Yvonne van Geloven's Reviews
Instant Farmer offers puzzle fans a good challenge and a very fair price. Though there is no tutorial is clear from the start what you have to do. There are no frills, but it all works as it should accompanied by some relaxing music. A good game to pick up and play during your coffee break, even for someone like me who doesn’t want to spend days stuck in one level!
I had been waiting for Garden Paws on the Nintendo Switch for a long time, and it doesn’t disappoint. All the elements of a good simulation game are here, though I must mention socializing is not a part of the gameplay. The visuals look lovely, there are a ton of things to do to make this a very immersive game. Sadly there are some bugs to repair, sometimes even hindering one of the quests. As Bitten Toast has a lot of experience with Garden Paws already on Steam, I don’t doubt this will be taken care of soon. If this is a deal-breaker for you, you might wanna wait for a while to dive in. Looking at the fact that I think about Garden Paws even when I’m not playing, I can only recommend the game, but do beware of bugs needing to be caught.
Colors Live turns your Nintendo Switch into a real Art Studio. It has all the features a budding artist needs at her fingertips. The SonarPen is an important add-on as it’s a pressure-sensitive stylus, allowing you to make even more detailed work. A lot of brushes are available and a color wheel with every shade you could wish for. There’s a very cool playback function allowing you to see all the steps artists in the online community have made, and Colors Quest is added, giving you little assignments daily. Colors Live won’t turn you into an artist overnight, but it is fun to dabble in even for a complete amateur like I am.
Panmorphia is a lovely point & click escape room game, trying to find your way out after the door closed with a bang. The scenes you are presented with are beautiful. The background music is good and by using ambient sound and little bits of movement on the screen, the right atmosphere is created. If you like point & click games that keep the brain active, give this one a try. And if you want to give Panmorphia a try first, there’s a Lite version on mobile available. And if you can’t get enough of puzzling with Panmorphia, there’s also a second game out on Steam and mobile, called Panmorphia: Enchanted.
I had looked forward to playing BLUE REFLECTION: Second Light and I can say it doesn’t disappoint. All the elements that make for a satisfying JRPG/simulation are here, and I can see Gust incorporated a lot of what makes Atelier Ryza a great game. Forming friendships, crafting things, making facilities, use of the FreeSpace app, exploring the Heartscapes, fighting….all merges quite satisfyingly. This also means that you must be in for the entire package. Focussing on the battles alone won’t let you progress, focussing on the simulation part won’t do the trick either. Follow Ao and her friends while they explore the Heartscapes and turn them into the best Reflectors they can be. BLUE REFLECTION: Second Light is a great game for Atelier fans, and I’m guessing it will be a hit with JRPG fans as well!
I don’t often make jigsaw puzzles in real life, but I live with someone who loves nothing better than to clutter my kitchen table and countertop with puzzles of 1000 pieces or more. I felt How Buddy’s Parents Met is a very nice alternative to have the same puzzling fun in your pocket. It has all the qualities that make putting jigsaws together fun and adds the benefit of it being compact. With various difficulty levels, sweet images to form and a relaxing tune in the background, this love story will give your hours of fun
I realize I may not have played Scrapnaut in the same way most gamers would, but Scrapnaut harbors elements or different kinds of genres that will appeal to all sorts of players. It allows you to adjust the settings to just the kind of gameplay that feels right for you, which I really like. The exploring, gathering of materials and building and crafting part is where the fun is for me, and the game handled this well. It feels like a fresh take on the farming and crafting genre, reminding me of Harvest Moon: an Innocent Life, though it isn’t as smoothly polished as the big titles. I wanted to see more storyline, which would have made it less about ticking the boxes for the quests, but I did enjoy my time with Scrapnaut. I can’t of course comment on the battle part, but for me, the game shines in exploration and building/crafting.
EGGLIA: Rebirth is an RPG-town builder that is right at home on the Switch, even though I would have liked to see more differences with the mobile game. But then, the mobile game already was of a great quality. The simulation part, building up the Town at EGGLIA is where the game shines for me. Moving through the hex based dungeons is nice too, but much is left to chance. What makes exploring fun though is that you never know what new surprises in materials and new creatures you are going to find. This is a great game to pick up and play over your morning coffee, gathering materials, slaying some enemies and using the spoils to help out your friends in town to make their home even nicer.
This is a good entry in the Rune Factory series and I’m sure the fans will welcome it. Expect much of what made Rune Factory 4 great. Good new gameplay features are added with the Spell Seal, being a Ranger with special duties and benefits and the addition of the Farming Dragons. Rune Factory 5 has a good storyline and nice side stories with interesting characters in town. There’s a deep stats and skill system, and it’s fun trying on different costumes and accessories. At the start of this review I asked: was it worth is to wait 10 years for Rune Factory 5? Honestly, I love my time in the game, but I am disappointed too. Compared to other current-day games it really doesn’t deliver in graphics, attention to detail in the world of Rigbarth just isn’t there. Even comparing it to the lovely looking world in Rune Factory 4 Special, it falls short. My final verdict is still positive, but a lot more was needed for it to get our highest recommendation. A must for the fans, but if you are new to the series, Rune Factory 4 Special on the Switch feels like an entry point at half the price that is preferable.
Overall I can say for the price of a few euro you’ll have loads of word puzzles to play. And these are available to play on the go, making it even better. They should keep any word puzzle fan busy for a bit!
Of course, Calm Colors isn’t for everyone, but it’s a good game if you want to unwind and think happy thoughts while sliding the pieces onto the right shape. It offers relaxing gameplay, and turns the myriad of lines into a lovely bright image. Looking at the price, you are looking upon many hours of relaxation with no stress, timers, pressure…just you sliding the pieces to the soothing music.
Anuchard is a combination of a action fighter and simulation game, with the emphasis on exploring dungeons and solving puzzles. With five guardians to search for, you have several different dungeons to explore, all in a different style. The cartoony style depicts the characters well with only a few color strokes. The excellent humorous writing makes the game stand out for me. I found the action-based fighting to turn hectic pretty soon, but the mechanic of avoiding damage allowed me to focus on the puzzles instead. I’m pretty sure though that for someone who is more adept at action fighting and dungeon crawling will have a blast!
Even though I have never played the first Goetia game, I must say I really liked my time in the strange world of Goetia 2. I would have liked to have more light and be able to see the details better, but the graphics look good, and the areas you search through are very detailed. This point & click really had my brain cells doing overtime, and although I wouldn’t have young children play it, it wasn’t too disturbing for me. The developers did a good job at creating a spooky atmosphere without it being very scary.
What can I say? I love Farm Tycoon because I love the management part, trying to make it into a thriving farm and keeping my eye on the finances. I would like to see some improvements however in the game like a tutorial that is sorely missed to make Farm Tycoon more accessible. It got me making my own lists and schematics, but I can see how this would deter other players. It’s been some time since I couldn’t stop thinking about a game during the day, wanting nothing better than to play on. A sure sign of a hit for me. Based on the PC game Farm Manager SONKA did a good job helping the game make the jump to consoles. It’s great fun to have this fully-fledged farm in handheld mode on my Switch. I can manage the farm while travelling to my own work by train!
Farm Manager 2022 is the best that Farming Management Sims have to offer, or so I think. It has a lot of improvements over Farm Tycoon and has much more elements to manage. It is less hands-on though, but it does give the opportunity to delve deeper into statistics such as Market prices. Not surprising when you realize Farm Tycoon is Farm Manager 2018 under a different name. The current game I am reviewing now is much more evolved, though the fans might miss the more hands-on element. It’s a pity not all button choices work well nor intuitively. And that it can crash when the farm gets bigger. But with a good tutorial, campaign, scenario mode and several difficulties setting in free mode there are many, many hours worth of farming fun to be had!
We are OFK certainly brings something new to the table: a video game that is more of a tv series to promote a soundtrack for a new group. A group that only exists in pixel form, but that makes nice music. I have found the characters that I followed relatable and endearing, but I didn’t like all the strong language that is included. It’s not a game I’d recommend for kids, but I suspect young people will embrace this with gusto. The storytelling is great but I could have done without the mini games at the end of each episode. With all of this in mind I must conclude that I love this new territory that Team OFK is exploring!
Ooblets is fun to play. The sim elements of dance battles, farming, crafting and questing are combined in a nice way. I love games with lots of questing and tasks, and it didn’t bother me that the story is thin. It kept my interest due to the things added along the way. I have some minor niggles: the info text in the inventory is annoyingly over the rest of the items in stock. Switching back and forth to the farm field view doesn’t feel very effective. Still, this is a game I can easily sink in many hours of gameplay. The fact that it’s cute and colourful, and has an uplifting beat will make sure that I won’t even regret the hours spent with my Ooblets.
At first, I felt a little overwhelmed by all that Dreamlight Valley had to offer. There is just so much to collect, so many things to do and so many tasks and quests. Added to that, Gameloft is sprinkling treasure chests into the game daily and sends mail containing all kinds of goodies. I mean, isn’t this little fellow brilliant? By now, I’m wholly committed to the game, and loving my time with all the familiar characters. The only reason I’m not giving it a Two Thumbs Up at this time is because of the bugs and other things that need adjusting. But, after all, that’s why it’s an Early Access version. This is a must for any Disney fan, and if you’re into simulation games, this is one for you too. You can wait for the free version, but I must admit I’m happy to pay the price for my Basic Edition.
Hokko Life doesn’t deny where it found its origins, mainly in being inspired by Animal Crossing. Being a small development studio Wonderscope clearly shows this for the passion project it is, and one that the fans of the genre will love. As I couldn’t help but compare, some niggles do pop up and I found that the game is awfully slow in really getting interesting. Once Hokko Life gets underway it gets interesting, and there are some things in Hokko Life that go quite a bit deeper than you would expect. Custom designing is really hands-on. I found it a bit fiddly on the Switch, but I saw projects up on Steam that really inspired me. It’s fun to see how they re-invented bits of the well-known gameplay, and I think this could be a real-time sink!
I quite like the idea of an advent calendar in video game form. The individual puzzles offer enough content to keep you interested in short gaming stints, with the addition of multi-player and several levels. The levels also have a short tutorial and are obviously made with care. This will get you in the Holiday mood, and offer some relaxing quality time as well. Overall, this puzzle game will give you relaxing moments and get you in the holiday mood at the same time!