[b]Note:[/b] An awesome friend gifted me a copy of this game. ^^
[h1]Coming around full circle...[/h1]
[h2]Introduction[/h2]
[i]Welcome to Primrose Lake 5[/i] is a time management game developed by SQRT3 and published by Next Game. As the name states, it is the fifth and final game in the [i]Primrose Lake[/i] series. Before I continue, I'd suggest either playing or reading my [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/skyeraye/recommended/3055170?snr=1_5_9__402]review[/url] of the fourth game since there may be story spoilers and such. From when we last left off, Jessica was [spoiler]kidnapped by David due to a long-standing family feud between their two families[/spoiler]. Of course, Jenny, Jessica's look-a-like, and the other townspeople of Primrose Lake are worried and are frantically searching for her. All the while, the Carlyle family curse continues to linger in the air, and then there's the whole situation between Jenny and Matt, who have gotten back together despite that Jenny ran away from their wedding and ended up in Primrose Lake. With all the crazy drama, can everything get resolved and everyone have their happily ever after? :o
As for the gameplay, you can choose from among the usual three difficulty levels: easy, normal, or hard. (For review purposes, I chose to play on normal mode.) There are a total of 90 levels, and in each level, you have to serve customers or employees in various locations, ranging from the cafe to the sawmill. Depending on how quickly you do so, you can maximize each customer's/employee's hearts to five and earn a maximum of three diamonds. Another diamond can be earned from completing the additional task, such as talking to certain NPCs. Finally, one more diamond can be earned from finding the raccoon, which is the easter egg equivalent of [i]Delicious[/i]' mouse. Diamonds are used to purchase items in the backgrounds although purely for cosmetic purposes.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3549790442
In addition, various mini-games are available, with a brief tutorial. Of course, lots of Steam achievements/in-game trophies are present, but they won't count towards a user's global total until the game is out of "profile features limited".
[h2]Review[/h2]
First, I just want to say that it's been quite the journey, having played the first game in the series up to this final installment. Even though it took a while, here we are at the end. ^^
Like the other games in the series, the story has its fair share of drama and excitement. It starts off with what happened at the end of the fourth game, and I couldn't help feeling anxious about what was going to happen. Thankfully, events resolve peacefully on that front, but then other events start to happen. Since this is the final game, it only makes sense that all the issues that have been addressed in these games get resolved, which they do. The Carlyle family curse gets put to rest, and the drama with Jenny running away from her wedding leads to a happily ever after, both on that particular issue and a personal one for Jenny. On the latter, let's just say that there IS a very good reason that Jenny and Jessica look so much alike. :o Although I mostly enjoyed the story, there is one specific issue that I have and I feel like there should have been a major warning on the store page about this. [spoiler]At a later part in the story, Jenny's mom returns and she verbally abuses Jenny. Even though this gets resolved quickly, it feels like it happens too quickly to the point of being unrealistic. On a personal note, as a victim of emotional abuse by a parent, this part upset me quite a bit, so it would have been nice to be mentally prepared for it beforehand.[/spoiler]
As for the gameplay, it's as fun and challenging as in the previous games. One of the reasons I held off on getting to this final installment is that I'd read that one of the levels was bugged to the point of being unbeatable. Now, I didn't encounter any such problems, but I'm guessing that either this problem has since been fixed or I just never encountered it during my playthrough. Anyway, I was able to fully complete the game and obtain all of the achievements. In addition, the mini-games are on the simpler side this time, with simply clicking on items in a certain order as quickly as possible.
In regards to the art, it retains the same style as in the previous games, which is no surprise. The cartoony, colorful style fits perfectly in this time management series, with the sprites and backgrounds drawn and colored well. Also, I enjoyed watching the animated cutscenes, showing off important story events.
With the music, the tracks are mostly the same. I believe that there's a new track with the sawmill since I think it hasn't appeared in the previous games. The tracks are all instrumental and give off that feeling as though you're in the small mountainous town called Primrose Lake.
[h2]Conclusion[/h2]
Would I recommend [i]Welcome to Primrose Lake 5[/i]? If you're a time management fan, you especially enjoy the [i]Primrose Lake[/i] series, and/or you enjoy hunting for those Steam achievements, then it's worth checking out. Despite my personal issues with a part of the story, I liked the game overall and felt that it was a great conclusion to the series. With that final ending, I'm hopeful that there could be a spin-off series someday. For the asking price, I think it's worth it, as it took me around 11.5 hours to fully complete the game. Of course, you can choose to wait for a sale. ^^
[quote]For more detailed, fully complete, high quality reviews like this, please follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44702020/]The Introverted Gamer[/url], prioritizing heart and soul always. ^^[/quote]
