Month: December 2024

Tsuki’s Odyssey: Review

I love cozy gaming. I also have a one hour commute each way, four days a week. So, I need stuff to do. And what better way to fill that time than with cozy gaming?

Thing is, I am very particular about mobile games. I hate ads. I hate limited gameplay, and I really hate “This is going to take x minutes, unless you pay $!” And the last part, Tsuki’s Odyssey is guilty of, a little bit.

But what really annoys me is when other devs give you what you want from another IP, because the owner of the IP won’t give it to you. It’s not the constraints of the device, you just didn’t want to do it. And this is what Tsuki’s Odyssey is. It’s OG Animal Crossing on mobile.

You can fish, grow carrots, get things, sell things, decorate your house. Occasionally, someone from a “corporation” will show up at your house and ask if you’d like a sales pitch in return for carrots. This is one of the best implementations of ads I’ve ever seen. It’s not just how optional it is. It doesn’t trick you into going to the play store either. It’s just so clean.

And it feels like it’s still being updated. As I write this (17th December 2024), there are Christmas missions. There are Christmas presents in the store. The one I got had decorations for my house. Later on, the store had a Christmas tree.

That doesn’t mean it’s the perfect game. Travel is clunky. Not all the NPCs can be interacted with. Nor can all objects. There’s not much in the way of customisation of your character. And I can see how you might run out of stuff to do.

But, it’s very fun, very absorbing, and perfect for little bursts. Plus, optionally, the game can inform you of in-game events even if you’re not actively playing. That’s something I turned on.

Cats Are Liquid – A Better Place: Review

A promotional screenshot of the game Cats Are Liquid - A Better Place

So, first of all, this might not be a final review of Cats Are Liquid. I played this game on mobile, despite not being a huge fan of puzzle platformers.

***Hot Take***
Cats Are Liquid – A Better Place didn’t not change my mind on this.
***Hot Take***

Here’s the thing. When it comes to platformers, I like them to be a bit drifty, a bit forgiving, and not overly taxing. I come from an era of Mario games where if you’re not pixel perfect, it’s fine.

Cats Are Liquid – A Better Place was a bit like that in places. Some jumps I thought I’d messed up landed fine. But that’s kind of the point. Sometimes the controls became very twitchy, and I’d slam into a spike. Or fall off a platform. Or fall off a spinny thing. At least “You just respawn”.

And then came the next bit. Cozy games are supposed to be relaxing. I rage quit this one and uninstalled it. First, you have the above controls. But, you’re going through a tutorial level, with a story, and then you get faced with a mechanic. Are you told how to do it? Nope. But you can’t progress past this part unless you use this mechanic. I almost got it. But never quite did, and in the end, I was so annoyed with the twitchy controls and poorly explained mechanics that I rage quit and uninstalled it.

But…here’s the thing. Apart from those two dealbreakers, I didn’t hate the game. I quite liked the story…

***Hot Take***
A lot of Steam reviews mention the storyline, with some calling it triggering, and some saying not to let kids play it. I’m not going to ruin it, but, I didn’t find the storyline particularly dark or depressing or triggering. Someone has tagged it “Psychological horror”. Really? I’d suggest not watching Finding Nemo then…
***Hot Take***

I needed to get that out. I liked the story, it was really well told with a sentence or two per screen. I loved the graphics – so simple, but so well done. The mechanics that did work, I liked. And the animation was silky smooth on a device that isn’t exactly best in class.

And this is why this might not be a final review. It’s on Steam for a few pounds, and I might try it. Perhaps playing it with a controller will be more satisfying, maybe it’ll be easier to control the cat. And maybe I’ll understand why it has a “Mostly Positive” score on Steam.