The Little Acre Reviews
The Little Acre exemplifies every reason indie point-and-click adventure games can still do more than hold a candle to the AAA shoot-em-ups with more brawn than brains and beauty combined. The story of a young single dad with a missing father and a rather rambunctious daughter touched my heart in ways I forgot video games could, and every time I had to put the controller down I yearned to just boot the console again and enter the phenomenal world The Little Acre takes place in.
The puzzles are very simple; the set-up and plot have all been done before; point-and-click has been done before, but that isn’t the point. The point is that when lovingly-crafted animation, when warm and sharply-written characters and lines of dialogue, and when simple, uncluttered play converge, you’re onto a winner.
At a run time of maybe three hours, The Little Acre feels like it has a much broader story to tell and much larger worlds to explore.
The Little Acre is a simple and unpretentions graphic adventure but seems like we are playing other similar games. If we ignore that, it is a title that you can enjoy from the beginning to the end despite the duration is quite scarce.
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Playing through 'The Little Acre' will make for an enjoyable afternoon, but not much past that. The impressive production values are the star here, as the gameplay can't match the amazing amount of polish that has been put into the visuals and audio. Narratively, several ideas are left unexplored, and it rarely touches upon both of the unique settings that the game takes place within. Ultimately, it's an average adventure game that has been put in a gorgeous package.
Sadly it’s pretty bad. I don’t mind short games but at two hours (including puzzle solving) the game doesn’t leave much room for storytelling, character and world building, compelling puzzles, or much of anything really.
The Little Acre is an adorable point and click adventure that sadly trips up in some fundamental areas. The story leaves a lot to be desired and the easy puzzles won't pose much of a challenge to most. Genre aficionados might want to give it a try, and it's a decent family friendly title, but we can't recommend it to anyone else. The lovely art and animations aren't enough to gloss over the issues, and we're left with a game that has acres of room for improvement.
A clear labour of love, The Little Acre is an endearing and enjoyable adventure game whose main crime is being an all too brief experience that fails to provide a satisfying ending. Overlook these quibbles, however, and you'll find it hard not to relish your stay in The Little Acre's magical world.
The Little Acre feels like an introduction to a much grander series, and to the adventure game genre as a whole. If you or someone you know is getting into the genre then The Little Acre is a good way to ease them in, but if you have some experience with point and click adventure titles then The Little Acre will prove to be no challenge whatsoever with its simple puzzles. Pewter Games’s title has all the ingredients for a great game but it is let down by a plot that feels cobbled together and a very short play time.
Even with its short length and minor sound issues, I still enjoyed every moment of The Little Acre. Its subtle humour, art style, and heartwarming story wrap up into one of my favourite games of the year.
The Little Acre's biggest fault is that it could be a lot better. The majority of the puzzles are stimulating, and the story has some very nice theme weaving in the narrative that's seldom realised in video game stories, but the pacing between Aidan and Lily detracts from the overall experience. Lily's concept works on paper, but her actual performance and underwritten personality falls flat next to Aidan's fleshed out character. Pewter Games' first outing is a charming one with a lot of ambition, but some restraint would have certainly led to a more cohesive package.
I’d really like to see what the developers do next, if it’s anything like The Little Acre, I’ll definitely be eager to play it. For new comers to the point and click genre, this is a perfect game to experience. Veterans of the genre, while not offering much challenge or length, can still find lots to love in everything else it brings.
Though its meagre duration and challenge make it better suited for younger audiences, The Little Acre arguably remains greater than the sum of its relentlessly charming parts; offering up a point and click affair that reliably elicits laughter and joy from anybody, young or old who decides to pick up that DualShock 4 controller and set off on its grand adventure. Entrancing me in a way that very few games have lately, I cannot wait to see what Pewter Games comes up with next.
The Little Acre shows hugely positive signs for the future of the adventure genre on all platforms
As far as point and clicks go, The Little Acre is a fair effort. The artwork and animation is great, and the attention to the smaller details is really appreciated. The soundtrack is splendid, and the voice actors deliver a quality performance. The simplistic interface is perfectly in line with genre standards. However, the game ends before it can really establish its footing. There are a few scenes that could have been expanded upon. More time spent exploring the other world and all its wonderment would have greatly benefitted the adventure.
At the end of the day, The Little Acre is a fun, albeit bite-sized, adventure with some beautiful animation work that seeks to re-explore how point-and-click adventures are handled on consoles, but its short length doesn’t leave any room to explore some of the more interesting plot points. As an initial foray for Pewter Games, it makes me excited to see what they’ll follow it up with. I don’t fault The Little Acre as a bad game, but rather as something that comes up short and fails to explore its full potential.
The hand-drawn visuals and endearing cast of characters makes for a short, nostalgic play that I could easily see appealing to parents or young children just starting to explore video games. And while I would've loved to see more of the world that Aidan and Lily inhabit, on its own, The Little Acre is an enjoyable game that ultimately still functions as a shorter experience.
The Little Acre has a lot of heart, presenting a one-of-a-kind magical tale that rivals Disney/Pixar.
The Little Acre is a work of art. The character and environment designs, the dialog, and the game-play all come together for a masterpiece of warmth and fuzzy feelings as the credits roll over this beautiful hand drawn adventure.
The Little Acre is a game with an extremely appropriate name. A lot of love and attention has gone into the game's distinctive hand drawn art style but it comes at the cost of the game's length. Despite a promising start, the game ends at just two hours. Most characters are not developed, important events are glossed over and the story ends abruptly. Children would be entertained with gameplay that is accessible to all ages, but adults will likely want to find something more substantial to entertain them.