Stray Children

I'm going to start by saying this: You don't [i]need[/i] to have played this game's spiritual predecessor, Moon: Remix RPG Adventure, to appreciate Stray Children - But I do think it adds something, especially if you go right from Moon into this. Stray Children is a fun and good and insightful game on its own, but there's an extra layer of conversation being had between the two games that the player won't even see if they don't know the themes of Moon. It's not necessary, but it does add richness to the experience As for Stray Children itself It's a very unique game. It's very story-heavy, which makes it difficult to speak to too much without spoiling it, but it lives up to its pedigree - there's both surreal weirdness and charm for days. The combat systems add a lot to the game - each fight involves defending via a sort of bullet-hell dodging section, and either attacking through a timing challenge or trying to tap into the enemy's emotions with the right sequence of responses. There are hints throughout the game about what the sequence to tap into emotions are, and figuring them out is honestly a very fun puzzle. Either way, as much as I enjoyed the peaceful, lumbering pace of moon, I do appreciate having more engaging gameplay in Stray Children. Overall, I recommend it immensely to folks who like surreal games, and highly to off-beat story-centric RPGs that make you think or fans of weird word puzzles. It's one that will stick with you - One of my big favorites I've played in 2026 so far, and something I'll be thinking about for a long time.

Goated game, thank you Onion Games

A really odd but definitely really good game! This is undertale if it was more puzzly, each encounter feels unique, both in how they attack and how to befriend them, it's more like a riddle, and most can be bruteforced, but it's funnier to keep a keen eye for clues everywhere on what should be said. The story and overall vibe itself is also unusual, feeling like a mix of alice wonderland and the promised neverland of all things, the adults being the main menace and the children...improvizing throught all this. It's definitely an intriguing tale to explore. This game is not for everyone, but it DO provide a unique formula, and do it really well. And if it's onion game/lovedelic final game, they ended with a real banger! Highly recommended!

Stray Children felt to me as an open letter to Moon, another game I highly recommend you play if you want to dive into Onion Games/Love-de-Lic's world. If you don't want to try it tho, I think it's totally possible to play and enjoy Stray Children on its own; this game's such a wonderful and meaningful experience that I feel directly talks to adults in its plethora of messages. I suggest you don't dive into the game with the obligation to 100% it, since it can easily become frustrating and also kinda defeats the purpose. Instead, do what you can along the road and enjoy the fantastic music, atmosphere and love the game has to offer at your own pace!

Good Game

a narrative-heavy game with beautiful visuals and strong writing. as others have noted, this is a very linear RPG, which is often stated as an issue, but that's only an issue if you dislike linearity (does it make sense to criticize a steak for not being chicken?). the gameplay can be frustrating, although i do think this is a bit overstated as a complaint. personally, i was lost for a bit in the first community you fall into after the Dragon Quest parody stuff because [spoiler]i struggled a bit with the paths hidden by the perspective, but i eventually figured it out without consulting a guide[/spoiler] other than that, there were no spots where i felt lost on how to progress to the next areas. of course, there's also the battles themselves. you can win by fighting or by talking. fighting is straight-forward, but talking can be difficult. i'd say 3/4ths of the time, you can find enough hints to be able to find the correct sequence of phrases to say to save the Older. but the other 1/4th can be obscurant, requiring guessing and rote memorization, specific items you may have missed, or a combination of both. it still may be worth trying to save these more tedious Olders, but i would recommend players not worry too much if they can't beat an Older by talking. unlike Undertale, this won't affect the ending, so there's not as much to be gained by playing as a completionist. i should also note the most Undertale-like aspect of the battles, which is the bullet hell segments. although i do wish some of the Olders had more variety in their attacks, there's a lot of variety of patterns overall in the game, and i enjoyed figuring out how to dodge them. how difficult you will find it will depend on your familiarity with bullet hell or any type of dodging game (a previous reviewer states that the RNG is unfair, but personally i only found like 2 patterns that i couldn't figure out, and only one of them did enough damage to cost me an annoying amount of my healing items). i will note that the one time i got annoyed with this game's obscurant puzzles is in the ending. without spoilers, i'll just say that it's very easy to miss a detail that has a massive effect. but to be more specific, [spoiler]after you beat the final boss, you are presented with the final door that allegedly beats the game and a message from your father, who suggests you "find your own path". i walked through the door without thinking about the message and got the false ending, which is unsatisfying enough that i checked online and discovered that "find your own path" was quite literal. in order to beat the game, i was suppose to walk along the wall instead of through the door to find a hidden path that gives a proper ending. and if you don't do this, the game basically just loops! fortunately, i hadn't saved in the new run, so when i restarted the game i was at the final boss again, so i could simply beat it again (it's surprisingly not too hard if you're familiar with bullet hells) and see the much better ending myself.[/spoiler] so that ultimately didn't ruin the experience for me, but i was still a bit annoyed about having to go through that regardless lol. anyway, despite that annoying in the finale, i still loved this game overall. even its more tedious choices contribute to its beautiful story. the top review on Steam at this moment believes that everyone will get something different out of Stray Children, and i think there's truth to that. personally, i see this game as an observation on what happens as we go from Children to Older, that we all risk succumbing to anxiety over our greatest mistakes and over-correcting into toxicity, to the point that could end in our deaths. and even in death, Children may follow our broken path, believing in the authority we have as those Older, at risk of repeating our mistakes, if not doing something even worse to themselves. i believe this game is then asking us Older to accept our mistakes as a part of our lives rather than hurt ourselves trying to avoid them, and asking Children to be conscientious of the path paved by those Older in front of them. sometimes you gotta be willing to make your own path. [spoiler]and in the case of the protagonist, sometimes you gotta be willing to accept an Older's death to move forward at all.[/spoiler] it's a lot to think about. the most a game's story has made in think in awhile, in fact. whatever the game's flaws are, i think it deserves major props for that.

One of the only games that left me bawling my eyes out... The game really felt like an ode to life, with all the pain, happiness, sorrow, and laughter that comes with it. Just a really beautiful experience.