Witchhazel Woods

[i]Witchhazel Woods[/i] is one of those games that has sat in my library for too long just waiting for the day that it would get an opportunity to be played. If you have ever looked at the point-and-click genre and thought about trying one, but have not wanted to get bogged down for what can feel like forever to reach the finish, get stuck with no idea what to do next or befuddled by an alarmingly obscure puzzle chain; or even have to wade through the entire thing right over just for achievements (looking at you, [i]Dreamfall Chapters[/i]); then this one may well be your perfect choice. Imagined, created and developed by a lone female developer – reason enough to want to support it, in my opinion – this is a charming little game which shouldn't take up more than a couple of hours to play through to the end and revisit for some alternative options if you want all achievements. The game could be finished much more quickly than this, but it's more fun to take your time and experiment with variations. Upon starting the game, it's worth visiting the settings menu where there are options for things like screen size, resolution, volume and font size amongst others, though I did find a couple of very small issues here. Brightness is featured within the settings menu, but clicking on this did nothing – and there are two moments in game where it is easy to miss something because it's rather dark. Paying close attention throughout should ensure you don't have any progress problems as a result, but it's something worth bearing in mind whilst playing. The other point worth noting is within the accessibility menu – if you want to play this as a point-and-click game, then you will need to change the control options to mouse only. Otherwise, if you are using a keyboard, the movement key controls are not identified in the game. They're predictable enough – WASD – but nonetheless. I did spend the biggest part of a minute when playing for the first time, wondering why clicking didn't move my character anywhere! Once started, we take on the role of Dylan, a young girl out camping with her beloved pet dog Georgia, and playing fetch with a twig. Dylan throws the twig too far, Georgia runs off to fetch it – and doesn't return. And so begins our adventure, as Dylan has to go in search of her. Gameplay is presented in 2D side-scrolling fashion, with effective pseudo-3D achieved using a well presented parallax scrolling technique. Pleasingly animated, Dylan is also able to walk in and out of the screeen a very small way to manoeuvre around some objects or to follow a pathway. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3266377880 On her travels into the woods, Dylan meets a number of resident creatures and is able to engage with them. Most of them need something from her, and will be able to offer something in return. Choosing how to interact with each creature (or human) will determine how the game progresses: the storyline is linear, but available selections ensure that there is more than one way to reach the end, and the inherent humour in the writing ensures that it's worth going back after finishing and trying out the alternatives. Typing of the humour in the writing, you absolutely [b]must[/b] play out the entire conversation between the two female crows when you find them – so incisive and funny – every adult female who plays this game will identify with their discussion. There is a manual save feature available during gameplay, accessible by pressing ESC. Note that there is only the one save slot, so re-saving will overwrite any previous one, although it is hard to imagine that this limitation would cause a player any difficulty. After successfully completing the storyline, achievement hunters should select “continue playing” from the ending menu as there will still be three more to find; and yes, one of them does include cuddling her pet dog, which again is animated in a very heartwarming fashion. In my limited experience of the point-and-click genre to date, I find that they can be either relaxing or frustrating to play through. [i]Witchhazel Woods[/i] falls very firmly into the former category, and as it does not require hour after hour of your time to fully experience, it makes for a pleasant wind down at the end of a long day and is an easy recommendation for both fans of the genre and those who would be curious enough to want to take their first foray. [quote]When [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/4680120/]Otome Lovers[/url] encounters [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44686303/]The Butterfly Effects[/url], it's a blend of enchanting love stories and the magical ripples of fate! If you enjoyed the review, please follow us.[/quote]

I first heard about this game from the Game Dev Field Guide podcast. Its a really good game with good graphics and good music. The animations are well done as well as the trees ;). DISLIKES: Personally I would not have used any profanity within the game or instead of explicitly showing the word you could have done a concerned type of thing like how you did with the skeleton deer. There's no real benefit to this except maybe having a broader audience, and i understand it was only done twice but just thought i should mention it. (i did see the warning in the description, and i did not look for a way to censor language in settings) It was quite annoying having to click with the mouse to move, instead of just holding left-click. Keys work fine though. All in all this was a really good indie-game. Note to creator: I would add puzzle as one of the tags (idk if you are still able to edit that)

Witchhazel Woods is a point-and-click adventure story. The graphics and story are charming, with a dash of weirdness. While the game can quickly be completed in under an hour, several playthroughs are required to unlock all achievements. There is a variety of NPC dialogue, and some choices matter, which helps keep the story engaging on replays. If you get nostalgic over choose-your-own-adventure stories and classic point-and-click games, Witchhazel Woods might be the game for you. [b]You might like Witchhazel Woods if:[/b] You enjoy story-driven games. [b]You might not like Witchhazel Woods if:[/b] Short games bother you. [b]My favorite part:[/b] Petting doggo. [b]My least favorite part:[/b] I can't help everyone in a single playthrough. Not that I minded replaying, I just felt terrible. ;) [b]Hours played as of review:[/b] 1 hour, played time is wrong since I accidentally left the game open... [b]Completed?[/b] Yes [b]100%?[/b] Yes

[b]Witchhazel Woods[/b] is a charmingly eerie point-and-click game in which players must adventure through the titular forest in order to rescue their dog from a lonely ghost. It is also a labour of love by first-time indie developer Rachel Wigell. It will take around an hour to play and has some replayability in the form of secrets and achievements. Both the visual and audio elements fit the game perfectly and really help bring the game world and its characters to life. The writing is of a high standard and a very enjoyable aspect of the game with the twisting storyline and eclectic characters. Overall, this game is a fantastic example of a short point-and-click game and I highly recommend it. [b]WANT TO KNOW MORE?[/b] My full, detailed review of this game where I go into detail about gameplay, narrative and styling is available on [url=https://indie-hive.com/witchhazel-woods/]Indie Hive[/url].

That was really good! I didn't know a creepy forest could be so funny and heartwarming. It's a very short and simple game, but I enjoyed every minute of it. The dialogues are great, the backgrounds painted with a lot of attention to detail, the music fits in perfectly ([strike]apart from a certain optional track in a certain location ofc[/strike]). It's not a full classic Point & Click (you can switch to mouse-only controls though, which is awesome), but it feels a lot like one in the best possible way. Some of my favourite things were a bit hidden, like [spoiler]a long dialogue between Sheila and Maggie at the Crowbar[/spoiler] or [spoiler]blowing dandelion seeds[/spoiler]. The game description warns of drug use, more specifically there's alcohol and a psychedelic: [spoiler]one NPC gets drunk[/spoiler] and in a conversation with the bartender you end up with [spoiler]a beer that your character will drink; can be avoided by leaving the house for the unexplored side before talking to the bartender[/spoiler]; your character is also required to [spoiler]get high on magic mushrooms, with about a minute of trippy animation,[/spoiler] in order to progress the main story line. Which was a bit icky imo. That and the fact that Steam screenshots didn't work (at least not for me playing the Linux build) are my two only slight negatives I think. Another thing that might be useful for some to know is that you can't help everyone (how philosophical?) and get all achievements in a single playthrough, and that there are a few cases where you can interact with items even though no keys pop up to indicate a hot spot. TL;DR I had a lot of fun with this little game and I hope we won't need another pandemic for the very talented (solo and first time) dev to publish another one! * * * If you like chill and story-driven games, check out my curator [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35872486]Peaceful Adventures and Stories[/url]. You're also welcome to join the [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/chilladventures]group[/url].

A witty, charming, quick but fun game with a beautiful art direction, soundtrack, and a lot of heart. It's clear that the dev - who was the soul human working on this project - put their all into it. Each of the characters is unique with their own little story to tell, and the dev does a great job at packing a lot of personality into a single interaction. There is backtracking but without it feeling grind-y like a lot of games fall victim to. Overall, a lovely game to look at and relaxing to play. 10/10

A very charming, albeit brief, game with some very pleasing aesthetics. It has some amusing dialogue and likeable characters, I just wish there was more! I thoroughly enjoyed my time here and have returned several times post-completion just to listen to the ambient sounds and wander around. Kudos to this solo developer for their first game and I hope to see more. Addendum - I played this on the Steam Deck and apart from the action icons being a little small, it ran perfectly using the most recent proton or proton experimental.

A short adventure with a lot of heart, good laughs, and a spot of cryptid horror. I loved all the eccentric characters I came across and enjoyed the variety of ways I could progress the story. Definitely worth a try if you enjoy point and click adventures.