Recent reviews by Dustflower

Fun! I like the mix of "find the difference" and thrill.

It's impossible to play this game without learning something about ancient Rome. While exploring the town, talking to citizens and running errands, you experience everyday life in Pompeii. Six main quests and a bunch of optional side quests teach you about many different subjects: how society was organised, which food got prepared and served, how politics in the forum worked, what people wore ... the list goes on.

There are over 20 "points of interest", where you get little slide shows with a few facts and images about a specific object, practice, etc. If you want to learn more, you can listen to an audio file as well. Some of them are recorded by kids and teens, very charming!

This game is very well made. The colourful cartoony artstyle and the attention to detail and historical accuracy make the world feel real and lived in. The music is varied and – for the most part – works well with the setting. Playing the game is fun, and despite the recommended age being 9+, some of the quests are not that easy! Luckily, there's always the option to get a hint :)

Now, a little word of warning. You've read the title – you know what the game is about. If you're sensitive about fire, natural disaster, or having to flee, skip the last part of the game. Even though you don't see someone actually die, it gets pretty stressful. The game also doesn't shy away from sugarcoating subjects like slavery, and what remained of the real Pompeiians after the eruption. I think that's a good thing. However, if you play this game with children, you might want to discuss these subjects to make sure they're okay.

A few little nitpicks I have with the game: The English translation is fine for the most part. There are a few grammatical oddities and spelling mistakes here and there. But gameplay-wise this isn't a problem. Navigation is a little hard at times. Even though there's an easy-to-read map that you can access at any given time, I got lost a lot. Maybe it's because of the combination of a 2D-sidescroller with a 3D street grid. Maybe it's just my bad sense of orientation ;)

To conclude, this is an amazing game for people (especially older children and teens, but also adults!), who are interested in history and ancient Rome. For those who aren't, it can be a good entry point to the subject. Even if you just run around, do quests and have fun – you'll definitely learn something and be surprised about how advanced people were in 79 AD!

Probably the greatest game of the last decade.

Absolutely amazing. Astarion best man.

This game never stops to amaze me. I've already been playtesting in the past, but I keep discovering new mechanics and interactions between humans & nature that I wasn't aware of! Digging the cozy vibes and the vibrant colours as well ♫♪

Let’s face it: Research Story looks and plays a lot like Stardew Valley. You’re the new guy arriving in a peaceful village with lots of townsfolk to chat to. You get a plot of land, where you can grow crops, look after animals, and craft items. There’s a mine to explore, and people to befriend/romance. If you enjoyed all of that in Stardew Valley – you’ll enjoy it here too! But what else does the game have to offer?

Research

The fact that you arrive in Shimmerbrook in the role of a researcher opens up some cool new mechanics. You don’t just go to the store, buy seeds and plant them wherever you like. You first have to observe a plant in the wild, then you get seeds, which you grow in your garden – but careful, each species has different needs! The same goes for the animals/creatures. This system makes the game more challenging than Stardew Valley, and feels a bit more mature. The researched species get beautiful entries in your journal, and there’s a cool mix of real species (chamomille, fox, ...) and fantasy ones (sproutkitten, cloudberry, ...).

Creatures

Once you researched and tamed a creature, it not only gives you some sort of produce that you can sell, it also accompanies you on your adventures and even gives you buffs! I love this concept, the creatures really feel like your companions and not just like livestock. You can take up to three of them with you at a time, for each activity there’s a suited companion.

Romance

The character designs in this game are gorgeous, and let’s say it like it is – most of the townsfolk are really hot! They all have their unique roles in society, and different interests they’ll talk about. You can befriend them by conversing and gift giving, they drop hints about their preferred gifts. You can go on dates with the ones that are single and available. I haven’t had the chance yet to get to know all of them better, but the ones that I pursued so far had very sweet traits and stories to tell!

Special mentions

Here I’ll address a few points that show how Research Story improves on its predecessor.

• Tools don’t clutter up your hot key bar. They have a special slot, and you cycle through them with your mouse wheel.
  
• You can catch fish in the river right in front of your house.
  
• The fishing mini game is less annoying – but that’s a personal preference.
  
• You don’t just carry each item above your head that you select in the hot key bar. You have to press an extra button to take them out of the backpack. Takes a bit of time to get used to, but feels more logical and less messy.
  
• You don’t have to decide between charming local store and evil mega corporation.
  
• You’re a scientist, and your research feels meaningful and helps you solve puzzles.

Critique

This wouldn’t be a well-rounded review without a few negative points. So as much as I enjoyed the game so far, here’s what it could improve on.

• The graphic style is very minimalistic and cutesy, which is certainly not for everyone. Some areas of the map feel a bit monotone and empty, but I only noticed this in a few spots like the upper floor of the Violet Academy.
  
• The journal entries about the species could be more detailed. Again, probably a personal preference – but I would enjoy reading even more about the different species I discovered, apart from the facts that are important for gameplay.
  
• The music in the game is beautiful, varied and fitting, but some of the sound effects sound a bit weird and too loud. Looking at you, watering can >.>
  
• As of now, there’s a limited amount of creatures to discover, people to date and stuff to do. But that’s normal for early access, and the game already offers many hours of fun gameplay! Plus the solo dev published a detailed roadmap of what’s to come, so no worries about the project getting abandoned before completion.

Conclusion

If you enjoyed Stardew Valley, you’ll enjoy this game. You’ll relive the excitement that you first had when exploring everything and learning the mechanics. I yet have to find out whether the mid and late game will deliver – but of what I’ve seen so far, it’s already absolutely worth its price!

If you’re a fan of atmospheric science-fantasy worlds and steampunk, you’ll be delighted about the optics of Project Grove! You play as 64 year old Edric Tate (cool to have an older protagonist for a change, btw) who explores a new region together with his little helper robot L-P1N. The two engage in playful banter, which is delivered a bit wooden at times, but entertaining in general.

The gameplay is fun, it consists mostly of walking around, exploring and platforming at this point. The progression of difficulty is good in the prologue, although the last few meters are a bit difficult, platforming-wise. You’ll also need patience to figure out some of the puzzles. But the game isn’t super hard, perfectly doable even for somebody who isn’t very familiar with this type of game.

The story gets merely teased in this prologue – as intended. You’ll already learn a few facts about the land Dacrima and its inhabitants, in the form of dialogue between Edric and L-P1N, but also through journal entries. Those you acquire through "scanning" objects with L-P1N, a very fun and immersive feature. You’ll play through two quests in this prologue, which amounts to about 2-3 hours of playtime, I’d say.

If I had to criticise an aspect of the game, I’d pick the controls. They’re not very hard to learn, but they lack precision. You’ll sometimes jump way further than intended and die, which is somewhat frustrating. Luckily there are many save points, but this is definitely an aspect that takes some fun out of the game. The devs acknowledged this though and intend on improving it :)

TL; DR: Fun game and beautiful world with lots of things to discover. Still a bit jank in the controls department.

This is one of those games that hooks you, drags you into its story and releases you at the end with so many different experiences and emotions that you need to sit down for a moment to digest it. I love it, 9/10!

I played it in one sitting because after meeting the main characters, I wanted the answers to more and more questions: Why is Luke depressed? What went wrong? Is he in danger? And how can I help him?!

What you won't find in this game is challenging gameplay or difficult puzzles. It's a 2D side-scroller with some dialogue choices, relatively simple puzzles and a bit of platforming.

But I'm absolutely fine with that, because the game accomplishes it's goal: To tell an intriguing interactive story, that helps you understand people with difficult life experiences much better.

Positive Points
+ All of the art in the game is beautiful and fits together perfectly: The layered paper-cut style graphics with atmospheric lighting, the well executed voice acting and the wonderful original soundtrack (also composed and recorded by the solo dev, wow!).
+ Most NPCs in this game feel like actual human people with their own pasts, distinct character traits and interests. Even small side characters don't come across as 'random girl 1' or 'work colleague 3'. Talking and listening to people in this game feels a lot like having actual conversations.

Negative Points
- In terms of gameplay, the game's not that complex. It's more than a walking simulator, but the gameplay mechanics are not especially challenging or innovative, compared to other games.
- There should be a disclaimer at the beginning of the game that it contains horror elements and allusions to suicide, therefore might not be suitable for everyone.

Recommended for people who enjoyed To the Moon, The Cat Lady or Nevermind.

This game starts with a murder, and you're the detective that arrives to solve the case. Sounds simple. But as you start to question the inhabitants of the small town Pineview, you soon realise that the game has much more to offer than a 'whodunnit' crime investigation.

You'll learn much about life in the idyllic small town, every character you meet adds a bit of their own perspective and story. If you enjoy to learn about the motivations and backgrounds of different people, you'll enjoy this game!

It's about the big questions in life, relationships, and how to deal with sad events that happened in the past. But the investigation also progresses, the further you are into the game. I'd say if you invest one or two hours, you'll get hooked, and the game takes you on a wild ride: Down into the valleys of sadness and up into the clouds of wholesomeness and inner peace.

Positive points:
+ interesting, fleshed-out characters
+ well written dialogue
+ atmospheric scenes with artistic visuals and fitting music

Negative points:
- some graphic glitches every now and then
- characters move clunky due to simple design
- story drags a bit in the middle

I really enjoyed this game!
As soon as I start it, I’m hooked for a few hours. The story is mainly told through text, combined with well-made pixel graphics. A lot is left to your imagination, that’s what makes the horrors of the post-apocalyptic world so powerful.

He atmospheric soundtrack is fitting; it creates a feeling of hopelessness. You try to keep your little group of three alive. It’s a new challenge with each attempt at finishing the game and reaching the mysterious 'Light'. The game has great replay value because with different characters in your group you get new dialogue options and choices. Plus the events are somewhat random, so you never know what will happen next and whether you’ll be lucky or not.

The grammar and spelling could still be a bit polished, at least in the version I played. Everything is understandable though, so it’s not that big of a problem. I encountered some minor bugs while playing so far (version from 07. Feb '20), but no game breaking or really annoying ones.

The devs announced that they’re still fixing and improving lots of things. They’ll also add new content for free, which I think is a great mentality!

Conclusion: Absolutely worth your time and money :)