The Stone Cutter and the Mountain Spirit

[i]The Stone Cutter and the Mountain Spirit[/i] is an interactive narrative game based on the Japanese folk tale with a similar name, published by Andrew Lang in “The Crimson Fairy Book” (1903). It’s a beautiful fable that teaches us to be content with what we have instead of constantly yearning for more wealth and more power. It’s a tale about envy, greed and arrogance yet one which eventually leads to a deep understanding that the essence of happiness is being humble and satisfied with yourself. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2889171835 The legend follows the journey of a hardworking man who was happy with his life as a stone cutter and the simplicity of it until one day when he felt a string of envy at someone else’s riches. He then wished for the wealth he could see in front of his eyes, and the Mountain Spirit magically granted him his wish. Soon enough though, he started to want more - this time he craved the power of the emperor, who rules above all people in the realm. His wish was granted again, only for him to immediately desire to become as powerful as the sun. The Mountain Spirit kept granting him his wishes, and each time this happened, the stone cutter became more insatiable and more arrogant, misusing his newly found powers in cruel ways. Ultimately he becomes a mountain, and as a stone cutter chips at its rocks, he comes to the realization that he made a mistake all along by not being grateful for what he already had and instead trying to be someone else than himself. As his last wish, he desires to return to his humble life. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2889171812 It was one of my favorite stories when I was a little kid and seeing it unravel in front of my eyes almost as an animated movie brought back some nostalgic memories. The shape in which the fable took form through this little gem of a game is deeply satisfying, and the hand-drawn artwork is simply amazing. [i]The Stone Cutter and the Mountain Spirit[/i] plays as a linear point & click adventure, with a few puzzles to solve on the way, with minimum interaction required. These minigames add flavor to the story and keep the player entertained for the whole session of 1h-1.5h that the game lasts. There are 36 achievements to obtain, a lot of which are missable. These are awarded for talking to some specific NPCs or completing some optional short quests. While there is a chapter-select after finishing the game for the first time, allowing you to revisit the sections in which you missed some achievements, a 100% completion can easily be obtained in a single playthrough, as long as you click on all NPCs to trigger their dialogues and complete the few optional quests that exist. The achievements and minigames are very casual and don't require much effort from your part, which in my opinion is great, considering that this is a game designed to immerse the player into its narrative. A couple of them require fast clicking, but they are also extremely doable, and nothing is timed. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2889171731 I warmly recommend [i]The Stone Cutter and the Mountain Spirit[/i] for the remarkable moral lesson that it teaches us - one very needed in this time and age, and for its impressive visuals. Both its concept and realization are great, and it's suitable for both younger and older audiences. [quote]💜 If you like this review, please consider following [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/11354094]Lilly's Corner Curator page[/url] 🌸 [url=https://lillycorner.com/]Website[/url] [/quote]

[h3][i]Bir dönüşüm ve kendini arama hikayesi[/i][/h3] Antik çağlarda, tahminen Japonya topraklarında küçük bir kasabada yaşayan bir taş işçisini canlandırıyoruz. Günlerimiz birbirinin aynısı gibi geçiyor; uyan, bambu ormanından geç, taş kırmaya git, güneş ensende boza pişirirken akşama kadar çalış, kulübeye dön, uyu... Kahramanımız bir gün çalışırken bu döngüden bunalıp rahat bir hayat sürmek için "keşke zengin bir adam olsam" diye içinden geçiriyor. Efsane bu ya, dileği kutsal dağ ruhu tarafından duyuluyor ve kabul ediliyor. Ne güzel, artık rahat ve mutlu yaşayabiliriz, değil mi? Hiç öyle olmuyor... https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3179193503 Elindekiyle yetinmeyi bilmeyen kahramanımız, sürekli kendinde olmayan özelliklere sahip olmaya heves ediyor. Bir türlü tatmin olmak bilmeyip imparator olmayı, rüzgar olmayı, güneş olmayı vs. isteyerek her defasında çıtayı biraz daha yükseğe koyuyor. En sonunda ise; Asyalılara özgü, çok incelikli fakat insanın yüzüne tokat gibi çarpan mükemmel bir hayat dersiyle akıllanıyor ve öykü sonlanıyor. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3168086745 Bunun orijinali esasında The Stonecutter diye bilinen bir öyküye dayanıyor, ki ben de çocukluğumda "dünyanın dört bir tarafından toplanmış hikayeler" tarzında bir kitabın içinde denk geldiğimi hatırlıyorum. Yapımcı bu güzel hikayeyi, çeşitli puzzle'lar ve mini oyunlar ile güzel bir şekilde oyunlaştırmayı başarabilmiş. Hani bazen bazı oyunlarda görsel roman gibi dümdüz öykü akar da sıkılırsınız, burada durum böyle değil, "oyun oynadığınızı" hissediyorsunuz ve bu mutlu ediyor. Yön tuşları ve fareyle hiç zorlanmadan oynayabileceğiniz basit bir oynanışa sahip. Animasyonların ve görselliklerin de "sadece tek kişinin yaptığı bağımsız bir oyun" olarak değerlendirildiği zaman, gayet yeterli olduğunu düşünüyorum. Ayrıca, eğer ilgileniyorsanız, profilinizi süslemekte kullanabileceğiniz çok güzel Uzak Doğu temalı başarımları var. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3168081366 Kısacası içsel bir yolculuk ve kendini arama / keşfetme ile ilgili felsefi, kısa ve tatlı oyunlar hoşunuza gidiyorsa, indirimde yakalayıp almanızı içtenlikle öneririm. 6.5/10

[h2]Know your worth, hold your own power, be you. - Morgan Harper Nichols[/h2] [h2]Sum-Up[/h2] [h3]In-depth analysis further down.[/h3] [table] [tr] [th]🟩 Pros[/th] [th]🟥 Cons[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] • Powerful life lesson. • Creative way to represent each aspect of the story. [/td] [td] • A weird mix of assets used with an art-style that isn't very friendly on the eyes. • Gameplay can be rather simple and boring. • Despite the morale of the story, it's not strong enough to keep regular players playing this game. [/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [th]🟨 Bugs & Issues‎[/th] [th]🔧 Specs[/th] [th]⚙ Settings & FPS[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] 🔲 Never had any. 🔲 Hanging, Freezing, or Crashing. 🔲 Graphics Glitch. 🔲 Gameplay Defect. 🔲 In-game Purchase. 🔲 Audio Problem. ☑️ Text Problem. 🔲 Save Glitch. [/td] [td] • CPU: i7-12700K • RAM: 32GB DDR4 • GPU: 1060 6GB • SD: SSD • RES: 1440p[/td] [td] Settings: Ultra - High FPS: 60+ [/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [td][b]🌌 Content & Replay Value[/b][/td] [td]The game is rather easy and simple to complete. Each part is divided in chapters that can be revisited if you wish once the game is completed to get 100% achievement completion, but other than that there's not much worth going back for the game. [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]💵 Is it worth buying? [/b] [/td] [td]No. I don't think this is a game for everybody. Despite the fact that I enjoyed the tale, I wish there were more interesting challenges and gameplay elements to keep the player hooked. If you want to get it for the story, then get it at a discount. [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]🎮 Steam Deck Compatibility[/b] [/td] [td]I've played this game entirely on the Steam Deck. It ran perfectly fine and I've used the touch screen throughout the entire session. I've only had issues with the end credits where the text was too low for me to be able to read. The rest ran fine.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][h3]🧾 Verdict: Mediocre[/h3] [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2761784706] Rating Chart Here[/url] [/td] [td]Unfortunately, it's a game I wish I could recommend more, but it's not the case, as it offers little value for the time spent, but it's not in the bad spectrum for the simple fact that the morale of the story is rather powerful and interestingly represented.[/td] [/tr] [/table] The Stone Cutter and the Mountain Spirit is a beautiful interactive fairy tale about a stone cutter seeking power and the Wills that move us and the Transformations we go through in our lives. [h3] ⚔ Gameplay: [/h3] Rate: ★☆☆☆☆ The gameplay is rather simple with a point and click interaction. Almost every character is interactable and offers a potential side mission or insights to what is happening in the world. Throughout the gameplay, you go through a few phases of transformation that offer different types of gameplays that I must say are rather interesting, but not enough to be enjoyable or feel good. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2891113233 [h3] 😄 Fun: [/h3] Rate: ★★★☆☆ Despite the fact that the gameplay didn't fully intrigue me, I've had fun and was rather invested in finding out what is the next chapter going to bring. I found dialogues a little satire at times but other than that interesting. [h3] 🏞 Visuals: [/h3] Rate: ★★☆☆☆ Although this game doesn't have a very captivating art direction, what really makes things difficult for me is the fact that there's not much of a consistency between UI (dialogue area|) and overall assets used that I've seen in other games. Some characters look out of place by art-style with the overall look. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2891113179 [h3] 🔊 Sound: [/h3] Rate: ★☆☆☆☆ The music and sound wasn't that impressive, as personally I am not a fan of traditional Chinese music. Voice acting is a bit off in many cases and poorly executed. [h3] 📖 Story: [/h3] Rate: ★★★☆☆ Not the strongest story I've seen, but quite interestingly executed in the sense of the gameplay. I don't wanna spoil it for anybody who wants to try it, but I think the main gameplay revolves around this area and I think the morale of the store is rather good, but not spectacular. Overall, I do think that anybody looking to get a great life lesson out of this will appreciate this game a lot for that. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2891113089 [h3] 🧵 Length: [/h3] ☑️ Short 🔲 Average 🔲 Long 🔲 Unlimited Game is extremely short. 1-2 Hours to complete is more than enough. I've had to redo a couple of times some areas to get 100% achievements, but other than that a lot of them are not hard to miss. [h3] 🧩 Difficulty: [/h3] ☑️ Easy 🔲 Normal 🔲 Hard 🔲 Brutally Hard 🔲 Impossible The game is rather easy to go through. The main focus is the story and with simple mechanics involved anybody could pick it up. [h3] ⭕Conclusion: [/h3] The Stone Cutter and the Mountain Spirit is an interesting Chinese old tale that sadly doesn't manage to deliver on an interesting gameplay area, but is told in a powerful and creative way despite of that. I really wish the game was a lot more fun and nicer to play, as I really do like the idea behind the game, but not enough for me to recommend it. [quote=TalePlay][i] If you’ve read this far, I want to say thank you and do check more of our stuff on [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/38352719/[/url]. As we share simple reviews there. If you wish to get more gaming listings, news and reviews check our [url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/@tale_play]Youtube[/url] channel as we release videos there every month.[/i][/quote]

Based upon the fairy tale of the same name, adapted from the Crimson Fairy book published in 1903, The Stone Cutter and the Mountain Spirit is a fable warning of the dangers of desire, greed, and acknowledging where your happiness lies. [quote][h2][b]The Stonecutter and the Mountain Spirit really impressed me with its fantastic story, beautiful aesthetic, and authentic oriental soundtrack. I love original indie titles and this one is truly special. Perfect for an evening’s entertainment and so interesting that I had to tell my partner about it immediately. A very well produced title and I will certainly be looking out for more games from this studio. [/b][/h2][/quote] Best described as an interactive visual novel, you can occasionally move your character around scenes, talk to people, perform quests, and even complete mini games and puzzles, in between a beautifully told fable narrated by the story teller. Everything is bite sized. Quests and puzzles can sometimes only take a minute or two, but the game is full of them, and they’re all reasonably enjoyable to perform, especially when they have a bearing on the story, which engrosses you even further. The aesthetic of the game is very original and manages to somehow look incredibly authentic, enhanced wonderfully by an oriental tune, that although repeats slightly, plants you firmly in the Far East. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2968367408 The story is so interesting. I love fables with a moral story or lesson to be learnt, especially if it is clever like this story was. It was wonderfully produced and captivated me from start to finish. The game is quite short at just over an hour but somehow that just seemed perfect. It wasn’t dragged out or bloated in any way. Each scene had purpose and meaning and it was an experience I really enjoyed. Check out the game play here. I have edited it so that the story isn’t spoilt but shows the mechanics and the aesthetics. https://youtu.be/NKjOiKz8ATQ [h1]🍳Conclusion🍳[/h1] [quote][h2][b] [i]The Stone Cutter and the Mountain Spirit[/i] is one of those games that you’re just glad you played and didn’t miss out on. It deserves to be played. At the start of the story, we are told it is a simple story but one which you’ll remember for the rest of your life, and I think I probably will. [/b][/h2][/quote] [quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/] Follow [b]IndieGems[/b] [/url] and [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41039956/][b]Indie Blast![/b] [/url] for more reviews like this one. [/quote]

"The Stone Cutter and the Mountain Spirit" hat den Tag "interaktive Erzählung" was das Spiel sehr gut charakterisiert. Tatsächlich folgt das Spiel einer sehr linearen Handlung ohne grosse Bewegungsfreiheit. Das Ganze wird aufgelockert durch verschiedene Interaktionen und simple Minispiele. Das klingt im ersten Moment langweilig und tatsächlich wirkte das Spiel zu Beginn recht monoton. Doch das änderte sich, als die Geschichte eine Wendung nahm. Zwar änderte sich nicht der Grundcharakter des Spiels, aber es wurden neue Gameplayelemente eingebaut, die für kurzweilige Abwechslung sorgen. Alles in allem bleibt das Spiel zwar vom Gameplay her äusserst seicht, trotzdem reicht es gut, um durch die rund 30-70 Minuten Spielzeit genügend Unterhaltung zu bieten und die Story zu tragen und zu unterstützen. Und diese Story ist tatsächlich interessant. Ja, es ist nichts weltbewegendes und hat den "Märchen mit einem 'das ist die Moral von der Geschicht'-Ende"-Vibe, allerdings nicht in einem völlig nervigen Sinne. Klar merkt man schon bald, wohin die Aussage hingehen soll, trotzdem fand ich die Geschichte gut erzählt. Vor allem zeigte der Entwickler wirklich Geschick darin, die Geschichte mit dem Gameplay auf interessante Weise zu verknüpfen. Zudem fand ich es wirklich angenehm, dass das Spiel eine klare Botschaft vermitteln will und nicht in irgendwelchen pseudophilosophischem Geschwurbel landete. Besonders angenehm aufgefallen ist mir die Grafik. Ja, diese ist weder besonders hübsch, noch besonders detailliert. Trotzdem ist der Stil sehr eigen und fällt dadurch positiv auf. Es nimmt den altasiatischen Groove hervorragend auf. Statt also auf Pixelbrei zu setzen, hat sich der Entwickler echte Gedanken gemacht, wie er seine limitierten Ressourcen stilgerecht einsetzen kann, sodass ein trotzdem angenehm anzuschauendes und zu spielendes Resultat herausschaute. Fazit: Eine interessante Form, eine Geschichte mit guter Botschaft zu vermitteln, die ich jedem, der auf interessante Indieprojekte steht herzlich empfehlen möchte. Kein Gameplay- oder Grafikmeisterwerk, aber trotzdem eine gut investierte Stunde Spielzeit. Empfohlen.

“The Stone Cutter and the Mountain Spirit” es una adaptación point and click de una famosa fábula folclórica japonesa que sin duda nos hará reflexionar. Un juego que demuestra hasta donde puede llegar la avaricia del ser humano, su correlación con la felicidad y la corrupción del espíritu . “Cuidado con lo que deseas.” Siendo un juego muy pequeño y lineal tiene una jugabilidad muy variada; una estética fuera de lo convencional muy hermosa y mucho valor argumentativo.

[b]The Stone Cutter and the Mountain Spirit[/b] is a point-and-click puzzle game based on the fairy tale ‘The Stone Cutter’ from The Crimson Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, published in 1903. It tells a philosophical tale of desires, wills and transformations. It is a short game and will take 1-2 hours to play depending on how thoroughly it is being completed. Despite this, it is packed with content with varied puzzles, beautiful and stylistic artwork and a mesmerising soundtrack that all complement the captivating and deeply evocative narrative. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and well-constructed experience and I’d highly recommend it to fans of relaxing puzzle games with a focus on storytelling. [b]WANT TO KNOW MORE?[/b] My full review of this game where I go into detail about gameplay, narrative and styling is available on [url=https://indie-hive.com/the-stone-cutter-and-the-mountain-spirit/]Indie Hive[/url].

This is a simplified point-and-click telling of the stone cutter's parable about desire and that feeling of "the grass is always greener". The narrative unfolds with some fairly simple puzzle/hidden object mechanics and other minimal input from the player. A lot of it felt gimmicky and forced to get all achievements but it's also a pretty short experience. The art looks like a combination of watercolor and color pencil. It's quite nice and there are certain parts where the animation is, for some weird reason, wildly captivating and unexpected. The BGM is kinda stereotypical for the setting. Towards the middle I muted it. I started playing this on the Steam Deck but had an bug at Chapter 10 so decided to restart on my PC. Then I learned this game does not have cloud saves so I had to start over. It wasn't a HUGE deal but there are a few parts where you have to click the mouse like a maniac and having to do these sequences even once was frustrating enough. I really dislike that kind of mechanic. I wish I had started this on desktop from the beginning as it was a much better experience. Ultimately I was looking for something along the "interactive fiction" genre and this popped up as a suggestion. I guess in the strictest sense it IS interactive fiction but just wasn't was I was looking for. I got Stone Cutter & Mountain Spirit on sale for around one dollar and that is about where I would recommend picking it up. Very meh compared to the literary version of the parable and does nothing unique in either concept or gameplay but you could do a lot worse in this category.

Gra oparta na starym opowiadaniu/przypowieści. Wcielamy się w kamieniarza, który początkowo jest pogodzony ze swoim losem i nie narzeka na swoje życie. Jednak pewnego dnia w cieniu świętej góry wypowiada życzenie, że chciałby być kimś ważniejszym. I nazajutrz staje się bogatym właścicielem ziemskim. Jednak i to z czasem zaczyna naszego bohatera nudzić i chciałby być cesarzem. Święta góra spełnia jego życzenie. Jednak, czy też takie życie zadowoli naszego bohatera? Odpowiedź znajdziemy w grze. Poznając los naszego kamieniarza będziemy wykonywać proste zadania - sadzenie kwiatów, łupanie kamienia, dekorowaniu domu i wielu innych różnorodnych czynności. Praktycznie wszystkie kończą się osiągnięciem, bo w sumie gra opiera się na ich zdobyciu a dodatkowo mamy ukryte osiągnięcia poprzez wykonywanie dodatkowych rzeczy. Czas umilać będzie azjatycka muzyka, zaś oprawa wizualna przewodzi niekiedy na myśl japońskie malarstwo (tak przynajmniej mi się wydaje). Nie jest to jakaś wybitna gra, ale miło spędziłem z nią niewiele ponad godzinę. Powinno być więcej trudniejszych zagadek, choć z drugiej strony mogłaby na tym ucierpieć opowieść, która gra tutaj pierwsze skrzypce. Mi przypadła do gustu ta skromna (i pouczająca) przypowieść. W końcu w prostocie tkwi siła :) 6/10

A tiny tale and an exquisite game clearly made with love and care. I will def look forward to more games from The Philosophical School of Games.