COzy Grove

by | Feb 9, 2022 | Review, Gaming

Let’s go camping as a Spirit Scout!

Cozy Grove is a sim game where you, a Spirit Scout, camp on an ever-changing island. Your objective each day is to help the ghosts bound to the island and uncover new secrets. The game is from a Seatle-based studio calledÂSpry FoxÂand published byÂThe Quantum Astrophysicists Guild.

 

Features

  • Beautiful, dynamic, hand-drawn landscapes that come alive when you help a spirit in need.
  • Dozens of memorable characters and spirits for you to find and befriend. Each spirit has a unique, extensive story for you to unravel over time.
  • Collect spirit animals, craft decorations, go fishing, and more!
  • 40+ hour campaign filled with side quests, designed to span months of playtime.
  • New activities, items, and outfits to collect every season.

My thoughts

Cozy Grove, like many other games, caught my eye because of its art style. It’s super cutesy and reminded me of Don’t Starve a little in its roughness. Simulation games are a favorite of mine so I immediately put Cozy Grove on my Steam wishlist. It’s since had several seasonal updates and I finally got the chance to play it a bit over winter break.

As expected, the game is extremely cute. Character customization is pretty basic but just enough to make a character your own. Dialogue is well written, simple, and actually feels worth reading. (I’m a serial offender when it comes to just skipping through game dialogue, sorry game devs). The tutorial is nice and to the point and establishes some story basics. Controls are simple and this is definitely a game I’d love to play on the switch and kick back on the couch.

The story lasts a long time, with tons of quests, so you could easily play this game for a long time. Most people seem to enjoy playing it for a few hours here and there. I believe this is a great way to experience it as well because you are less likely to get burnt out on it and it makes it last. So if you’re looking for a casual game with great vibes to enjoy in small chunks, I highly recommend giving it a go.

Where can I play it?

Cozy Grove is available onÂNintendo Switch,ÂXbox,ÂPlayStation,ÂSteam,ÂEpic Games Store,ÂApple Arcade for $14.99

Welcome to Wytchwood

by | Feb 2, 2022 | Gaming, Review

Wytchwood is a neat gothic style storybook type adventure RPG game developed by Alientrap Games and published by Whitethorn Games. You can play Wytchwood on PC, or any console. The artwork reminds me of a detailed popup story book. The gameplay is smooth for both keyboard, mouse, and it is also fully controller capable.

Upon starting the game you (the witch with a pot on her head) wake up in your cottage and from the get go it draws you in by looking at all the items just scattered around. Just like any good witch you need a grimoire. Your grimoire will help you learn new potions to use along your adventures. The evil goat in the yard will order you to collect souls to complete his contract. You will need to collect items through out the areas to make your tools to be able to collect other items.

There are several types of areas to adventure through and find different ingredients. Hack your way through the forest or stomp around the swamp. Make sure to talk to the interesting people you find along the way as each folk person you find has their own story and will help you along the way. Don’t forget to use your special “Witch’s Eye” to scan over items, By using the eye it will help you remember potions and be able to scan monsters to see their weakness.

With any crafting game it can become a bit grindy. However Wytchwood has so much character between the stories, puzzles and just over all scenery it is hard to get bored. I very much enjoyed this horrifyingly adorable game. Keep in mind the game does have blood, some violence, and an odd sense of humor!

Where can I play it?

You can grab Wytchwood on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Playstation, and Xbox.

LET’S BUILD THE MOST AMAZING ZOO

by | Nov 5, 2021 | Gaming

Always wanted to build a zoo? Don’t worry, you don’t need koalafications for this fun game. From the development team of Springloaded Games and published by No More Robots,ÂLet’s Build a Zoo puts you in the reigns of your own animal-topia, Much like other sim type games you have the ability to create your own enclosures for your animals and build the park to the best of your liking.

However there is a plot twist… Unlike most zoo games, this game is equipped with its own state of the art DNA splicing mechanic. That is right. You can make your own elehawks… or maybe a liraffe. There are over 300,000 different types of animals you can breed or genetically mutate with another animal.

As you start the game it is like any other normal sim game that you would play. You build your staff buildings, hire your staff, build a couple enclosures (with animals) and start inviting guests to your zoo. There is a slight in game tutorial that will help you out as you are going when new stuff is unlocked. Those will help you from getting lost along with help to build your zoo up so that your guests and animals are happy.

The more you research along the way, the more you can unlock. There are tons of decor items, shops, and amenities to be placed after you have unlocked them. You can truly make a custom zoo to fulfill your animal imagination needs.

If you put all your animals in one area you could have otter panda-monium

This is the start to my Dreamz Zoo. It is important to make sure you have the proper enclosures with water and things to do for your animals so they keep happy. Each animal has several different types and if you plan on making some sort of super animal like a Crocoduck you will need all the DNA types from each species before you make your super animal.

I definitely look forward to playing more of this game and unlocking even more things to decorate my zoo with. I am also excited to see all the different animal types. If you could mix any two animals together what would they be? Give us your answer in the comments. We would love to see what you come up with.

You can pick up this game on Steam starting November 5th!!! You can also find more details atÂletsbuildazoo.com

ANIMAL CROSSING NEW HORIZONS: GETTING READY FOR UPDATE 2.0

by | Oct 28, 2021 | Gaming, Uncategorized

With all the hype coming up about the Animal Crossing New Horizon 2.0 update a lot of people are running back to their islands to prepare for all the awesome things coming up including myself. I don’t know about you but I had quite the mess when I came back. Weeds, bugs in my house and some very worried villagers that apparently have not seen me in months… GASP!!

There are so many things that you can do in this game daily like exploring, events, and so much more. Need a refresher? No worries so did I… so I put a list together that helped me to remember. Maybe it will help you too!

One of my favorite daily things to do is to find out if I have a special visitor for the day!!

Here is a quick Special Visitor List. Make sure to take a look, there are some new ones since the game release in March 2020

 

Who is your favorite visitor? Mine is Celeste, because she is an owl and she comes on my favorite type of nights. Star catching nights!!!

If that isn’t enough to keep you busy then there is always flower breeding, hanging out with your villagers, traveling to other islands, visiting friends, and if you dare you can always go visit Harv (shivers)

Speaking of visiting friends, I am super excited because this weekend an awesome group of streaming friends and I will be doing a private party to celebrate Halloween. Island tours, cataloging, fun treats and so much more!! I personally built a fun maze for my guests to do when they visit. Watch the party live on Twitch on my channelÂwww.twitch.tv/smalltowndreamzÂthis Saturday Oct 30th at 4 ET. Do you ever do fun events for your friends? Let us know in the comments!

However, that is not the only event this weekend! That’s right. On Sunday Oct 31st the official spooky festivities begin in Animal Crossing from 5:00 PM to 12:00 AM. you can find Jack, the czar of Halloween, walking  around the plaza! Don’t miss out on your chance to get some great items that can only be received during this event!!

With the new free update just around the corner here are just a few things you can look forward to like the long awaited Brewster’s Cafe, along with cooking, new crops, new furniture, new villagers and SO MUCH MORE!!!!!

Enjoy and Happy Trick or Treating!!!!

Book of Travels: First Look

by | Oct 11, 2021 | Gaming, Upcoming

Well, well, well, what have we here? Another absolutelyÂgorgeous game? Correct! Book of Travels is a brand new game fromÂMight and Delight, a small studio out of Sweden with a knack for creating art. I’ve been eyeing this game for a few months now and am happy to be able to try it out and give you my two cents at launch! So, let’s dive right in.

Venture out into a living, breathing fairytale world. Craft a character with its own unique personality and explore the open land however you choose. Set your own goals and shape your adventure alone or with the others you find in this serene online TMORPG (tiny multiplayer online).

Might and Delight

What is this Game?

Book of Travels is a multiplayer game but you won’t see as many people as you’re used to like an MMO. Instead, the game focuses on roleplaying and individual playstyles giving you the freedom to craft your own journey in the world. You will run into many randomly occurring events that make your play-through of the game unique and different every session.

The game takes inspiration from “old-world fairytales, Eastern mythology, and early industrial eras.” There are tons of special secrets, items, and features to unlock as you play. 300+ abilities, magical skills, and passive feats to unlock and master will give you numerous ways to experience the game.

And of course, this game is a playable piece of art. It has click-to-walk movement like old-school RPGs but with 3D depth.

A Solid First Impression

One early annoyance is that while the game launches from Steam it then launches a launcher for you to press play and then you have to also log in when the game itself launches. While none of this is difficult it’s just more steps in a process that should be more seamless. Hopefully, it’s something that changes in the future.

Character creation for Book of Travels is an interesting process that felt more akin to creating a character for a tabletop RPG than your usual MMO or modern RPG. You immediately have portions of your character to flesh out on your own, completely freeform, to get you in the right mindset of creating an actual character outside what they look like or what their skills are. It’s a great first step to setting the mood.

After getting into the game proper, it was interesting to see how the mechanics would work. Visually the game looks 2D until you start moving around into the back and foreground. The transition is so smooth and it absolutely amazes me. Sometimes pathing gets a little odd because of terrain that isn’t actually traversable but you’re never waiting on it long.

As you might expect, if you’ve ever seen me play a game, I immediately went off into my own direction exploring instead of going where I was told to go. So I haven’t gotten past the first few areas. However, I’ve gotten pretty good and picking out what in the scenery is an interactable item! I did eventually make it onto the path the game wanted me to go down. I talked to every person and pet every animal along the way too. Which made me realize I wanted a space in a journal or something to write notes since there’s already functionality in the game to put your own text in things like background/appearance/etc. it’d be nice to implement something for us to keep notes on our character for what/who we encounter.

SHould you add book of travels to your library?

I had a great introduction to the game and there’s a lot for me to continue uncovering in the hours of gameplay to come. You should definitely head over toÂSteam and add it to your wishlist/follow it. Give Book of Travels a shot if you enjoy roleplaying games or if you think the art is striking. If you do give it a go, be sure to leave me a comment about your experience! Book of Travels releases October 11, 2021. I will report back once I’ve gotten further into the game, so look for a part two!

SUmmer Catchers

by | Mar 23, 2021 | Gaming

Jump in Chu’s wooden car for an adventure in Summer Catchers, a beautiful little game fromÂNoodlecake Studios. Venture from the cold, snowy north down south in pursuit of warmer weather and sandy beaches. The best part is that you can pick your platform of choice: PC (Steam), Mac,ÂNintendo Switch,ÂiPhone, orÂAndroid.

Since I’ve been without my PC for a while, I requested a copy for the Switch to review (Thank the gods for mobile solutions!). I honestly didn’t have any idea what kind of game to expect, I was just drawn in by how pretty the screenshots were. Sue me, I like pretty games. And after playing several hours of it, I can report I am not at all disappointed!

Pros and Cons

Obviously, the biggest draw to this game is how gorgeous it is. I mean, look at it! Each of the different segments in the road trip has a different atmosphere and the art never stops being satisfying. The interface is clean and fits in with the style so well.

The only con I can find to Summer Catchers is the repetitive nature of it. You race through different areas to complete tasks before moving on to the next segment of your journey. I feel this type of gameplay is really good for mobile applications and the Switch is definitely the largest platform I’d want to play something like this on. I’ve found it to be a great game for short spurts (under an hour) when I am just wanting to chill or waiting on something. I imagine it would be really good on a phone as the UI seems designed well for touch input.

TLDR

Gorgeous game! Pick up a copy of Summer Catchers on your phone or Switch to make waiting on your next appointment more enjoyable. Be sure to come back and let me know your thoughts in the comments!