Tokyo Olympics Google Doodle Is Actually A Cute RPG With Fun Mini-Games

Doodle Champion Island Games Begin!

Feline up for a challenge? Help Lucky claim victory in the Doodle Champion Island Games! #GoogleDoodle

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Doodle Champion Island Games by Google Celebrates Tokyo Olympics

I just woke up and what an interesting thing to see today as I opened Google.

Today’s Google Doodle is actually a little RPG Game featuring a cat hero who joins one of many teams focused around the theme of the Tokyo Olympics using folklore and mythology from Japan as the basis for a short little story. You’ll see famous legends such as Tanooki, Otohime, Kappa, and more as you walk around a fairly large sized world and engage with the various animal spirit inhabitants who live there, all while playing some fun mini-games like “Artistic Swimming” which is basically like DDR.

The first time I tried it using the default control settings it was difficult for me, since I’m on a laptop. My arrow keys are tiny and in a weird place on my keyboard and very close together.

But then I found out Google went above and beyond and even let you set up your own controls (Click the compass and you’ll find more settings you can configure). So I switched my keys to WASD which is more comfortable for me on a compact keyboard.

There’s tons of anime-inspired cutscenes, and an interesting, sometimes even sad story such as one woman wants to send a letter to her dead son underwater in Otohime’s palace. There’s sidequests like this and lots to do – unfortunately I only have about 20 minutes right now before I need to start work. But from what I saw, there’s tons to do, you could play all day.

I’m not even a big sports or Olympics enthusiast, but I am a big Tokyo Japan enthusiast and with the cute Retro RPG vibe and animal spirit villagers, this might be Google’s best Doodle yet.

Are you going to watch the Olympics? I’ll probably watch some of them myself. My fiance is really into sports and so we’ve watched the last few Olympics together. It should be fun to watch. It is unfortunate that Japan is still struggling with the Corona Virus and not allowing spectators at the Olympic Games. 48 Hours ago they declared a state of emergency and shut down their borders to foreigners – I read on Google. I thought their borders were already closed – at least to those of us in the USA – because I had a trip planned there and had to cancel due to the virus. But maybe they opened and reclosed them, or still had them open to certain countries – but now it’s a complete travel ban. Last I heard only like 20% of their population had been vaccinated. And with everyone in such close proximity at all times, that’s a recipe for disaster. Thoughts and prayers for everyone’s safety over there.

Anyways, since you can’t be there to watch the games, check out Google’s Doodle today – It’s a real gem.

Tokyo Olympics Google Doodle Is Actually A Cute RPG With Fun Mini-Games was originally published on

Coral Island Kickstarter For Inclusive Farming Simulation Game

One good kickstarter deserves another I guess. This is the second kickstarter I’m blogging about today, and is in some ways quite similar to the previous Ova Magica. Both kickstarters are still active at time of this posting.

This next kickstarter is titled Coral Island, and it aims to make inclusivity a big focus of its game. Bringing in characters of different races and ethnic backgrounds.

Coral Island – reimagining the farm sim game

Stairway Games is raising funds for Coral Island – reimagining the farm sim game on Kickstarter! A re-imagined farm sim game inspired by classics. Grow crops, nurture animals, and befriend the islanders.

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The gameplay itself looks fun. You date the townsfolk while tending the farm. You even have children and watch them grow into teens. And the other people of the village also grow older as well.

The one thing I really dislike is how slow the playable character walks – I hope they speed that up because that will annoy the hell out of me otherwise.

Still a cute game with a lot of promise. Already successfully funded. Check out Coral Island on Kickstarter.

Coral Island Kickstarter For Inclusive Farming Simulation Game was originally published on

Oodie Unboxing Review

Oodie The Oodie Oodie.com Otter Oodie Unboxing Review.

Oodie The Oodie Oodie.com Otter Oodie Unboxing Review

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Hey guys and gals, I purchased an “Oodie” and it just arrived so I’m doing an unboxing and try on review for all of you. You can watch the video above or read through my written review here below.

So what is an Oodie? an Oodie is just an oversize fleece lined Hoodie. You can buy them from http://www.oodie.com

This is not a sponsored review. I just saw a facebook ad and I was like Oh that’s cute. It’s like it’s terrible, ugly, and cute all at the same time. The only thing really making them so cute is the variety of cute animal print patterns they have available.

I chose the otter print which you can find right here: https://us.theoodie.com/products/otter-oodie

I also really like:

The bunny one: https://us.theoodie.com/products/bunny-oodie

Corgi one: https://us.theoodie.com/products/corgi-oodie

Koala one: https://us.theoodie.com/products/koala-wearable-hooded-blanket

Panda one: https://us.theoodie.com/products/panda-oodie

Unicorn one: https://us.theoodie.com/products/unicorn-wearable-hooded-blanket

Avocado Toast one: https://us.theoodie.com/products/avocado-oodie

Bulldog one: https://us.theoodie.com/products/bulldog-oodie

They do have a cat one, but it’s not that cute in my opinion even though I love cats: https://us.theoodie.com/products/cat-hooded-blanket

Like OK – I like almost all of them… And if they were more reasonably priced I’d buy all of them…

Now yes, admittedly, they do have special savings for buying multiple packs, and yes you can select your patterns in those packs…

But for just one oodie it’s regularly priced $99….

THESE ARE NOT WORTH $99 GUYS!! PLEASE!!! I’m sorry, they’re not. That price is CRAY-CRAY!!

I paid $69 for mine…. and I still feel like even THAT price is Crazy. GTFO…. That’s insane.

These are not worth anywhere close to that price.

They should be like $49 regularly priced with like a coupon to make them $29.

That’s the truth OK.

Just from NORMAL WEAR for less than a day, mine had fleece falling off!! $100 for fleece falling off? Get out of here you crazy sons of a…

Like legit all I did was put it on, played some cards, and watched some TV and look, cute picture but I didn’t realize the fleece had pulled off in big chunks and tangled into my hair… until after I took the picture.

My fiance in the pics is just wearing a regular hoodie, not an oodie, and even though it’s not fleece lined, he’s probably still just as warm, and probably actually more comfortable than me, because you know his hoodie actually fits and doesn’t feel like it weighs 20 lbs lol.

My other big complaint is the shade of blue – mine is not as blue as the one in the stock photos. BUT if you look at other people who did reviews, the color is like WAY off in a lot of them!!! There’s one that’s lavender for god’s sake, not even blue. And another one has dark brown otters, instead of the more uhm blonde-ish otters?

I know colors look different on computer screens, but not THAT different lol.

There’s not many reviews for the otter patterned oodie. And I haven’t added mine to the site yet – once I get a cute pic where I don’t have fleece in my face, I will share my thoughts.

In that review, It’d probably be like 3 stars?

Like my big complaints are it’s SO HEAVY…. This company sells weighted blankets too – but to my knowledge, these Oodies aren’t supposed to be weighted? It’s not listed as a selling point, but it puts SO MUCH WEIGHT ON MY BACK AND SHOULDERS – caps for emphasis LOL.

After trying Oodie I can safely say I don’t think weighted blankets are for me.

I like as little clothes as possible. Like if I’m alone being in the buff is the best LOL. I know bad mental image sorry :). But if I have to wear clothes I like dresses and leggings because they’re light weight and not super tight or form restricting. Like I hate jeans for the same reason – soooo heavy ugh.

I want to be freeeee lol.

So number 1, Oodie is heavy!

Number 2 – Oodie fleece falls off – unacceptable for something that cost $100. It’s not like I pulled on it, I wasn’t even active!!! I was sitting playing cards and sitting watching TV that’s IT!!! Unacceptable for the price. Poor quality right there.

Number 3: Oodie is expensive!!!!!!! $99 — Really??? REALLY?! Get out of town. That’s crazy. You know this shit cost them probably like $10 at most to make.

Oodie is FLEECING us – literally – lol.

Number 4: Patterns and Colors are cute but seem to vary widely in what you receive. Case in point the otter oodie – just look at those reviews, where the fook did that lavender one come from? And paler blue than mine? and the majority do have the nice bright “electric blue” color – but color is all over the map. Like I said I totally know color can vary from monitor screens, but – not by that much – not enough to make one lavender – or to make some of the otters brown instead of blonde lol.

OK But those 4 flaws aside…. Yeah I kinda like it. If I hadn’t paid $69 for it, I’d love it and overlook the flaws. If I had paid $49 or $39 for it, I’d give it like 5 stars…. I’m REALLY glad I didn’t pay $99 for this – cuz it’s definitely not worth that much.

That’s my honest opinion. Your mileage may vary.

I still kinda want more oodies – but they are price prohibitive, and quality for the price is not what I would expect at all. Like my fleece shouldn’t be flaking off after just sitting on the couch. It’s never been washed or anything it’s brand new. I have fleece blankets and they don’t peel off everywhere. What’s up with that, huh?

Oodie does have a good deal right now if you buy multiple hoodies, you can save hundreds of dollars – another sign that the single oodie is marked up WAY too high – cuz you know they aren’t going to sell these at a loss in profits. So how can you explain getting like 4 or 5 oodies for the price of 2 oodies?! lol. Stop fleecing us. Lower your non-discount retail price of a single oodie to like 39-49 and I’ll buy damn near every pattern you have – I love the designs enough to overlook the fact that the fleece is fluffing off or that the oodie is damn heavy. lol.

Final verdict: Oodie is cute, warm, cozy, and comfy – but definitely not worth $99 – and not even worth the $69 discounted price I paid.

What do you think? Are you a fan of Oodie? Let me know in the comments section below.

Oodie Unboxing Review was originally published on

Pop in Q Anime Movie Review

Title: Pop in Q
Length: (approx) 1.5 hours, feature length film.
I hear there is a 2nd film in production as well that will finish telling the story. *hint: Keep watching after the credits of the first movie*
Genre: Shoujo, Magical Girl, Fantasy, Idol, Musical, Slice of Life, Drama
Studio: Toei Annimation
Release Date: December, 2016

Pop in Q

Score Card:

Geeky 1/5 – There is a bit of action later in the film, also some nostalgia to anyone who grew up watching shows like Digimon. But largely, this is pure shoujo aimed at very young girls. Afterall the girls themselves are middleschool students in this film.

Sweetie: 5/5 – This anime is utterly adorable!!! The Popin look like Sanrio characters. The girls are young and have round faces and big eyes. The music is catchy. Idol culture is always kawaii AF. The backgrounds have a nice painterly style. And the story actually has some depth to it, especially towards the end and the small preview of the next film.

 

Pop in Q

Story 9/10 The story is basically the same as nearly every shoujo series. Which isn’t a bad thing. A group of young girls who don’t believe in themselves (or other people), come together, find their own inner strength, and learn to trust each other and work together. The basic plot of Pop in Q surrounds 5 girls each with different regrets as they prepare to graduate from middle school. They escape to the magic world where they meet the Popins, loveable cute mascots who are responsible for the flow of time. The girls do not want to return to their own world until tragedy threatens both worlds and forces the girls to make some difficult decisions.

 

Pop in Q

Characters: 10/10 – 10 out of 10 just for how cute they are. Plus I like how every girl is given ample screen time and has a rich back story. This reminded me a lot of sailor moon or magic knights rayearth, or to a lesser degree card captor sakura. It also has a hint of love live or aikatsu stars because of the idol elements. But the cutest thing of all are the Poppins!

 

Pop in Q

Artwork: 4/5 I deducted 1 point because some of the 3D scenes are not animated that well. However, the character designs are so cute. The 2D parts are adorable, and the background environments have this lovely painterly style with heavy brush strokes. This creates a beautiful storybook like feeling.

 

Pop in Q

Voice Acting: 4/5 – The voice acting is cute and suits each of the girls. The poppins also have cute voices. Only reason I didn’t give it a 5 was that it wasn’t that memorable.

Music: 5/5 – There are tons of vocal tracks, obviously as music plays a central role to this story. Luckily all of the music is quite catchy. I also liked the instrumental tracks, especially highlighting some sad and touching moments.

 

Pop in Q

Overall: 38/45 84% B+ “Very Good Anime for Girls”

Pop in Q Anime Movie Review was originally published on GeekySweetie.com – Geeky & Kawaii Anime, Tech, Toys, & Game Reviews & News

The Best Upcoming & New Release 2018 PC Games for Girls

Back in the 90s I barely played PC Games, because so few existed that appealed to my tastes. There were exceptions of course, Torment, Fallout 1 and 2, Baulder’s Gate, Icewind Dale, King’s Quest (and other Sierra titles), Ever 17 (and anything else by Hirameki International), Petz, Black and White, Creatures, Graduation 95, and a handful of other gems that weren’t available on my consoles.

But largely, console gaming was the highlight of my childhood. That’s where all the anime games or JRPGs or story rich games were, especially in the 16 and 32 bit eras, which still remain my favorite gaming period of all time. Genesis, Sega CD, SNES, Saturn, PS1, PS2, and Dreamcast, the majority of my favorite games, still to this day, lived on one of those great consoles.

But nowadays, I barely play console games anymore. Occasionally there may be an exclusive that catches my eye, such as Persona 5 on PS4, or Tokyo Mirage Sessions on the Wii U. I even bought a Wii U just for that game in fact.

But now, so many games are cross platform, and so many people like me, who grew up in the 16 and 32 bit eras are making their own indie games now such as To the Moon, Always Sometimes Monsters, Rakuten, Undertale, etc. This completely changes the gaming landscape. Now PC is by and far my preferred gaming “platform” of choice.

And where once, JRPGs reigned on Consoles, they now thrive on the PC or even on mobile devices, and in the past 5 years we’ve seen a huge explosion of visual novels and Otome games as well on both PC and mobile – and barely any of those have been released (at least in English) on consoles.

Where once the PC had almost no games that appealed to my tastes, now suddenly, more and more each year, I find the PC to offer so many games I want to play that I don’t have the time, nor money, to possibly play them all! I have over 700 steam games already (and a handful on Origin, and about 50 more on GOG, and then of course my old CDs from the 90s which have yet to get released digitally.) And that’s not taking into account the PC’s ability to emulate the console games I own (probably around 300+ games there too). And emulation is perfectly legal as long as you own the original games, which I still do.

This puts the number of games I can play on my PC right now today, without buying a single thing, at well over 1,000 games! — How many of those games I’ve actually played, is probably around 25%, and how many I’ve beaten to completion / all endings etc, is probably like 5%. lol. But the point is, there has never been a better time to play girl games on your PC. If you’re a girl, there’s plenty of games that you should check out on PC. This wasn’t the case 20 years ago; my how the landscape has changed!

Here is a list of games due out in 2018 that are on my radar! I’ve selected these games for one of the following reasons: Decisions Matter, Branching Plot, Multiple Endings, Cute/Kawaii Graphics, Excellent Story, Innovating (or at least really fun) Gameplay, and Customization. If you look for the same qualities in your games, check out the list below. Warning, it’s long.

This list is not in any order – largely it’s sorted by release date, because that’s how I was browsing the games while researching this post.

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Sea Dogs

Our first recommendation reminds me of Horizons New Dawn, one of my all time favorite super nintendo games.

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Sorcery Jokers

This visual Novel Has Some Beautiful Graphics

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Til the Dawn, Waiting

This looks sad, and also features animals, a powerful combination to tug at any heart strings

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Franky the Bumwalker

Super cute and colorful adventure game that probably doesn’t take itself too seriously.

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Dragon Cliff

This indie RPG features an extesnive crafting system and city building aspects as well as cute retro graphics.

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Stunt Corgi VR

If you’re lucky enough to have a VR headset you might like this title that lets you create obstacle courses and watch a cute corgi try to navigate the courses you create.

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Project Bits

If you like rhythm games, you might like this one with cute anime artwork. Plus it’s free to play.

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The Mind Hero

An anime visual novel where you help 8 different characters overcome their trauma. It aims to teach psychology inside a video game. It’s also free and features a comic book style.

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Katyusha

This looks to be a very emotionally engaging and beautiful pixel retro style RPG. The developers have said that the game uses real-life world war 2 letters that were written by soldiers to their families.

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Battletech

The ability to customize everything about your mechs and the appeal of mecha genres from decades of anime such as macross, robotech, go lion, voltron, evangelion, gundamn, etc, make this appeal to me, despite the more dark realistic graphics. The gameplay looks fantastic. And who doesn’t love giant robots?

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In The Valley of Gods

Explore pyramids in this narrative adventure.

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Villages

This game aims to balance the skills and economy of its players so that they are forced to work together. Sounds promising. Let’s see how that works once the game releases.

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Grow Bot

This just looks so utterly adorable!

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Boyfriend Dungeon

With a name like Boyfriend Dungeon, how could this not make our list? It’s an otome dating sim and hack n slash RPG adventure, where the boys are weapons.

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The Iron Oath

I am beyond excited for this game! True, it doesn’t have the visual aesthetic that I like, but nearly everything about the gameplay appeals to me greatly! Decisions matter, the guild management sounds fun, every character has a back story. Characters die / perma death, you recruit new characters, I’m ready to play this awesome looking tactical RPG.

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Living the Deal

Business Management and Life Simulation Game. This one is high on my wishlist (despite how hideously ugly the characters look lol).

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Wolf Gang

Play as cute wolves chasing cute sheep in a game which promises unlockable content and character customization.

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Freedom Planet 2

Furrie fans and fans of old school Sonic games still love the original Freedom Planet, and soon the wait is over for the much anticipated sequel.

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The Forgettable Dungeon

Co-op Action RPG that you can play with up to 15 friends.

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Next Up Hero

This MMORPG has some unique gameplay features, such as no healing, except for when you die. When you die, you come back as an “avenger” and can heal other players, until you decide to take over one of their corpses and rejoin the fray. When you die, someone can also take over your character. So don’t get too attached.

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Leilani’s Island

This super colorful platformer looks like a lot of fun and has a great brightly colored retro style.

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Sentou Gakuen: Revival

This is an MMORPG Visual Novel. All of the characters in the novel are other players just like you. Not sure how that will work out, but it’s innovative and different – that’s for sure. And that alone makes me curious enough to want to play this one.

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Dungeon of Zaar

Dungeon of Zaar has a great style, and some fun looking gameplay mechanics including pvp and local multiplayer.

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Wytchwood

Wytchwood looks absolutely beautiful and the crafting and exploration gameplay mechanics really appeal to me as well.

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Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

They promise that choices will truly matter in this RPG inspired by D&D and featuring pirates on the high seas.

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Cyberdimension Neptunia 4

A new Neptunia game, because why not? I love the cute graphics and silly nonsense storylines of these games.

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Jenny LeClue

I love the handdrawn artstyle here. But what I love even more is that decisions and choices matter and “permanently” influence other “characters” (by that I think the Devs mean in sequels or episodic content that will be created.) The Devs also say that “The goal is for everything to be interactive, to reward players who poke and prod at every last item and object with insight, secrets, and humor.” Which fits my playstyle anyways. Exploration is often my favorite part of gameplay.

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Tunic

They don’t have much information available. But you play as a fox in a colorful world.

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Transference

This is a VR game although it’s not listed as requiring a VR headset to play so that remains to be seen. If I’m able to play without a VR Headset (because I don’t own one yet), I’m going to be all over this game. It has a deep “psychological” story. Your choices matter. The Devs say “The choices you make from every angle ripple through time and space, as you learn their story.” – I’m extremely interested in this game – maybe even enough to break down and buy a VR headset if it requires one.

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Skull & Bones

This must be the year of pirate games. This is the 3rd such game to make my list. You start out very low, and then recruit your own gang of pirates and customize everything about your ship, as you grow your infamousy and riches. You can play alone or with up to 5 players.

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Donut Country

This somehow reminds me of Katamari, except instead of rolling things up, you’re a hole and you swallow things, and the more things you swallow the bigger your hole gets, allowing you to swallow even larger things. I love Katamari, so I suspect I’ll love this game too. The cute colorful graphics also appeal to me.

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Wattam

Speaking of Katamari, here is a new game from Katamari’s creator. In this game you explode everywhere. The bigger your explosion, the more friends who come to play. The graphics are super cute, things like frying pans, bacons, eggs, poo, etc all with cute little anime faces drawn on. It’s very colorful. And there’s nothing else like it.

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Darksiders III

If you’re a fan of the first 2 Darksiders games, the 3rd installment is due out in 2018.

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Lost in Harmony

They’re hailing this as the first musical runner – but I don’t think it is, because I distinctly remember a game on PC a few years ago that let you run to any MP3 on your PC. But well regardless of if it’s first or not, it looks fun. You can create your own levels, as well as customize your characters.

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Just Us

Animal breeding, farming, crafting, fishing, foraging, and probably a pretty deep philosophical story about a couple questioning if they’re the only people left in the world after a catastrophic event.

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Lost in Bardo

Pretty looking pixel game with a philosophical story and puzzle solving gameplay.

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Jengo

A gorgeous looking point n click adventure paying hommage to many 90s retro games.

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Chiffa 2

Play as a cute little fox trying to save his best friend, a chicken, from a big bad wolf.

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OSM Old School Musical

The crazy looking chaotic gameplay and colorful retro graphics make this rhythm game stand out from the rest

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Orcish Inn

Very cute survival game in which you farm, build, and manage a tavern.

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College Days

Visual Novel with some very pretty artwork.

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Astrologaster

Interesting concept for a game, you cast and interpret astrology charts as a doctor to answer your patient’s questions. I’m kinda interested in astrology (especially numerology (not necessarily related to this game just as an aside)) so my interest in this title is piqued by sheer curiosity. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game about astrology before.

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Village Monsters

Animal Crossing clone, looks cute, fun, and relaxing.

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Where Cards Fall

This looks fun, and seems to have a fairly decent story about childhood memories shaping our perspectives as adults.

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Alone Without Her

A story where your choices matter about a man who survives while his wife dies in an experiment that would freeze them for 1,000 years. The concept sounds similar to Passengers, which I saw last year and rather liked, so I’ll probably enjoy this story too.

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Miracle Mia

This game looks very colorful and cute.

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Cursed Lands

For the first time in any Winter Wolves game you can sleep with more than one love interest. The devs say – However, they also caution you to be ready to deal with the consequences of that decision. You can bluff and intimidate enemies in this RPG / Dating sim hybrid.

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Fault Silence the Pendant

Takes place 5 years before the events in Fault Milestone One

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Xaiga Wars

Visual Novel with Very Cute Graphics

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A Near Dawn

A Psychological Visual Novel / Point n Click adventure with full voice acting and multiple endings.

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Unto The End

This game looks both beautiful and challenging, and it also features choices and consequences that change the story of the game.

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Once Upon a Coma

I love the art style of this game. I’m betting the truth at the end of the story is also pretty sad.

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Broken Reality

Colorful Adventure Game which is set in a parody world based on the 1990s internet. Cut ads with your katana, collect likes to upgrade your social media accounts to reach new worlds, purchase upgrades, and make new friends. The Devs promise a game with no violence as well.

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We the Revolution

Fun looking political simulator based on the French revolution.

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Dodgeball Rising

Cute looking anime style multiplayer dogeball game

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Riverbond

Gorgeous looking little voxel game with lots to explore and collect

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Kitten Super Adventure

I actually promoted this game awhile back I’m excited because it looks to combine Spyro with Adorable kittens.

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Mineko’s Night Market

Play as a cute girl, in a cute Japanese inspired world, full of cats! Extensive crafting system, fun mini games, and a market where you can sell anything you make or find. I’m definitely picking this game up!

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/762940/

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Indivisible

From the dev team that brought you Skullgirls comes a new 2D adventure, with music provided by the composer of Secret of Mana.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/421170/

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The Eldritch Zookeeper

Raise horrible monsters in this simulation game inspired by Themepark World and Dungeon Keeper

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/654960/

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Battle of the Bands

Another visual novel game. This one doesn’t look terribly good to me, but I will play it before passing judgement.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/467710/

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Spoxel

Looks quite similar to Terraria. I love Terraria… but I wonder what this game has that will differ enough from Terraria to make me want to purchase yet another minecraft clone.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/746880/

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Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass

Colorful little RPG with an Adult Story

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/706560/

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The Gardens Between

Beautiful puzzle game with time travel and nostalgia.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/600990/

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Knights and Bikes

This charming adventure game is full of nostalgia and looks fun, especially in multiplayer. It’s from the creator of Little Big Planet and Tearaway Unfolded which I loved both of those games, so I have pretty high hopes for this one as well.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/592480/

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Rainswept

Love, Relationships, and unresolved trauma? Sign me up for that. 🙂 This looks to have a fairly deep and depressing story.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/772290/

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Booth

I have a feeling this game will play like Papers Please or Beholder. You work in a food inspection booth, how you react to NPCs determines your fate and changes the story and endings.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/761350/

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Futurust

A hand-drawn point n click adventure game about robots.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/745980/

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My Girlfriend

A visual novel in a highschool setting with cute girls.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/467690/

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Ciel Fledge

Basically Princess Maker – Which I have reviewed here. I need more Princess Maker in my life, so heck yeah, I’ll be buying this.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/738270/

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The Luckless Seven

Visual Novel that differentiates itself from the rest with an innovative card game system.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/433370/

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The Last Night

Absolutely beautiful looking scifi game.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/612400/

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Echo Tokyo

Dark Visual Novel set in a dystopian Tokyo

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/506640/

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Tiny Thor

Colorful looking retro platformer where you throw Thor’s hammer to attack your foes.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/541310/

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City Game Studio

Manage your own gaming company

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/726840/

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Prehistoric Kingdom

Jurassic Park simulator anyone?

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/666150/

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The Adventure Pals

Cute Comical and Colorful little platformer

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/396710/

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Deiland

Anime sandbox game with farming and quest mechanics similar to Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/760620/

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Warped Reality

Cyberpunk Visual Novel with truly lovely anime inspired artwork

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/604030/

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Ooblets

OMG I almost forgot about this game. I remember when it was first announced, and now, the wait is almost over, as it will launch some time in 2018

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/593150/

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Reality Raiders

Perhaps inspired by Secret of Evermore and Chrono Trigger, this little indie RPG lets you travel through different periods in the past to understand your present and shape your future.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/671770/

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Mystic Destinies Echoes

This visual novel has a somewhat realistic painterly style and takes place in Atlantis.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/721550/

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Snares of Ruin

6 Romanceable Ladies. You can form platonic or romantic relationships. How you interact with them determines the flow of the story.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/766940/

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Detective Case and Clown Bot: The Express Killer

This point n click has cartoon-network or simpsons esque animation. It probably doesn’t take itself too seriously either.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/711920/

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Beavers Be Damned

Cute 2 player Co-Op game where you play as cute beavers avoiding crazy obstacles as you try to build your dam.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/764570/

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GNOG

Adorable colorful puzzle game that takes place inside monsters’ heads. Seems to have an emphasis on exploration and puzzle solving. My only concern is it may be quite short as it only has 9 levels.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/290510/

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I Saw Her Standing There

Colorful kinda abstract looking action/puzzle game with over 300 levels to explore. The devs say that their game is “about love, death, and pancakes”.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/453910/

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Wonder Wickets

Colorful and Cute Miniature Golf game.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/598640/

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Dab on Em Haters

Celebrity Vlogger Simulation with cute pixel graphics – Caution this one has explicit insults and hate speech, but that’s kinda the point of the game. Pick which topics to vlog about, then respond to your comments. The goal is to like positive comments while “dabbing” negative comments. (Do you know how old this game makes me feel? I thought dabbing was a thing kids do with their arms for selfie pics, that some football player started. Since when did Dabbing become a negative word? lol. I’m too old for this game. lol.)

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/769060/

---

CasinoRPG

I actually mentioned this game in a roundup of Casino Simulation Games – It used to be a web browser based game, and now it’s coming to Steam. I don’t know what if any improvements or changes have been made between versions. It’s a city building simulation that lets you build, run, and play in your own casino.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/658970/

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Midnight Quest

Very cute looking point n click adventure game.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/698450/

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Heroes of Arzar

Cute, free anime collectible card game

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/628190/

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Meanwhile

Well, I had never heard of this comic or the author, Jason Shiga, until just now. The art style kinda reminds me of the Oatmeal. Apparently this comic creator incorporates puzzles and choose your own adventure elements into his comic books (maybe similar to the goosebump novels I read as a kid back in the 90s? lol). I’m curious to check this game, and some of his comics, out now.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/714980/

---

Love Story: The Beach Cottage

I usually don’t play hidden object games – I know a lot of girls love them, it’s just never been my cup of tea. But this one sounds intrigueing because of the sad story. A woman very late in her life (50+) returns to a beach home to execute her deceased father’s final will. She hasn’t been back in this house for over 40 years, and she will relive memories of her first lost love and become stronger in the process.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/770880/

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Survived By

This is an MMO Bullet Hell Game with Permadeath. After you die, you come back a little bit stronger as one of your descendants. It says there are different descendants to collect. Might be interesting, although probably also very frustrating too.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/606140/

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I Love My Brother

While many readers will be put off by the nature of this story being such a taboo subject, I’ve included it in the list anyways for a few different reasons. 1.) It’s a visual novel. 2.) You play as Beth (a girl) 3.) This makes it an Otome Game. 4.) It’s a game told by reading entries in Beth’s Journal 5.) The journal is full of cute colorful stickers, beautiful handwriting, and other charming graphics. 6.) The story doesn’t bother me that much. Some of my favorite Korean Dramas have that incest component, such as 90 Days Time to Love and Autumn in my Heart. 7.) Little Sister Kana is one of the greatest visual novels of all time. 8.) If the game handles the story tastefully, and doesn’t make it just a raunchy taboo fantasy, there’s potential here for a very sweet and sad love story (such as in the games and Kdramas I’ve mentioned above). 9.) For all of those reasons I will give this game a shot.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/769210/

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Sister’s Love

I can’t tell if this game is the same as the one above or not. It also is about a brother and sister in love. Different names though. It’s also told through a journal, although the stickers and graphics in the journal look different. In this one they have a more mature/romantic look, and in the other a more bright colorful cheery innocent look. Anyways it’s included for the same reasons as the above.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/771520/

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Maze of Adventures

The retro style colorful graphics in this puzzle game look quite cute.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/766740/

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Lunch Truck Tycoon 2

Open World Simulation Game that lets you manage a food truck. I want some street tacos now lol.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/660120/

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Nantucket

I don’t really approve of hunting whales and dolphins (IRL), but the game sounds fun anyways. Loosely based on Moby Dick, this game allows you to customize your ship and crew as you sail around the world to hunt Moby Dick, in what they call a whaling strategy game.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/621220/

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Ascendant Hearts

Humorous Parody Visual Novel with some lovely graphics that pokes fun at itself as well as the genre.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/595730/

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Dude, Stop

I don’t really know if there’s any point to this game lol. People seem to think it’s funny. At least the developer thinks he is funny. Maybe it is, maybe it’s not. But it’s strange, and dares to be different, so it earned a spot on our list anyways. The point of the game is to do the opposite of whatever the developer (narrator) tells you to do, or not, it’s up to you. His narration changes as you play depending on your choices. Make him angry and he will yell at you.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/574560/

---

Cicadas

I really love the artwork in this visual novel. Cicadas are annoying though. I distinctly remember hating that sound effect in other visual novels (I think Tsukihime used them? I can’t recall which novel it was now, but it talked about it being hot in the summer and the cicadas hissing. And it had this horrible cicada sound effect and no background music at this part, and it drove me crazy.) — Anyways here’s another visual novel with probably more equally annoying cicada buzzing sound effects. PS: I always thought Cicadas were a Japanese thing – until last summer when I heard them in real life, here in Western Pennsylvania. They apparently only come up from their burrows once every 17 years – Thank god because they are annoying AF. And I have a phobia about insects. — I’ll still play this beautiful visual novel, despite my fear and loathing of Cicadas (or insects in general lol).

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/710840/

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My Big Sister

I kinda feel like this game is trying too hard to be dark and edgy and “cool”. The character you play as is a 12 year old girl (although the devs can’t seem to decide if she’s 8 or 12 as they make reference to her being 8 as well). She tries to rescue her 19 year old sister after they are both kidnapped. The graphics are cute, but the writing looks like trash. How many 12 year olds cuss like sailors? They say she has a sarcastic playful attitude and that she’s not as scared as her big sister – but still, that seems too much. This game’s script looks terrible and that’s just from the screenshots and trailer. Random explicit words for no reason at all do not make your game more “adult” or “dark” or “edgy” or “cool”. In fact, it kinda makes your game the opposite of those things. Of course, occasionally well timed explicit words can add to the feelings/emotions of a story. But when there’s 3 or 4 expletives used within a 6 sentence paragraph, that’s way too many. Which is a shame, because the graphics and actual gameplay look very nice.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/733300/

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Spring Breeze

Chinese Visual Novel (with English subtitles) where you date twin sisters and experience university life in China. I feel this translation and writing may be subpar, but the graphics are really pretty, so depending on the price, it may still be worth checking out. Sounds short. 10 scenes, and only 2 endings.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/692790/

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Tale of Toast

Very cute looking free-to-play MMORPG. It promises to not be pay-to-win as the only micro-transactional items will be things like transferring to another server or buying cosmetic only items such as pets and costumes (that do not grant stat bonuses). It has optional PVP and procedurely generated dungeons. It uses a classless system and includes crafting and exploration.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/640150/

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FEN: Prologue

Survival game that has you dumpster diving for resources. Cute pixel graphics and a procedurely generated world.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/736830/

As an aside, there’s another game, simply called FEN that will release at the end of the month as well.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/771170/

---

Foxus

Beautiful game where you play as a fox, doing things foxes do, hunting rabbits, exploring the forests, etc. It reminds me a lot of Shelter 1 and 2 (dunno if it’s by the same dev team, or just inspired by such games though).

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/644130/

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Skelattack

Play as an adorable skeleton and his best friend, a cute little bat in this rogue like, where monsters in the dungeons are friendly and human invaders are the enemy.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/605800/

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Talk to Saki

An idle visual novel game, where time passes in real time. You type questions to Saki using keywords, and check in on her every day. New conversations happen each day.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/771100/

(as an aside, there’s also a game called Talk to Aya that came out about 2 months ago and is $1.99 on steam. Aya is more “my type” because she reminds me of myself. While Saki is very athletic and outdoorsy, Aya is an indoors type who loves manga.)

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/731930/

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The Pirate’s Fate

Over 300 choices that matter with 45 different romances in this gorgeously animated furrie game.
http://store.steampowered.com/widget/553480/

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Stage Fright

This game meshes together 2 very different genres, rhythm and horror game. The better you play, the harder the game tries to scare you and the more difficult the game becomes.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/771470/

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MatchyGotchy

Adorable Colorful Virtual Pet Game

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/772700/

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The Red Strings Club

Interact with customers as a bartender with a story presenting moral dilemmas and decisions about happiness and the means to obtain it.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/589780/

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The Scent of Summer

Virtual Reality Game (VR Headset Required) where you walk home with a cute anime girl.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/778260/

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Iconoclasts

Cute platformer with a heart wrenching story.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/393520/

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Staxel

Adorable anime voxel farming game, similar to Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/405710/

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Lost Sphear

From the creators of I am Setsuna

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/525240/

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OK K.O.! Let’s Play Heroes

Super cute and colorful game based on the cartoon network show of the same name.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/680700/

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My Time at Portia

Seems to pay hommage to Rune Factory, Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, Atelier, Mana Khemia, and other similar gaming series

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/666140/

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Wildlife Park Remastered Gold

Includes remastered versions of Wildlife Park and Wildlife Creatures. You can train, breed, research, and catch various animal species.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/664120/

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Zweii The Arges Adventure

Beautiful looking humorous JRPG from XSEED with tons of minigames and a leveling system that involves eating or hoarding and trading food for better food.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/427680/

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Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds

This beautiful looking indie RPG pays homage to many great 90s and early 2k RPGs. It includes minigames, crafting, and city building aspects as well as traditional turn based RPG combat.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/556740/

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Luvocious

3 games in one. The first is a dating sim/visual novel. The second is more of a traditional JRPG/Dungeon Crawler. The final one is a scifi setting with gun based gameplay. Each with an anime and retro feeling.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/714730/

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Dead in Vinland

I’m already sold just by this feature right here “Build your community of up to 14 playable characters. Meaningful choices will alter the relationships in your team and the story. Expect romances, hatred and betrayals!” – But in addition to that, it has a huge world with over 150 maps to explore and more than 150 items to craft as well.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/573120/

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Onmyoji

Very colorful and beautiful strategy game set around the characters and stories within Japanese folklore.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/551170/

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Dust and Salt

Decisions matter in this narrative adventure game

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/766630/

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Egypt Old Kingdom

City Building and Political Simulation in Ancient Egypt.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/646500/

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Celeste

Beautiful little platformer with plenty of secrets and mysteries to unravel.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/504230/

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Grisaia Phantom Trigger 4

The story that began with Fruit of Grisaia continues in this new installment

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/761670/

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Timber Tennis

Cute and colorful pixelart in an online or local multiplayer tennis game.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/321160/

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My Life as a Maiden

Cute looking visual novel where you play as the only boy (disguised as a girl) at an all girl’s school. (This theme is done to death in these games, but the nice artwork may be enough to make this one worth picking up as well.)

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/754840/

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Melancholy Republic

Decisions matter as you take the role of a young heroine trying to run the country after her father’s assassination in this JRPG inspired indie game with an excellent soundtrack performed by a live orchestra.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/436240/

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Ultimate Arena: Showdown

The graphics look a bit crude, but the game seems wacky and different, and fun, and does feature large amounts of character customization.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/757160/

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Clumsy Knights

Very cute little indie RPG with an extensive crafting system

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/765360/

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YumeCore

This looks cute and colorful, although a bit nonsensical and crazy.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/771240/

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Make Sail

Build Sailboats, sail to other islands to gather materials to make better sailboats, and rinse and repeat.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/417200/

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Slave Story

Cute anime style game where you play an indie game maker and interact with a cute anime girl.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/736520/

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Where the Water Tastes Like Wine

A collection of short stories from authors all over North America

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/447120/

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Minotaur

Point n click game with nice anime style artwork and dark story.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/680590/

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Soul Saga

Gorgeous looking indie game inspired by classic JRPGs

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/251590/

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Mhakna Gramura and Fairy Bells

This is by the same author as Fault Milestone One and apparently, at one point, these visual novels were all books? Hundreds of years ago? Like in real life? I was not aware of that. This is a kinetic novel meaning there are no choices, no branching plots, and only 1 ending. However it is beautiful and part of a very popular series of visual novels. The story is mentioned in several of the games, but only recently has the full text been discovered because the book is hundreds of years old. This makes it kind of an interesting way to preserve history.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/753220/

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Fatal Twelve

Another very beautiful looking visual novel with female protagonist.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/620210/

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Bacon May Die

Very colorful brawler game with cute little pigs. Customize your pig and fight off hoards of bacon hungry zombies. It looks cute and has a good sense of humor as well.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/646240/

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Serment – Contract with a devil

Indie tactical RPG and Dating Sim hybrid with lots of cute anime girls.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/632900/

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Final Fantasy 12 Zodiac Age

A remake of FFXII with a few new gameplay mechanics.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/595520/

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Foto Flash

This may be similar to Sonicomi which I reviewed here.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/778610/

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CHUCHEL

Cute funny little puzzle adventure game with adorable characters.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/711660/

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Startup Freak

This game lets you simulate many aspects of building a startup conmpany, from designing your office, hiring team members, researching and developing new products

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/722660/

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Into the Breach

Interesting looking strategy/simulation game with mechs and time travel.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/590380/

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Mulaka

Action RPG with gameplay similar to Zelda and based on ancient Mexican lore.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/623640/

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Scythe

Boardgame with strong focus on faction choice and strategy.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/718560/

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RPG in a Box

If you’re looking to create your own games, RPG in a Box may be an alternative to the popular RPG Maker series.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/498310/

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Guardians of Arcadia

A very cute anime indie game inspired by classic JRPGs

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/456140/

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Shots Fired

Explore with your cellphone, take photos for buzzfeed (fuzzbeed), and avenge your wife and daughter (and reclaim your tv) in this pixel based action adventure game.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/650120/

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Episicava

Anime styled episodic visual novel

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/618430/

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Toe Jam & Earl: Back in the Groove

The original games on Sega Genesis are some of my favorite childhood memories. Days and weeks on end spent playing with my best friend.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/516110/

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Griftlands

It seems decisions matter quite a bit in this cartoon style indie RPG

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/601840/

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Omina Mortis

I like the concept of this game, which is basically a visual novel in story book format; however, it is clear English is not their first language. Their steam store description needs help, and if that’s any indication as to the quality of the writing within the actual game, this game may be nearly unplayable. For example the description says: “In Omnia Mortis you will be confused by a tangle on the edge of mystic and action detective that will be fully solved only after multiple passing the game.” – I’m already confused just by reading this description LOL. I get that they meant to indicate it has multiple endings, or “only after passing the game multiple times” or “only after multiple play throughs” but “only after multiple passing the game” sounds really awkward and incorrect as a native English speaker… and I’m still not sure what they’re trying to say with “on the edge of mystic and action detective” – What does that even mean? — Concept seems good – but they really need to hire some English language play testers and proofreaders. Hopefully with enough proofreading and playtesting, this will end up to be a nice game.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/644340/

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A Song in the Void

This seems far too short, clocking in around 6 hours of gameplay, but it seems innovative by the fact that every aspect found within the game reacts and grows with the music.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/746900/

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Earthlock

Inspired by Retro RPGs of the late 90s, Earthlock looks like a great upcoming indie game. You can also grow trees to bring kittens into the world which sounds pretty cute.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/761030/

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Moonlighter

Cute pixel RPG with procedurely generated dungeons and shop keeping elements

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/606150/

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Rain or Shine

Very cute looking VR game that requires a VR headset

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/714610/

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DragonFangz

A challenging rogue-like dungeon crawler with adorable anime graphics

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/749850/

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Love Bites

Visual novel about vampires. Appears to have 2 playable characters (1 male and 1 female) and 4 romance options (2 male and 2 female)

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/617970/

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Into Oblivion

A drinking simulator where you mix and drink virtual drinks with other players and bet who will get sick first to earn coins to get new items from the shops to customize your characters.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/618990/

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Prisma and the Masquerade

Absolutely gorgeous looking platformer with a female protagonist and orchestra soundtrack.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/544470/

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Long Gone Days

Awesome looking visual novel with shooter elements and gorgeous anime artwork.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/510540/

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Samurai Forge

A collectible card game with an interactive story that changes according to players’ decisions

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/617350/

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Swordart Online Fatal Bullet

A Multiplayer game based on the famous Swordart Online anime.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/626690/

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Marie’s Room

Seems to have an interesting story about childhood friendship, perhaps with a few twists and some drama. A bit of mystery too.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/648390/

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Movie Studio Tycoon

Select a genre, choose your script, hire and train directors and actors, compete with other studios to win awards.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/630440/

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Orwell Ignorance is Strength

This political thriller aims to warn us about how we give and how others use our private and personal information and how such information can be misinterpreted and to what lengths people or our governments will go to to protect us from perceived threats within this information.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/633060/

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Parkasaurus

Colorful Cute Dinosaur “Jurrasic Park” Simulation game where you travel back in time to collect dinosaur eggs, and switch to first person to handle dinosaur rampages.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/591460/

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The Swords of Ditto

I love the graphical style of this cute little indie Co-op RPG.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/619780/

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One Helluva Day

Another interactive fiction game where English is clearly not their native language. Hopefully the game will be proofread and play tested sufficiently because judging from the steam description, the creators struggle with English grammar. Aside from questionable writing and formating, the concept of the game looks promising. You play as a business owner trying to save his failing company, as well as trying to save the world. There are multiple endings, and you can either work together to help other characters, or take advantage of them to achieve your goals. How you work with others, determines which endings you receive.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/603680/

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Monmusu

Adorable anime graphics in this free to play game.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/533540/

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Secret of Mana

Remake of one of the best SNES games of my childhood.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/637670/

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Detective Gallo

Humorous point n click adventure game with a cartoon duck as the hero.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/556060/

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Austen Translation

This solo or multiplayer rogue like marriage simulation borrows heavily from various visual novel mechanics

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/706880/

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Speed Dating for Ghosts

Cute looking dating simulator by a former Bioware developer.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/746400/

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Roguemance

A roguelike pixel game that pokes fun at relationship drama

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/742530/

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Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Story heavy open world historical RPG with player choices and consequences.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/379430/

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The Longest Five Minutes

Humorous pixel RPG where the main character has amnesia right before the final boss fight.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/504110/

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Wandersong

Colorful cute indie game where you play as a traveling bard.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/530320/

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Crossing Souls

Colorful retro inspired game set in 1980s California

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/331690/

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The Seven Districts of Sin

Short cute visual novel with some nice anime artwork and 9 different endings to discover.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/782190/

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A Case of Distrust

Play as a female detective in this 1920s visual novel.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/717610/

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Catmaze

Cute indie anime pixel sidescrolling adventure game.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/620220/

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Monster Garden

Cute, very short (1 hour per play through) game with multiple paths and multiple endings with over 15 monsters to meet. You can’t meet them all on a single play through which adds some replay value, despite still being a short experience.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/719660/

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The Painter’s Playground

Create or collect 2D artwork and trade it in an online marketplace with other players

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/722330/

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Card Crawl

Dungeon Crawler played with a deck of cards. Solitaire like gameplay with deckbuilding mechanics.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/745000/

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Opus Rocket of Whispers

Indie hand-drawn painterly styled game with an emotional post-apocalyptic storyline.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/742250/

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Feudal Alloy

Cute looking indie action RPG with robots.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/699670/

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The Forbidden Arts

Anime style action platform adventure game.

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/735060/

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We Were Here Too

Emotionally charged Co-Op adventure game

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/677160/

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Minion Forest

Adorable monster raising game

http://store.steampowered.com/widget/767340/

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The Best Upcoming & New Release 2018 PC Games for Girls was originally published on GeekySweetie.com – Geeky & Kawaii Anime, Tech, Toys, & Game Reviews & News

Animal Crossing Pocket Camp Nintendo Mobile Game Review for IOS and Android

Title: Animal Crossing Pocket Camp

Developer: Nintendo

Genre: Simulation

Release Date:

Price: Free with optional in-game purchases

Where to Get:

IOS: https://itunes.apple.com/…

Android: https://play.google.com/…

Overall: 56/70 80% “B-” Very Good Game for Girls!

Geeky: 5/5 – Animal Crossing has a huge cult following because of its unique and strange gameplay and quirky cute characters. There is so much to do and see and it all takes place in an ever evolving changing persistent world that keeps you playing for hundreds or thousands of gaming hours.

Sweetie: 5/5 – Very few games come close to being as cute as animal crossing with its chibi anthropomorphic citizens and bright colors. This game is full of charm and wonder.

Gameplay: 8/10 – Animal Crossing is finally on mobile, which quite frankly is where this franchise has always belonged. It just makes sense as a mobile game given the style of gameplay which it innovated back in 2005. Now almost 12 years later, technology has evolved to where mobile makes the most sense for these types of games, having it with us in our pockets and purses, playing it on commutes, or while waiting in line at a busy store, or while at an appointment, or those few moments before sleeping or getting out of bed.

Animal Crossing is best enjoyed in these little breaks and little moments. It’s also best enjoyed when played often as things change and happen in a living breathing world inside of your game. There are holidays and special events and animals come and go in and out of your areas. Having it on your phone puts it always at your finger tips.

If you’ve never heard of Animal Crossing before (which is highly unlikely but just in case lol), Animal Crossing’s gameplay consists of quiet, calming activities, and cute, and quirky characters, who are, as you have probably guessed by now, animals.

These animals may ask you to complete quests for them and in exchange give you random furniture and clothing. You can also craft your own furniture and clothing as well. Certain games in the series even score you and award you more items and points for decorating your home such as Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer.

In fact, collecting these things and dressing up and designing has always been a big draw to the series. But it’s not the only thing that players love. Many players love to spend hours fishing, gardening, or catching bugs in the game. You can use them as items to trade with NPCs to complete quests or give them to other players or display them in your home or the museum, or sell them for bells (the game’s currency) to buy new items.

Buying new items is addictive too, every day you turn on your game, you will see new items to purchase. Only available for that one day, and completely unique to just you. Not that the same items won’t appear again for you, or for other players, but this particular “collection” of items is unique to you. You may have on one day, a boom box, kitchen sink, and pink sofa, while your friend may have a dining room table, expensive rug, and statue of Link from Zelda. – Of course some items are more rare than others, and since friends can visit your home, you can show off all your rare items and score bragging rights.

Nearly everything about these games are customizeable, from your character’s gender, name, appearance (initially determined by answers to questions presented when first starting the game), to your home, to your world around you. This also is another big draw to these types of games.

New animals will appear and disappear from time to time in your world. This also increases incentive to stay active and stay in touch with your favorite NPCs. After an NPC leaves (in the traditional versions of this game, not sure about mobile), they will send letters to you and sometimes give you gifts.

The games also feature night and day and weather cycles which add more variety to each play through. What you do on any given day is up to you! There is no objective, no goal, no ending, no progression it’s just a sandbox, a living breathing world for you to explore and interact with each day.

This sounds like a huge plus – and in many ways it is, but it can also be a drawback as there is very little urgency or pressure or nothing really compelling you to keep pushing forward. Many times my love for these games starts strong, but 3 or 4 months in and I find I’m barely logging in, but without fail always 6 months later I’m back to being addicted and wanting to play daily. My interest in these types of games goes through spurts like that. I think I burn out from the casual nature, but then find myself wanting to relax and enjoy a cute game and gravitating right back to it, for the same reason that I left it in the first place. It’s almost a double edged sword.

Anyways now that I’ve given you the basics of the franchise, let’s talk about what Animal Crossing Pocket Camp does differently than the other games in the series. For starters, as the name suggests, the entire game takes place in the great outdoors. You’re given a campsite you can decorate. And you have a camper trailer that you can decorate both inside and out. You travel and visit other animals (or visit your friends) and you can take quests, craft, shop, and do all the good basic animal crossing stuff.

Some areas will be blocked from exploring initially. You need to either pay leaf tickets (special in game currency obtainable with real money (but quite often also given for free as quest rewards), or get the help of friends to enter these new areas.

New areas open sometimes for special events like right now there’s a Christmas area where you can get more candy canes to help craft the time limited Christmas themed items which you need 5 friends to help you unlock.

You can link the account to your nintendo account or link your facebook and twitter to find more friends! 🙂 Playing animal crossing with your friends is now easier than ever.

So those are a few of the positive features.

On the downside, they’ve removed the actual houses, so that’s a bit disappointing for those of us who liked modeling our homes.

Also my biggest gripe is too much is just “handed” to us. In previous games, we each had a random fruit. In this game, when I get to the tutorial, I’m given tons of different fruits I can hoarde to plant back at my own campsite. Making the need to work with friends less important in this game.

I also don’t know / haven’t tested how inviting a friend over to your campsite works and how or if you can communicate with them and what activities you can do together. I feel like it may be more limited than in the other games, but maybe I’m wrong.

Other than that, the game offers a feeling of playing the console and handheld Animal Crossing games right on your mobile phone.

Story: 4/10 – Story has never ever been Animal Crossing’s strong suit, and I think for me personally, that’s why I get bored of the games so fast and have an on/off love/hate relationships with them. I play games primarily for story above anything else. So lack of really much to offer here makes it a bit dull to me.

Characters: 10/10 – The characters are charming and cute and have always been the best part of the animal crossing games.

Graphics: 10/10 These graphics look just as good as any Animal Crossing game I have ever played, and it’s a free mobile game, now that’s impressive!

Music: 5/10 Music is just sort of average. Nothing to write home about. Sometimes it can be cute and catchy, other times repetitive and annoying. Depends on my mood and the song in question.

Replay Value: 9/10 – The very nature of Animal Crossing as a franchise is a slow and steady journey meant to be enjoyed through several (often times daily) small playing sessions. Animal Crossing offers much to do, from fishing, bug catching, gardening, to crafting, to shopping, to collecting, to decorating your home and dressing up your avatar. However, it does get repetitive because of the slow and lackadaisical gameplay style. – Which don’t get me wrong, that gameplay style has also always been the game’s strong suit and its unique charm, and what makes it so much fun. There also are time limited goals, time limited items, and time limited quests to complete which will keep you logging back in. However, it’s also the type of game you can play for 10 hours a day for 6 months straight and then feel bored of. It’s much better to enjoy it about an hour a day, as if you immerse yourself too long, you will burn out quickly. But kept in small doses, you will be playing this, or any other animal crossing title for years to come. Now that animal crossing is on our mobile phones we are all doomed to be playing it religiously for the foreseeable future. And future updates will make this even more enticing.

Overall: 56/70 80% “B-” Very Good Game for Girls!

Other Games You May Like:

Castaway Paradise – pretty much an animal crossing clone. It was fun, but ain’t no animal crossing. Now that animal crossing is on mobile, I see no reason to play this.

Animal Days by Gree  Sadly this is no longer around, but probably one of my all time favorite mobile games, you should check it out since there’s still a wealth of images and info available online with a quick Google search; it’s interesting to read about just because of how unique and fun it was. It had the cute animals, moving in and out of your village, and most excitingly, you could BREED your animal villagers to create new villagers. There were time limited release villagers, and all kinds of really cute things to decorate your home, and a cute story too. I was sad when it closed. I heard they underestimated how popular it was going to become and couldn’t manage well with the production schedule for new releases and updates. I wish someone would buy the code from them and revive this project, but it’s been dead for 5 years now, so it’s not likely to happen. I would rather play Animal Days by Gree over even the best Animal Crossing game, because the breeding and randomized aspects make me so excited.

Happy Street – “sort of” a clone of animal crossing, but completely different gameplay, still, animals at random move into your village, and you fish and mine and craft and so on. but yeah, just it’s different, it’s more like mobile clicker type gameplay, but it has the same charm and theme as animal crossing and is a fun and different enough game that you should play both! 🙂 — There’s also a version of this put out by Line Play, and the name is escaping me right now. Same game / user interface, but different graphic assets and run by different companies. It still has cute animals moving in and out of your village and same gameplay mechanics. I think Happy Street was marketed more and took off more rapidly, and thus the Line Play “clone version” is a lot less widely known – might be worth checking out for you if you love Animal Crossing or Happy Street though!

Seabeard – This has a huge massive open sandbox world and captures some of the unique gameplay aspects of animal crossing.

Line Play – for the fishing and dressing up and decorating and kawaii style.

Animal Crossing Pocket Camp Nintendo Mobile Game Review for IOS and Android was originally published on GeekySweetie.com – Geeky & Kawaii Anime, Tech, Toys, & Game Reviews & News

My Neighbor Totoro Ghiblifest 2017 Anime Movie Review

I went to see My Neighbor Totoro subbed last night as part of the 2017 GKids Studio Ghiblifest. The theater I went to seemed to have a fairly good turnout for the show, but not as popular as the theatrical SailorMoon Release which I reviewed here (dub) and here (sub)

Still it is nice to see anime getting more coverage in theaters. I drove almost an hour to go see Totoro, but it was still closer than the nearly 2 hour drive I made (twice) to go see Sailor Moon. It’s also awesome to see old anime like Totoro from the 80s and SailorMoon from the 90s finally on the big screen!

The excitement of seeing such childhood favorite films on the silverscreen inspired me to want to do a review for Totoro today.

Also be sure to check out the Studio Ghiblifest home page, there will be other Studio Ghibli films in theaters all summer long, with the next one being Kiki’s Delivery Service on July 23 (dub) and 24 (sub). I like Kiki’s Delivery Service so much, that I might just go to both of them :).

Onto the review:

Title: My Neighbor Totoro

Studio: Studio Ghibli

Release Date: 1988

Genre: Slice of Life, Adventure, Fantasy

Geeky: 2/5 This film is beautiful to watch, even now, 20 years after its initial release. But plot wise, this is a very slow moving film, slow and uneventful for almost the entire film, and then insanely rushed in the last 10-15 minutes of the film. Actually the ending feels really disjointed from the rest of the film and you can read about that under the Conspiracy Theory below. The languid plot and ending that feels out of place make this a hard film to like, unless you’re watching it for the beautiful backgrounds and cute characters. Systematically though, I can’t give it high “technical” points due to the poor writing.

Sweetie: 4/5 Like most Ghibli films, this is super charming with a lot of heart. It depicts every day life of two little girls living in a new home in the forest with their father as they wait for their mother to return from a hospital. The girls encounter magical creatures, and those creatures are super adorable to boot. Blending slice of life in traditional Japan in a quiet countryside rural village, alongside the mystical and fantastical secret world that only the girls can see, and all the new magical friends they make, this tale is full of sweet cute moments sure to appeal to anyone looking for a kawaii cute family friendly and feel good anime. — It loses one point because there is no plot or character development. Unlike other Ghibli films, this one just never seems to get off the ground or accomplish much.

Story: 6/10 The story is a slice of life look at the life of 2 very young girls. Their mother is sick in the hospital with some unexplained illness, and their father has just decided to move the family to a new home in the country, thinking the fresh air from the trees would be good for his wife once she returns back home. While exploring their new surroundings, the two girls stumble upon a magical creature which they dub Totoro. Their father says Totoro is a very old forest spirit, and the father, along with Totoro, teaches the young girls to love and respect nature.

Characters: 9/10 The real reason to watch this show is because all of the characters are cute, unique, heart warming, and funny. Not just the adorable Totoro and his friends, but also the human children. The anime puts a lot of work into making us like and care about the girls and their father. In fact, the entire film, until the very end, is just day to day stuff that the girls find exciting about their new home, or sharing loving family moments with their father. — That said, unlike most Ghibli films, there’s really no character “development” the characters do not change much at all throughout the movie. This, combined with a very slow moving plot, makes the anime feel slow and sleepy at times.

Conspiracy Theory: If you’ve already seen the film, here’s something you may be interested in reading. There are spoilers below here, so proceed at your own risk.

Spoiler

By the way have you heard the conspiracy theory that Totoro is actually a Shinigami and that the girls both die in the film? After watching the film again last night, this seems likely. Studio Ghibli denies those rumors and has even gone as far as asking fans to please stop talking about it.

A Shinigami is angel of death, often appearing to children who are about to die and taking comforting forms such as animals etc to help children cross over. Look at other anime such as Full Moon Wo Sagashite and how “cute” the Shinigami appear there. One of the Shinigami in Full Moon Wo Sagashite is even a white rabbit and there is a very old folk tale / superstition about white rabbits. It says if one appears in a village where someone is very sick, that person is sure to pass away soon. This same superstition is also tied to another superstition that says if you say “rabbit, rabbit, rabbit” (note 3 rabbits) on the first and last day of the month, you will have good luck. And in the movie, there are 3 Totoro (who look very much like rabbits to me). Also the Totoro could be symbolic of the girls and the mother themselves! Mei says there is one GREAT BIG Totoro, a “little” Totoro, and a “tiny” Totoro. The big one could represent the mother, the little one the older sister, and the tiny one the young sister.

Even though Studio Ghibli wants these rumors to end, they just won’t die. And with the re-release of the theatrical movie, we can be sure more and more people will be looking for these clues and debating about if Totoro is actually the god of death.

Most of the film is very cute and innocent, with not much going on. It’s a slice of life about 2 little girls living in a new home with their father in the country side. They go to school, pray at the shrine, play in the forest, and take baths and have dinners with their father. But the ending of the film is just so dark and creepy and weird compared to the rest of the film; for me the biggest clue is when the nanny asks Satsuki if it is Mei’s shoe. Satsuki tells her it’s not, and she does this very quickly without even really looking at the shoe. When she tells her this, the old woman’s face is NOT one of relief (Thank goodness Mei is still alive), but one of sadness, there’s even a tear in her eye, and disappointment (in Satsuki not being able to face reality and accept the death of her sister.) the Granny tries to stop Satsuki from looking for Mei, but Satsuki runs off anyways.

From there, the last 10 minutes or so of the film, feel dark and different. As the sun is literally setting in the film, and time is running out to find Mei, everything begins to get really demented looking.

The catbus even explicitly SAYS he’s going to the GRAVE as his next stop to FIND MEI.

In the end, when the girls are in the tree, the mother in the hospital looks out the window and says she could have sworn she saw her children laughing in the tree, but the father cannot see them, despite them all being right there at the same time.

The film takes place in Sayama, and there was a real life murder/suicide with 2 school aged sisters. The young sister is kidnapped and murdered, and the older one goes to find her, but upon discovering that she has already been murdered, the older sister takes her own life / blames herself. And in Totoro, Mei is the younger sister who “disappears” and Satsuki is the older sister who goes to look for her. Satsuki also blames herself (she had yelled at Mei earlier).  Also this murder took place in the month of May and the girls are both named May: Mei and Satsuki (Japanese word for May).

Then there’s the references to Billy Goat’s Gruff. In the fairy tale, there are 3 goats trying to cross a bridge. “Crossing a Bridge” is pretty universal for crossing over into the afterlife. And in the fairytale, it is only when all 3 goats are together that they can cross the bridge. And in Totoro, the three “goats” would be the mother and the 2 girls. The billy goat’s gruff is referenced countless times in the film, peering over the bridges, the story books the mom used to read, and even Totoro’s name is some variation of the Japanese word for troll (supposedly, I dunno what that word is, but it was a trivia thing before the show started asking how did Totoro get his name, and it said it was because Mei mispronounced the Troll from her story book). There’s even a SERIOUSLY VERY CREEPY goat near the end of the film who tries to take Mei’s corn. And in the billy goat’s gruff, the goats get safe passage across the bridge by yelling very loudly. When in Totoro, the Totoros and the Girls scream loudly as they fly around with Totoro, etc.

And if Totoro can be seen by children, why do none of the other children see Totoro or the Catbus when the girls are flying around, they even fly right past the boy that likes Satsuki, and she says “I guess no one else can see us”.

And all throughout the film they keep saying how their house is haunted and everyone is afraid to go inside it, etc.

Lastly, people say that in the final scene, the girls have no shadow when they had shadows in all the rest of the film. Though I think this was maybe just an error or oversight on the part of the animators.

Anyways, it is an interesting theory. It does ask the audience to discount the last 2 minutes or so of the film where the girls return home and are greeted again by the Granny and other children in the village. But aside from that, everything else fits this theory.

End of Spoilers.

Artwork and Animation: 10/10 The backgrounds are lovely and all of the character designs are imaginative, quirky, and cute. Totoro has become so iconic that he is now the mascot for Studio Ghibli and known around the world.

Music: 10/10 I don’t really love the opening song. However, I do super love all the background tracks throughout the film. The ending theme is also catchy.

Voice Acting: 10/10 The two sisters are adorable and precocious. They give very believable performances with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. Totoro’s well timed animal sounds are quirky and cute. And the father and mother both sound very sincere and loving. Granny sounds old and slightly scary, but also warm and loving as well.

Overall: 51/60 85% B “Very Good Anime for Girls”

PS: If you enjoyed Totoro also check out Wolf Children and My Summer with Coo

My Neighbor Totoro Ghiblifest 2017 Anime Movie Review was originally published on GeekySweetie.com – Geeky & Kawaii Anime, Tech, Toys, & Game Reviews & News

Pusheen 2017 Spring Box Opening Review

Pusheen box continues to impress with large, big ticket items, and tons of exclusives. Pusheen 2017 Spring Box marks one year of my receiving this quarterly subscription crate, which first debuted in Winter 2015 (I missed out on the first box, boo). Ever since I joined in Spring 2016, I’ve never once been disappointed by the contents of my box, making it by far, the best subscription box for girls.

I received my box in May, which happens to be my birthday, and inside, there’s tons of birthday / party related goods – awesome coincidence. I could throw myself a Pusheen party, but don’t have anyone to invite except for my cats lol.

It came packaged in a cute Bunny / Easter themed Pusheen faced box.

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

It included things like Photo Booth Props (some assembly required):

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

Also some cute banner decorations and party balloons. 🙂

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

You can already see the next item in the above pics, a Pusheen Tshirt, here’s another look. Mine is a wee bit big. I think it will probably shrink though when washed? lol. The colors are so cute and the lil birthday hat Pusheens kill me lol.

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

This month’s exclusive vinyl figure is an Easter bunny Pusheen with a spring chick on her back.

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

The next big ticket item is the adorable and useful Pusheen Bento Box and Utensil set. Perfect to pair with the Pusheen thermos from the Pusheen 2016 Winter Box.

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

All that food is going to make you super thirsty, so they’ve given you a bottle opener shaped like our favorite feline.

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

What party would be complete without some tunes? Enter this adorable Pusheen Wireless Speaker to solve all your party music needs.

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

Last, but certainly not least, a cute Pusheen selfie stick to capture memories of your party with your friends!

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

Spring 2017 Pusheen Subscription Box

My phone case doesn’t really fit too well in here, and it was a lil difficult to operate, it didn’t seem to support the weight of my phone (or case) too well. Did slightly better when I removed the case. Maybe I just don’t know how to use a selfie stick lol. It seemed “loose” and wanted to flop “forward” from the “square” part that holds the phone… Still cute, but dunno if I’d trust it to hold my expensive Iphone lol.

Also speaking of things flopping forward, Some of the Photo Booth Props seemed floppy – but maybe I’m just a derp and didn’t assemble them correctly. That is about my only complaint in this month’s box.

As always is the case with my Pusheen Box reviews, this is in no way a paid review. They do not even have a referral program. I’m merely sharing photos of all the cuteness because I know it will appeal to my readers.

If you’re interested in getting your own Pusheen Box you can sign up at PusheenBox.com

Final Score:

Packaging: 10/10 – The box is even shaped like Pusheen, the bottom of the box even has jelly bean toes – can’t handle the cuteness.

Quantity of Items: 10/10 – Packed to the top with tons of Pusheen stuff

Quality of Items: 7/10 – this month had a lot of “cheap” “paper goods” such as the photo booth props, banners, balloons, etc. While I was still happy with those (especially given that my birthday is next week lol), I am not used to seeing these lower quality items. Also as mentioned the selfie stick didn’t seem very sturdy to me. — The other items are all super high quality though. And compared to other boxes where you get mostly “cheap” plushies and stationary items, this box still feels higher quality overall.

Size of Items: 8/10 – Many nice larger items such as the Bento, Wireless Speaker, Vinyl Figure, Tshirt, and etc. Offset by a few cheaper/smaller items (mentioned above). Overall, compared to other boxes, Pusheen box consistently delivers more “big ticket” items. Compared to past Pusheen Boxes, the Spring 2017 box has a lot more smaller items as well. Hope this is not a continuing trend in the Summer box. Still mostly satisfied and surprised by the number of expensive, large, nice items. I feel it is well worth the cost of subscription and not just trinkets and baubles.

Variety of Items: 10/10 As always, a nice variety of items, ranging from fashion, to home goods, to toys, to stationary, to even electronics.

Rarity of Items: 10/10 The exclusivity of the items – being only available in this crate and not in any stores, makes this box one of my all time favorites for collector value.

Items Fit Theme: 9/10 Everything is 100% licensed Pusheen Goods. This month’s theme seemed to be a “party” theme and almost all of the items fit this theme, you have food and drink, party decor, music, and memories. It also seemed to have a vague easter theme with the box having bunny ears and the vinyl exclusive this month matching that. Perhaps a better match would have been a party hat Pusheen box and vinyl figure. But that’s a minor thing :).

Overall Value: 64/70 91% A- “Excellent Subscription Box For Girls”

Pusheen 2017 Spring Box Opening Review was originally published on GeekySweetie.com – Geeky & Kawaii Anime, Tech, Toys, & Game Reviews & News

Lady Popular – Review of Fashion Runway Dressup Game

Title: Lady Popular Fashion Arena

Genre: Dressup Game

Developer: XS Software

Price: Free to Play with Optional In-Game Purchases

Where to Play: http://www.ladypopular.com

Have you ever wanted to be a Top Model and walk down the catwalk in a Fashion Showdown between other beautiful and successful girls? Here’s your chance to be the best model, in XS Software’s Lady Popular Fashion Arena.

You can play this amazing dressup game for free in your web browser without needing to download or install any software. You can register either by email, or by connecting your facebook account.

Overview: 10/10 Lady Popular Fashion Arena has a lot to offer. You start the game by choosing your hair, makeup, skin tone, outfits, and accessories. As you begin to complete quests within the game, you level up and gain access to new activities such as a photo shoot, new shops to explore, pets to dressup, or even find a boyfriend and dress him up too. It also has a dating sim element and wedding planning element. It’s the perfect game for young girls dreaming of falling in love, being beautiful, popular, and having an amazing career.

Gameplay: 8/10 – When you first start the game there will not be much for you to do in the early levels. This can be frustrating, but it does make leveling up and playing every day much more rewarding, as you will gain access to more features that help to mix up the gameplay.

Like most games in the Dressup Game genre, the main gameplay focuses on purchasing new outfits and accessories. To earn in-game currency you will complete your quest log, or face off against other real players in ultimate fashion battles.

In addition to dressing up, you also have to undergo extensive training to learn how to become a Top Model. You can choose from many different courses to improve your scores in Style, Beauty, Creativity, Devotion, Generosity, and Loyalty. All of which affect how popular your model is.

The user interface and tutorials in the beginning make this a very intuitive game to pick up and play without much of a learning curve. This makes the game great for young girls, even if they’re not experienced playing similar games of this nature.

The extra and unique features that begin to open up as you advance in the game, set Lady Popular apart from many other dressup games that focus only on fashion. As mentioned, Lady Popular also has a dating sim element later in the game and even allows you to plan your own engagement party.

Lady Popular also focuses more on social interaction and encourages you to play with friends, which is different from most dressup games that are more of a solo experience.

A recent update, totally revamped the questing system, making it much more exciting and rewarding to complete your quests which help you advance through the game. Once you begin to advance in the game, the sheer number of shops, outfits, activities, and little touches really hooks you in playing this game each day.

Story: 5/10  There is not much of a story, especially in the early levels. Your imagination becomes the story, and it allows you to choose your own path and determine what type of model you want to be.

Characters: 7/10 The characters in this game are all other models playing the game too. You can interact with your friends in real time, and compete against other players. On the downside, this also means there’s not much of a “story” behind these characters.

Customization: 10/10 The ability to customize everything about your avatar, from her hair, facial features, makeup, outfits, room, and the ability to customize pets and boyfriends, and then even customize your wedding and engagement, make this game a perfect 10 for customization options. You can be a cute, preppy, classic beauty, or rock out an alternative look with bright pink or blue colored hair or anything in between.

Graphics: 10/10 Lady Popular is a very brightly colored and attractive looking 2D game. The interface is intuitive, and the sheer number of clothes, accessories, and dressup items, make this game super cute.

 

Music: 5/10: Honestly, I usually play games like this on mute, or while watching tv or playing other games. If you’re playing with music on, like with most games of this nature, the music is fine, but nothing extraordinary, and due to the repetitive daily gameplay, the music can get annoying after you’ve heard it over and over again.

Replay Value: 10/10 What makes Lady Popular so much fun is the ability to interact with or against other players, as well as the mini games and other activities which open up later as you level up. To really appreciate this game you need to slog through the first few levels to get to the good parts. After that, you will be hooked by the number of things to do, and millions of different ways to customize your model and shape her life.

Lady Popular – Review of Fashion Runway Dressup Game was originally published on GeekySweetie.com – Geeky & Kawaii Anime, Tech, Toys, & Game Reviews & News

My Nyan Place Cat Cafe Simulation Game Review

Title: My Nyan Place

Genre: Simulation

Release Date: 2016

Publisher: ESTGames

Official Website: http://www.mynyancafe.jp/main/

IOS: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1080565581…

Android: https://play.google.com/store…

Geeky: 2/5 – not much to the game play really, but it does have some pretty graphics. Not as robust or as many features as other cafe simulation games such as I love pasta and I love coffee which I reviewed here.

Sweetie: 5/5 – cats, cats, and more cats coupled with cute anime graphics and a casual and easy to play family friendly game.

My Nyan Place Cat Simulation Game for IOS and Android Kawaii Game Review

Overall: 49/80 63% D “Average Game for Girls”

Concept 10/10: My Nyan Place is the perfect IOS and Android game for all cat lovers. You will need a Japanese or Korean Itunes account to play the game. You can create a Japanese or Korean Itunes account for free which I cover how to do in depth in my review of Aikatsu Photo on Stage here.

My Nyan Place allows you to run your own cat cafe while collecting rare and cute cats, decorating the cafe, and playing fun mini games. You will need to feed, play with, and groom your cats. They need ample space to play, hide, climb, scratch, and sleep. And all of the accessories that come along with it.

Decorate your cat cafe with tons of cute items

Guests will come to the cafe and play with the cats as well as purchase food and beverages which earn you gold which can be used to purchase new items for your cafe.

As you level up, you can begin adding more cats and even more floors or buildings to hold the cats which will then need more decorations and more items for your cats and attract even more guests and earn even more gold.

Gameplay: 5/10 – Gameplay is simple and intuitive enough that you can enjoy this game without knowing Korean or Japanese languages. There are some quests and tutorial items that can be challenging at first to get past without knowing the language, but luckily, you will clear many of these obstacles through the natural flow of the game.

You start with a completely empty cafe and are given a few items such as a table, feeder, and cash register to get you started. You also get to select one free starter cat from the old man’s shop to begin your game.

The old man’s shop refreshes once every 24 hours and gets lots of rare and unique cats. These cats cost a lot of bells, but give you the benefit of knowing exactly what type of cat you’re purchasing.

The alternate way to obtain more cats early in the game is with tickets or bells that can be exchanged for “blind box” type cats. With this method, you can exchange tickets or bells to receive one random cat. You may get a rare cat this way, but you’re much more likely to get a common cat. Different types of boxes have different cats, including rare event boxes and cats that appear only for a limited time.

My Nyan Place Cat Simulation lets you create and manage a virtual kawaii cat cafe

Now you will need to add some important items to your cat cafe to make sure your cats are healthy and happy. With the cat feeder, you can cook your own food and treats for your cats. Each cat is a unique individual and has likes and dislikes when it comes to food. Feeding your cats food and treats that they like will boost their mood and earn you more gold from your guests. You can also grow your own catnip, which can also be used as a treat for your cats. The catnip can be harvested once a day.

Your cats need a place to sleep. Some beds can hold multiple cats, while others are only enough space for one cat. It’s better to select items for multiple cats because they take up less room on the “grid” layout of your cat cafe.

You can expand your cat cafe to hold one more row on the grid per each upgrade, but there are level blocks that prevent you from expanding too quickly. There are also level blocks that prevent you from holding more cats, or having more than X number of certain items (tables, feeders, beds, etc).

You can hire staff to help run the cafe when you need to go offline. Your friends can also help you by visiting your cat cafe and clicking on up to three items that need attention.

My Nyan Place Cat Simulation lets you play with virtual cats

Cats love to play; there are a lot of items which the cats can interact with which help to boost their mood, which as mentioned, help make your cafe more profitable. These items range from scratching posts to exercise wheels to cardboard boxes and anything in between.

The cats in the cafe will play with these items on their own. When you see them playing, boost their mood by clicking on the pink hearts. You can also tap on a cat and interact with that cat directly to boost its mood by grooming, feeding, or playing with the cat.

Cats also like to sleep, but they won’t sleep on their own. You need to monitor their moods and if you see a bubble with a “Zzz” click it to make the cat go to sleep. You also feed cats in the same fashion. A bubble will appear with a blue food dish; click the bubble to feed your cat.

My Nyan Place Cat Simulation Game – Tap the bubbles to feed, play with, clean, or put the cats to sleep.

When an NPC guest character visits your cafe, place one of your cats on each of your open tables. The NPCs will sit and pet, feed, play with, and take photos of your cats. They will also order food and drink for themselves to enjoy as well. You will need to restock, clean, and arrange the food and drinks several times a day.

Although the game is in Korean (or Japanese depending on the version you choose to download), the game sends me notifications in English, telling me “the food stand is strange and to hurry and come clean it”. As well as other notifications in English, which also help with figuring out the gameplay.

Be careful not to accidentally sell your favorite cats. I speak from experience. When trying to transfer from your apartment to your cat cafe, one of the buttons will let you sell the cats. Another screen will pop up asking to confirm, but since it is not in English it is easy to accidentally click the wrong button and accidentally confirm that you want to sell the cat. I recommend if you see the popup, and you think you may accidentally be selling your cat, to restart the app completely. (To do so on an IOS device you hold the power button for a few seconds, then release, and hold the home button for a few seconds, this will cause any IOS app to restart).

My Nyan Place Cat Simulation Game for IOS and Android lets you collect cute cats

Each cat is an individual. While some may look alike, they have different personalities and also grant different stat bonuses such as increased gold, increased luck, better moods, and other status effects. Make sure you’re using your best cats on the best tables for the best results and keep an eye on their moods, sleep, and hunger levels.

That is the basics to the gameplay. As you level up there will be new features unlocked to you such as capturing stray cats in the wild to add to your cafe, you new minigames that allow you greater interaction with your cats.

Story: 0/10 – There might be some loose story, but since it’s not in English I dunno what it is. Story and dialogue boxes are not presented very often in game, so whatever story there may be, probably isn’t very detailed anyways.

Characters: 5/10 – The cats are cute, but just as with story, since it’s not in English, they have no substance to the characters, beyond being just cute pixels to collect. This means that there is no real character development or emotional attachment to any of the characters.

My Nyan Place Cat Simulation Game for IOS and Android Kawaii Game Review

Graphics: 10/10 This game has super cute artwork and more than 50 different types of cats. There are new events added constantly which add more cute cats to collect. The decoration and dressup items are also incredibly cute.

Music: 5/10 The cats make cute meows and purrs, but the music itself is very simple and lacking.

Replay Value: 7/10 – The limited time events and cute cats keep you wanting to play again and again. The simplistic gameplay makes it a good game for some mindless cute cat interaction. The lack of story (at least one I can understand in English), and lack of some features common in other cafe simulation games, makes this a game best enjoyed in short bursts and not played too long at any one time.

Overall: 49/80 63% D “Average Game for Girls”

 

My Nyan Place Cat Cafe Simulation Game Review was originally published on