The Secret Monster Society

Family friendly game that isn't too complicated. My 5 and 8 year old like this game quite a bit and are looking forward to the rest of the chapters.

Excellent game so far! I've played through Chapter 2 as it came out and can't wait for Chapter 3. Positives: Charming characters, cute art style, intrigueing world-building lore and environmental storytelling, and a wit that can be appreciated at a decently high reading level. Negatives: There are numerous spelling errors in the captions and some slight bugs in the programming that cut out audio and speech sometimes, and the game is rather short and doesn't have the greatest depth when it comes to puzzles. To improve the game I would recommend a proofread of the speech captions and a once-over for the bug-fixes, checking that all audio and animaton cues are in the right place. It's polish like that that would push this game into great status whereas it's resting comfortably in the 'good' category. As a sidenote, what would make this game go above and beyond and make it excellent would be to involve more emotional themes, the main character doesn't feel like they have any stakes in the story precisely thus far beyond curiosity and a general feeling of helpfulness. [spoiler]I thought at the end of Chapter 1, after Blithe apparently committed arson it would be taking a darker turn, dealing with his guilt and having to mature and deal with the consequences of his actions. And it still might go this way, I don't want to give up hope yet, but I would love to have more exploration into Blithe's character.[/spoiler]

A true point and click adventure with a little (maybe elementary school?) bear as the protagonist, therefor some might say it's for little children, but it's a nice game for adult people too. The first chapter is a bit short, the second slightly (feels) longer, but as is known the second chapter has been made 5 years ago, and not a single word on chapter 3, if you can live without a proper ending i suggest getting it on a sale (also because of it's short length). It's weird that in the screenshots they show pictures that aren't in chapter 1 or 2, so it must be from 3 or 4 and thus they were already in progress on those chapter(s). One could put a thumbs down because it probably never get a new chapter, but it gets a thumbs up because on itself they are still okay games.

Game is great for kids! Brings me back to early 2000 when pc community was making games for children. If you have kids or cousins this is game to get!

too childish and too linear. not at all what i was expecting.

Cool point and click game, not a big click gamer but its a cartoon so I had to try it. Over all, its decent, will update later

I can only assume that this game was made with small children in mind, because this game is way too easy to take seriously. I got this game as part of a bundle, but would never pay full price for a short game like this. The premise is good, the art is cute, the interface... is ok (but being unable to click on anything in the upper 3rd of the screen because the inventory bar pops out is really annoying). But by far my biggest gripe is how short this game is, and how most of your time is spent walking back and forth between places. Fix the bar, make the chapters at minimum 2x longer, add a skip feature (spacebar) to long walks/repeat dialogue, and if this game is intended for small children, please say so.

- I don't like games which stop running when I mouse off the window. Why allow stuff to run in windowed mode at all if it doesn't? - There's no escape key to stop the narrator at the beginning from narrating - I don't like to buy "chapters". Yes, this was an accidental buy. We'll see how it develops. TBC

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First the negatives: Sometimes the load times are pretty long and I did run into a few bugs. A puzzle at the school's basement and the final puzzle of Chapter One were unclear enough where I had to resort to a walk-through for those sections. That said, these things were mostly minor and I managed to complete the game. The positives: Fun and funny, this adventure game is reminiscent of "Aaahh!!! Real Monsters," "The Secret of Monkey Island," and "Maniac Mansion 2." And surprisingly, unlike most games of today, there are real moral lessons in the game which are learned by our hero and the protagonist usually displays respect and reverence towards those around him, even refusing to speak to someone unless he removes his sunglasses first! This game is rewarding and charming, and well worth playing by both the young and old. (This software is compatible with Windows XP.)