Quick Review: Fred3ric

Chopin, my beloved! It’s been far too long! ...That came out wrong.

Made by Forever Entertainment S.A. and released on September 21st, 2020, Fred3ric is the third chapter of the zany adventures of Frederic Chopin, brought back from the dead to, uh, save the world or something with his incredible piano skills?

This quirky music game does not diverge from the concept its previous two entries had: You play your keyboard like a piano, using seven keys. This is a Guitar Hero simile, you play along to the notes that come down. They’re helpfully split into four white keys and three black keys, alternating, and the notes come down white or black depending on where they’re falling, which can help a player recognize them and press them in time. Added to this are some “battle” mechanics where you can beat the opponent by outperforming them musically, and extra elements to use during play to rack up higher scores and get more of a edge.

That's not a lot of notes... yet.

"And drop the anime hair, it's not serious on a composer.
Get a powdered wig or something."

Once more, the plot is silly; after he defeated the final boss from the previous game, Frederic Chopin was ready to move on and keep being musically awesome, but the machine his enemy was using turned out to be a time-traveling robot named Zeitgeist with the ability to “cyberize” people. It steals Chopin’s heart (again), taking away most of his newfound powers and forcing him to look for it once more. Worse even, the Timelord Robot realized it can only defeat Chopin by pitting him against opponents of similar skill; and therefore, it travels back in time to pluck famous composers from their time, cyberize them (ridiculously so, of course), then send them to duel Chopin, with only our hero’s skill able to return them to normal upon defeat.

Johann Sebastian Bachctopus

Why, yes, that IS Ludwig Van Beethoven.
The ear things gave that away, didn't they?

The first game revisited famous pieces of Chopin’s repertoire in new genres (shout-out to the Funeral March as a peppy country-like tune). The second focused on parodies of popular artists of the past few decades, like Freddie Mercury or KISS, with original “style parody”-type songs. The levels in Fred3ric are medleys of pieces from the composers we fight, as well as being modern arrangements of these tracks. These are once more highlights; the soundtrack here kicks ass. Unfortunately, those songs aren’t available for purchase. I'd buy the Hell outta that. (The game's songs being handed out for free with the Director’s Cut of “Resurrection of Music” was a highlight.)

The background animation is occasionally distracting.
At least it's fun to look at.

All fine and good, but. For one, this game is very short; you can beat it easily in under an hour, even if you fail once or twice on the way. In Normal Mode, the levels overall felt very easy, simplistic even, barely a struggle; I finished something like 8 out of 9 levels on my first try. (Yes, the Harder difficulty is a lot trickier.) Also, yeah – 9, that’s not much. It’s eight famous composers (Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig von Beethoven, Edvard Grieg, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sergei Prokofiev, Erik Satie, Johann Strauss II and Antonio Vivaldi), topped by a final battle with Zeitgeist. That’s not me listing them in alphabetical order for simplicity; their levels are also played in that exact order in the game. I personally think it would have been more interesting to battle them starting with those that fewer people know (Grieg, Satie, etc.) and rise to the big hitters (Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven).

I mean, Moonlight Sonata Third Movement? That's final boss music right there. That was speed metal before speed metal existed.

Now playing against Mozart, who's not really used
to his newfound height, courtesy of robotic legs.

Y'know, I'm glad Forever Entertainment went for the more
famous songs from each composer, and not their most
intense moments, like the ones in this video. Or this game
would be really, really tough.

We once again get little scenes before each level, but they’re cut very short, only showing the composer of the day get cyberized. The previous games were criticized for their use of stereotype comedy, and there may have been an attempt at avoiding that by keeping cutscenes minimal. (There are still references to each composer’s land of origin in their levels, though.) The lack of focus on a story does show. The lack of any extra modes to take on, as well. On the plus side, we still do have Normal and Hard difficulties, but there doesn’t seem to be anything beyond that; we’re even missing the “harder than hard” Chopin difficulty from its predecessors! Fred3ric suffers greatly from its lack of content.

I’ll admit that I love the idea behind this one, but it’s much weaker than “Resurrection of Music” or “Evil Strikes Back”. Only get at full price if you already greatly enjoy the first two, otherwise wait for a sale or skip it.

If there’s ever a 4th? Here’s my idea: Famous modern-day pianists/keyboardists. Not necessarily ones still alive in 2024, but any that are well-known on their own (Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles) or from being in famous bands (Richard Wright, Rick Wakeman, Jordan Rudess, Tony Banks, Jon Lord, etc.)

Fred3ric is available on Steam currently for 0.99$ USD, at 90% off due to the Steam Summer Sale - best time to get it!

Quick Review: Do Not Feed The Monkeys

The game did warn me, but I didn’t believe it; this crap really is addictive.

First screen of my very first playthrough. I think I actually
solved one of these on my first try?

Made by Fictiorama Studios and Badland Games, published by Alawar and released on October 23rd, 2018, Do Not Feed The Monkeys is an odd time management/puzzle combo. Your unnamed protagonist just joined a mysterious group called the Primate Observation Club, through which they gain access to feeds of unprotected cameras and webcams. Your job, as a new “monkey observer”, is only to watch. Spy, jot down notes, look the “monkeys” up online, bow down to your voyeuristic tendencies. Sometimes, the Club might send you questions to answer, with monetary compensation if you answer correctly. Fishy...

Every little yellow mark at the bottom is a case you haven't
yet "solved" or completed. On this screen alone, there's 2
that are currently ongoing.

However, you are encouraged not to interact with the “subjects”. You can find their location, their actual name, their phone number or e-mail address... You could contact them through phone or instant messaging, make a positive change in their lives, steer them towards betterment or make their lives worse if you want. Right some wrongs. Save people. But! You’re not supposed to. But you’re going to do it anyway, aren’t you.

Your amateur sleuthing is no joke - you grab a lot of
info just from what people in the feeds are talking about.

You also must buy "cages" to stay in the Club. You start with four. To go to a Level 2 membership, you need nine. Each new one costs 50$. Then, you need 16 to get to Level 3. Oh, and you MUST be able to upgrade to the next level every five days, or you lose your membership. It gets kinda crazy, but at least it stops at 25 on Day 16. Many feeds cannot be interacted with whatsoever; no need to worry about them. When it comes to those you can interact with, once you’re done with them (meaning you’ve basically finished their storyline – several have multiple endings), you can pretty much forget them. If you’re lucky, there’s money for you at the end as well, so if you want to keep going with the program, you will need to feed the monkeys.

Sleep enough, work odd jobs. Oh, and be careful not to
eat too much crap. Considering everything the dev team has
planned for, I'll bet you can die of bad health in this game.

From there, the game becomes a time management challenge as you have limited time to do everything. Oh, and amidst all this, your character still needs to keep healthy, eat and sleep enough, pay rent, AND deal with other annoyances of life. You can pick up jobs for extra money every now and then. Yeah, it’s a lot to consider. And because I’m a goddamn goody two-shoes, I tried to go for the best ending possible. Heck, just getting to Day 16 was tough until I learned how to handle each cage. The only remaining challenge was to make enough money to get there.

The Shewolf of Wall Street, soon reading fairy tales to
kids in a library near you!

On the plus side, everything is done with the mouse. Important keywords seen in cages or heard during conversations (which are written on the screen when you watch a cage) are highlighted in yellow; click them to write them down, then it’s up to you to connect the dots and help or cause trouble. Some cages are mundane. Some are funny. Some are satirical or full-on black comedy. Others are straight-up horrifying. The cages are randomized on each playthrough, so you never know what you’ll get and in which order. Based on what I saw on a wiki, there are still cages that I haven’t seen. I’d rather let you discover these scenarios yourself... ...well, aside from the ones I reveal in the screenshots for this review, anyway... because some of these are so outrageous they must be seen to be believed.

Well, if the locomotive was dangerous... ....wait, dissolving the
Supreme Court? The fuck? (Thank God this is satire...)

Well you don't get to see that every day!
....Instead, you get to see that every night.

There are so many secrets, so many endings, if you want to see everything (or, at least, hunt for achievements), you’re guaranteed to spend a lot of time on this one. Behind its simple gameplay, this game hides some devious puzzles and tricks, forcing you to be clever and wise with your time to solve everything... if that’s your goal. Alternately, if you want to cause massive chaos, you can do it too... Its secrets are a major reason to come back and play it again – even after going through it once for this review, I felt compelled to go back and do even better. Maybe I’ll do an evil run someday. I’ve already racked up a dozen hours on it and it’s one of my favorite discoveries of the year so far. Strong recommendation.

Do Not Feed The Monkeys is available on Steam for 15.99$ USD. A sequel set in the far future of 2099 also exists, released in 2023.

Quick Review: DESORDRE

Not sure how this is supposed to help with orientation and balance disorders, but I’ll give it a go anyway.

GERONIMOOOOO

Made by the sole developer of SHK Interactive, DESORDRE (also often subtitled “A Puzzle Game Adventure”) is a puzzle game in which you are in a simulation created by a group known as Plegus Therapy to treat the issues mentioned above. You’re put through 16 puzzles of increasing difficulty in which you’ll be using several puzzle mechanics made famous by other staples of the genre on Steam.

The first major mechanic at use here is a portal gun with white and red portals summoned with the Left- and Right-click buttons respectively. This comes with the caveat that you can only make them on black-and-white checkered spaces, limiting where you can make them. Just like in Portal, you can use momentum to let yourself fall into a portal and be sent flying through another.

Currently, time is slowed. We'll need it in order to cross
this chasm; we also need to switch dimensions to get
platforms we can jump to.

The second mechanic is the ability to switch between dimensions by pressing E. A level can be radically different between dimensions, forcing you into minimal platforming. As you can imagine, you can use portals to carry something from one dimension to another, such as a cube that’s necessary to trigger a pressure pad.

The third mechanic is slowing down time by pressing Q, which is great if you need to readjust your portals while in midair. It also slows time down significantly, so you can jump in place, activate it, swap dimensions to see what’s on the other side (platform? Or instant death?) and return to safety.

More mechanics are added, as opening the doors to later puzzles gets increasingly complicated, often requiring the use of lasers redirected through both special cubes AND portals to power up switches.

Call it a hunch, but I don't think this simulation is
actually about orientation and balance disorders...

Mix all these together, and... “mind-bending” doesn’t even begin to describe it. If you can move past the derivative impression you may get from this Greatest Hits of Steam’s best puzzle games, you’ll find levels that utilize every single mechanic to its fullest, forcing you to think in five dimensions. You’ll feel especially smart anytime you figure out the correct solution.

These puzzles are topped by a final one that serves as the ending. Plot remains minimal, with the focus being almost entirely on gameplay (barring some implications with the figures on both sides of the field, which remain unexplained).

Quite a few of the last puzzles involve
high-flying escapades, courtesy of momentum.

A few downsides: Although you can press tab to highlight zones of importance (read: The exit and any checkered areas) so you know where they are, sometimes they’re in places where you won’t think to look, like on the ceiling. Many times, I got stuck solely because I didn’t know about a checkered space that was necessary to beat the current puzzle. Leading into my second issue, where the game will offer to let you skip a level you’re struggling with if you spend too long on it. That’s nice, but I think I would have preferred if there was instead a hints system that could help with getting started in some levels, especially since later ones include checkered areas that aren’t useful for solving the puzzle and exist to misdirect the player.

Nope, not high enough. Same in the red dimension.
Looks like I'm gonna need a sequence of portals taking
me higher each time.

As a result, this might feel more like a tech demo, or a test game from someone working on something greater. If this is what they can achieve now, I eagerly await what SHK Interactive will do next. Sure, it’s a bit of a mix and match of well-known puzzles, but the result works well and is decently challenging.

DÉSORDRE is available on Steam currently for 6.99$ USD.

Quick Review: Dépanneur Nocturne

Dépanneur [day-pan-urr]: Noun. Québécois slang term referring to a convenience store.

Dépanneur Nocturne is a game by KO_OP released on May 26th, 2020. The game is also available on itch.io. In it, you play someone in a hurry to find a late-night birthday gift for their girlfriend, and who enters the titular store in the hopes of finding something, anything. Not like there’s much else open this close to midnight. Besides, it’s pouring and, because it’s Montreal, you can’t walk two steps without ending up in roadwork. Hey, that’s realistic so far!

"Bun-swar"? What's that? Some arcane language?

This environmental narrative game/walking sim leads you to this place, which is no ordinary convenience store. The salamander woman behind the counter speaks to you in the desired language, English or French (with our regional twist). There’s a strange air of mysticism to the place, implied in the posters and made more evident when chatting up the shopkeeper.

Get a coffee, pet the cat, gather quarters for the toy machine. Grab any item that looks interesting. Eugénie, the salamander, will eventually realize your situation and offer her help in a more peculiar fashion. Despite the bizarre implications from posters and the occasional creepy discovery as you dig through the store’s secrets, the game never takes a turn into horror. It remains a wholesome, short story that does end with you finding a gift.

I've worked at a gas station/convenience store. The coffee
usually ain't free. But hey, I'll take it.

Soft drinks? I never heard of Porp, it better be good.
I had to go five floors underground to find this machine!

When I say short, I mean it; unless you dig for secrets and achievements, and even if you do, you will likely finish this game in under an hour. Barring a small handful of puzzle-based ones, achievements are very easy to get, sometimes without even trying. While doing my second playthrough, I found more secrets and thought up some additional achievements that could have been fun (as an example: Putting as many items as possible in the shopping bag, as there’s a LOT to pick up). Bring items not intended for sale to Eugénie, and she’ll still comment on them.

You can’t leave without at least something to bring back to your significant other, though there are better endings to be found by accepting Eugénie’s help. You get extra comments for everything you bring to your love, including the big gift. There’s plenty of developer’s foresight here, a nice depth for a game that’s otherwise simple.

Well that explains the mysticism.

Being an environmental narrative, gameplay needs little mention. The music provides a nice ambiance. And like I said, there's lots of secrets to look for. The game being available in two languages is great (and you know how much I appreciate any Quebec representation.) And if you liked this one, its developer, KO_OP, released last year a much larger game called Goodbye Volcano High; although I haven’t played it, I felt it was worth mentioning, seeing as we’re in Pride Month and that title has LGBTQ and non-binary representation and themes.

Dépanneur Nocturne is available on Steam for 4.99$ USD... Or 6.49$ CAD.

...By the way, I offhandedly mentioned itch.io early in this article. Turns out that I have a ton of stuff on the itch.io platform as well, due to buying two huge bundles that gave to major causes in the past 4 years. Would anyone be interested in hearing me talk about some of the games I’ve got over there? Many of those are shorter experiences like today’s entry. If you’d like articles about games and other stuff on itch.io, let me know with a comment!

Movie Review: Inside Out 2

It's getting a little crowded in here.

The original Inside Out, released in 2015 (nine years ago! Time flies. Is that dust on me?), easily stands as one of my favorite Pixar films, and it tends to rank high on lists of fan favorites. It had a story that perfectly blended the very real struggles of Riley, its main character in the "real world", and how those struggles impact her brain world and her emotions, Joy and Sadness in particular.

Anyone who works in psychiatry or with children tends to point to it as an amazing way to visualize many concepts related to the brain and how emotions impact what we do, how we think, and how we grow up. It's a metaphor so multi-layered that even now, studying the first film still brings up new points, depending on how you interpret them. Just a brilliant, brilliant movie from start to finish.

Notably, that film had gone through a lot of brainstorming during development, before the final concept was settled on the five emotions. All of them (Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear) have the basic function of the emotion they represent, until you realize that they have secondary functions more closely tied to personality (Sadness creates empathy, and Anger's aggressivity channels into assertiveness and confidence, to give two examples). Needless to say, this sequel directed by Kelsey Mann needs to add to these solid bases, and its additions need to be just as strong.

The story

Two years have passed since the events of the first Inside Out; Riley is now 13. She hasn't changed much yet; she's still the nice, hockey-loving, family-loving girl. The greater changes have been in her brain, where her five emotions have been adapting to the increasing complexity of their girl's psyche, a result of puberty.

The first change has been the addition of something even stronger than Core Memories: Riley's sense of self, built from a large collection of memories highlighting every positive personality trait she has. The other change, created by Joy herself, is a contraption allowing the emotions to send unwanted, "bad" memories all the way to the back of Riley's mind.

Because everything happens at the same time, puberty hits the girl on the very morning that she's leaving for hockey camp with her two best friends. And on the trip, she learns that they'll be going to a different high school, making this possibly their last weekend together. And because that's not enough, her idol, Valentina Ortiz, the captain of the high school hockey team, the Fire Hawks, is at the camp alongside a coach Riley feels the need to impress, forcing her into a difficult decision between friends and future.

And if the emotions thought they could help, well - that's when the new ones decide to come in. First is Anxiety, who keeps planning for Riley's future, without realizing that she's messing up the girl's present as a result. The other new emotions - Envy, Embarrassment and Ennui - are quick to come in and further cause chaos, despite their best intentions. Could be fine, were it not that Anxiety, in her attempts to make Riley fit in with the cool Fire Hawks, tosses Riley's sense of self at the back of her mind, then has all five of the original emotions "bottled up" and sent away. Thus, Joy and the others must escape, retrieve their girl's sense of self, and return to the emotion headquarters before the weekend is over.

The review

Maybe it says more about the overall quality of the studio's input, and maybe this is one of those films that will get leagues better with each rewatch, but while the original is safely near the top, I don't know if this one would even break my Top 10 when it comes to Pixar's works. There is an impression, already echoed by others, that this feels just like more of the same. Which... I only partially agree with.

Yeah, it's once again the concept of some emotions having to travel across Riley's psyche to get back home (a type of story told many, many times by Pixar), all presented in this metaphorical backdrop. Sure. But as I said before, I personally consider a good sequel one that builds upon the foundation of the movie it follows up on, by adding new interesting elements of its own. By that metric alone, this sequel would be a success, as it not only brings up a swath of new details; the four additional emotions, but also elements of the "brain world", or how those elements evolve as Riley grows up. Sure enough, this will be a fantastic companion piece to its predecessor, to explain even more concepts to a wider audience. So yeah, unfortunately a large part of this movie's plot feels directly lifted from the one it follows up on, but I do hope it brings enough differences to the table to be worth watching regardless.

It bears repeating that a large portion of the movie lies on Envy, Embarrassment, Ennui, and especially Anxiety, whose roles appear antagonistic. However, you can also tell that the film was written cleverly to remind you that, just like the original five, the new four emotions also want Riley's growth and well-being. It's easy to forget, with all the chaos they end up causing. I appreciate that these new emotions are varied, and that their looks are relevant to their purpose. Focusing on anxiety might help make the film especially important in this day and age.

Though I did greatly enjoy it, something felt... I wouldn't say lesser or lacking. More like I wasn't exactly at this point in my life where this would resonate with me the most. I haven't been a teenager in a long time, though I definitely recognize a lot of the little moments and interactions Riley lives as things I could've done. And I'd lie if I said I wasn't dealing with anxiety too, though some scenes the movie presents in relation to anxiety are surprisingly intense, even for Pixar.

However, Kelsey Mann has been on record saying that he thought of this sequel's story while his own daughter was going through puberty. I feel like this movie will especially resonate with parents going through the same situation, be it with a son or daughter, and who can then use this movie as a jumping point to explain what's going on or, perhaps even, understand it themselves. That's the power of metaphors.

As a result, the film didn't impact me as much as I wish it had, when compared to other entries from Pixar. It may feel like a bit of a disappointment, but at the same time, it further speaks to the sheer level of quality in both animation and writing we've come to expect from them. Honestly? Even with that downside, it's a great movie, and a definite recommendation.

Quick Review: The Darkness II

He's condensed 90's edge.

I usually open on a quip, but this one I need to explain: The Darkness is a comic book series originally written by Garth Ennis under Top Cow Productions, a partner studio of Image Comics. This franchise, which has one of the most basic names ever, follows Jackie Estacado, a young mafia hitman who, on his 21st birthday, becomes the host of an ancient Eldritch entity known as The Darkness, which grants him a vast array of powers, including summoning imp-like demons. He’s stuck with the abomination until it gets what it wants from him, which doesn’t stop him from using its family-unfriendly powers in the best way he can manage. That is, VERY anti-heroically.

The franchise began in comics, but also had two games, the second of which I’m covering today. Developed by Digital Extremes, published by 2K and released to Steam on February 9th, 2012, this is a sequel to a first The Darkness game released in 2007.

Well! A dinner and a show!

I never played the first game, but a helpful catch-up intro explains its events: When the Franchetti family, which Jackie worked for, went after him because of the Darkness and killed his love Jenny, he rampaged through them and killed their head, taking that throne for himself. For two years, he keeps the entity dormant, but on a regular night at the restaurant, he is ambushed by a dangerous group and must call his demons into action.

You don't wanna know what the demon arms are gonna do
to that guy we just grabbed.

Lots of controls here. This is a shooting game with all that implies (shoot at enemies, grab guns, reload firearms, take cover), but the Darkness has its own set of abilities and mechanics. Using Q, your Mock-Venom arms can grab items and throw them at attackers (you can even grab the attackers themselves when they’re stunned), take their guns from afar, and even slash using the mouse wheel. The Darkness regenerates Jackie’s health over time, and we usually have an imp-demon by our side as well.

Killing enemies awards points, with more gained for creative kills. You spend those points in a skill tree, first unlocking the ability to eat the hearts of those you murder to regain health, and only getting more dangerous from there. The entity’s weakness is light; in well-lit places, its powers are nullified. In those situations, you can destroy whatever creates light around you to regain these abilities.

As a mafiosi, you can never have enough bullets.

He's like the grandpa with a hit count in the hundreds we
all wished we had brown up with.

In-between action missions, we come back to the luxurious manor and catch up with the mafiosi working under Jackie. And among many cinematic moments in the game, our protagonist (it would be difficult to call him a hero) is plagued by visions of his love Jenny, with him still suffering from her loss. All this while he investigates leads on the restaurant hit, which takes him to a cult strangely tied to the Darkness...

When the guns aren't enough, there's always the option to
throw a fucking gas container at the enemy's head.

In case the bloody fates you inflict on enemies weren’t a hint, this is an M-rated game. It’s got dark mature themes, and the comedy goes exactly where you’d expect. Your imp pisses on corpses. Characters casually talk about violence and sex, occasionally at the same time. We even visit a brothel as part of a mission. It would be charitable to say this story has shades of grey; more like shades of black, as actual good characters are mighty rare here. It’s a raw, disturbing story; consider yourself warned. That said, if you like cinematic storytelling, you’re going to find a decent amount of it here.

I'm not great at first-person shooters. However, I appreciate that this one has variety by including such a wide array of unlockable abilities, powers and means to kill enemies. It also means that enemies are plentiful and, therefore, you need to get good at using all these powers if you want to survive.

These villains are smart enough to bring in guys with big
lights on the field to weaken the Darkness.
Jackie and Alan Wake would totally get along. /s

I ran into a few issues of my own: I struggled to use the arm slice attack on specific targets. I got stuck in a vent – thankfully that could be solved by looking for a fix online. Ammo can be tricky; Jackie can carry up to 4 guns (and dual-wield), but when he picks up a new gun, he tosses away the old one, which lies around even without ammo so you may end up in situations where it’s hard to find guns with ammo, instead grabbing empty ones you threw away before. If you want to explore, there’s an extra goal in finding every Relic, which comes with heaps of worldbuilding, and there are extra missions known as the Vendettas to try out.

Another annoying enemy is this whip guy, who literally
whips the guns away from your hands. Real fun when you
need to put bullets in people. Good thing you have demon arms.

I liked this one just fine, enough to finish it at least, and though I don’t know whether I’ll touch it again, I can say I at least had a good time with it. If FPSs are your jam, though this one’s a bit on the short end, it might provide enough of a twist on the classic formula to be worth checking out.

The Darkness II is available on Steam for 29.99$ USD.

Quick Review: Costume Quest

Never too early for Halloween. Can we – can we swap out “Christmas in July” for “Halloween in July”? I’d much rather have that.

A product of Double Fine Productions released on Steam on October 14th, 2011, Costume Quest tells the story of twin siblings who go out trick-or-treating. You select your character – older sister Wren, 10 minutes younger brother Reynold – then go out to fill your bag with candy. Your selected character goes as a robot, the other dressed as a piece of candy corn.

Don't worry, they do love each other. It might take some
monster invasion for them to show it, though.

The first game where you save the world by trick-or-treating.

Things don’t go as planned. When the kids knock on their second door, it opens to a goblin-like monster known as a Grubbin, which steals your candy corn sibling and takes them to their base. These creatures have been tasked with stealing all the candy in town! You cannot enter the base, and what’s worse, some witch shows up and reduces your robot costume to nothing! You must now rescue your sibling, not out of love, but because you’ll be grounded if you don’t. Your first task? Rebuild your costume out of materials found in treasure chests in the neighborhood. Then, go kick some goblin butt.

Lots to do, indeed.

On the way, you make friends who will help on your quest, find new costumes with their own usefulness while exploring (the robot costume lets you move fast and jump ramps, the knight’s shield protects from falling things, etc.). There’s a lot of collectibles to look for: Trading cards showing rare treats; badges you can buy with candy at the park, giving perks in combat; lots of side-quests to look for; and, finally, more pieces to create costumes, which can then be worn by your party members.

An unexpected stop by the shopping mall...
...where monsters are also stealing all the candy...

For all intents and purposes, and for most battles, this is
basically "Baby's first RPG"; mechanics are simple, there
are no items, special moves unlock every 3rd turn, and
you rarely need to think up complex strategies.

The other half of this game is a turn-based RPG, in which the children turn into their costumes to fight the Grubbins. Combat relies heavily on action commands, not unlike, say, Paper Mario or South Park: The Stick of Truth. Each costume has its niche and uses in battle as well, from the offensive robot or space ranger to the more supportive knight or Statue of Liberty. On top of that, you can use badges (stamps) for added effects in battle. If you lose a battle? You can just start it over, no worse for wear. Later, you learn to smack an enemy from behind in the overworld to inflict preemptive damage.

The Statue of Liberty heals the party.
That costume stayed in my team for most of the game.

I literally played these fights with fingers resting on
E, Q, Shift and Space the whole time.

However, when defending and for some attacks, the action command is randomized between Q, E, Shift and Space rather than specific to each action, so you can’t prepare to press a key known in advance. I would also say that encounter difficulty is uneven; when I had a party of 2, some regular enemy teams were harder than bosses, and nigh impossible without switching costumes and badges around. Inversely, when the party grew to 3, most battles became a cakewalk. And then, the final bosses were such puzzles that they were barely beatable even with a specific team+badge loadout.

Dorsilla the Witch, second-to-last boss in the game, was
tough because, like the true final boss (and the final boss
of the DLC), there was a puzzle element to her fight.

The whole thing is candy-wrapped in Double Fine’s comedic storytelling. Funny moments abound, especially in silly situations and character banter. You can explore every nook and cranny for candy, but it only really serves to buy badges. In each area, you must visit every house or store to progress. Oh, and on my first save file, 2.5 hours in, the game autosaved due to progressing a quest while my character was stuck between props, making it impossible to leave. I had to start the whole damn thing over; thankfully I speedran it, so I only lost another hour, but it sucked to encounter a glitch like that. But barring that one sore point, everything else remained enjoyable.

For a DLC called "Grubbins on Ice", there isn't a lot
of ice in the area.

The game came with a one-chapter DLC titled Grubbins on Ice, where one of the siblings’ friend is accidentally taken to the monsters’ world during winter and the kids run in to save her. A sequel was also released three years later if you liked this one enough. This one’s fine, and easy enough (barring a few places) that I could recommend it for kids.

Costume Quest is available on Steam for 9.99$ USD.

Quick Review: Calico

“What’s your gaming like lately, Nic?” Oh, y’know, one day I play a beat’em-up, later I get progress done on a stealth game, next a viking survival, and now I play a cutesy relationship/kitchen game. Variety!

There isn't much in here yet, but that'll change soon.

Developed by Peachy Keen Games, published by Whitethorn Games and Maple Whispering Unlimited and released on December 15th, 2020, Calico is described as a community sim. Your character inherited a cat café set on a magical, star-shaped island, and it is your duty to bring it back to full glory. After the very intricate character creation, we appear on the very pink island and we meet the mayor, who explains how things work around here. There’s a lot of magic going around; don’t question it, we don’t have to explain it. The animals around the island are all perfectly tamed, you can choose any of them to join the café so your customers will pet and play with them.

Because I’m a rebel, my first café animal was a crow.

It's my café, I'mma do what I want. Crow it is.
I'm gonna call him Malphas.

Sometimes they even give you new recipes!

Of course, what’s a shop without customers? You befriend the residents by completing side-quests for them. Some have their preferences regarding the style in the café, so you can decorate with furniture to please everyone. Along the way, you’ll collect furniture, toys for the animals you adopt for the café, and clothes and accessories for your character. At first, the paths to the branches of the star are blocked off, leaving only the center to explore; you solve that by completing major quests involving the available NPCs, and in the new areas you meet new folks/customers, and get more quests to complete.

Bring out the home decorator in you!

Milk... sugar, spice, and everything nice...

You’ll also find new recipes. However, the way you make the recipes is... unconventional. You get shrunk and platform your way around the kitchen, carrying the ingredients to the cooking pot and playing mini-games to bake the pastries. I mean, sure, that makes it different from classic cooking games. Although, we walk all over our recipes, and we let a cat knead the dough. I don’t think that’s sanitary. *cough cough* I know, magic, yadda yadda. At least it leads to a decent variety in mini-games.

Yup! Thanks for coming to the café, by the way!

I appreciate the cozy atmosphere of this one, nobody can get hurt (Fall damage? What’s that?), there’s never any stress. There’s a lot to discover, be it the animals you can pet, carry, or befriend, the potions you can use for various effects (like making small animals big enough to be ridden), and other cute stuff like that. It oozes positivity all around, promoting body positivity, inclusivity, and open-mindedness.

No, this isn't an impromptu yoga session, I'm just
ragdolling like crazy.

The weaknesses now: There’s issues with collision and clipping all over the place, which is notable when your character walks around, goes uphill, or whenever ragdoll physics kick in and an animal becomes a writhing mess for a moment. The number of times a pet at the café got stuck on furniture... “Janky” is the best way to describe it. I would also say that there’s little incentive in doing recipes more than once. Though, you must replace those that get stale, and also you get paid more for a delicacy if you get a Gold or Silver star on it, by completing it quickly.

I’d also say there’s an issue with quests and character interactions. It’s a nice touch that every NPC has its own agency and moves around the world, but it can make finding them tricky (good thing the map always shows their location). It also leads to situations where you have someone asking you to talk to someone else, who can be right next to them. Writing is occasionally odd; you can close a quest with a character, then talk to them again right away, and they’ll open with, “Well since you helped me the other day...”

The flying broom is basically the reward for beating the game.
It lets you see the place in a whole new way.

It’s a game made to be casual and soothing. You’ll hardly find anything challenging here, but that’s by design. It’s the sort of game I'd recommend you get it for a child, but its features make it an alright option for anyone in need of something sweet and simple to wind down.

Calico is available on Steam for 11.99$ USD.