faster, but I think it should be even faster, it takes too long to move every sheep, even with the jump tech
[u]Presentation:[/u]
- it seems the music stops sometimes, not sure if there is a big pause between the tracks, or it has to trigger from events, but sometimes it takes too long to restart
- game could use more random sound effects, maybe more proximity based sheep noises
- sometimes the arm of the character gets warped when get stuck on things
- the game froze once after the first time I gave the sheep
[b]Overall Thoughts: 8/10 [/b]
This is one of those seemingly unassuming, and not very well made games, only to kick you in the nutz as you slowly uncover how profound it actually is. I do think you could have handled the pacing a bit better, the game has its slow parts, but there were so many charming character moments, and the story once you see the bigger picture, is unlike most of the games out there. I thought the exploration of the game was very fun, and I like how you handled various side quests and character interactions.
[code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]
