Recent reviews by Hairspring

This game is cute. It's very straight forward but has some fun variation in how things are slotted together. There's a narrative to tie the items together but it's not a particularly deep or complex one. But it doesn't have to be for it to be a good time.

I really like games like this for relaxing. They can be a bit meditative in a good way. Gull disclosure: I did not pay for this game. I had it on my wish list for a few years and notice it was free for this weekend so added it to my library. But based on this one I will be buying the next one when it launches. If you like other puzzle box games like the room series, you'll like this.

I got through in just over 3 hours. The 3.8 is including idle time. But I did not feel like I had to do a lot of back and forth padding motions unlike some other puzzle box games and the variety of custom art assets was nice. So it was a pleasantly dense 3 hours.

This is a good spot the difference game. It's relaxing and has nice music and a lot of fun details to look at while exploring the maps. It's also got a lot of maps to go through so while it doesn't really have replay value from my experience it is well and above worth the 5 dollars it cost.
It's not optimized all that well but that's mostly only noticeable in the main selection screen which is a very minor part of the game. Outside of that I found the controls and UI very intuitive and well thought out.

This game is exactly what it says on the tin. It's a relaxing chill experience. A lot like a really intense screen saver. Some of the ducks do things and interact which is neat too.

If you're looking for a game where you do things this is not for you. If you want a relaxing somewhat meditative experience with chill music watching rubber ducks float around, you'll have a great time.

This is a very relaxing little game. Definitely worth the 2 dollars. All the cats are extremely charming.

I played the whole game because I wanted it to be good.

This game would be fun if it was about a quarter of the length and if they made either of the guys you're supposed to "listen to" likable. Part of the issue is they're both people who I wouldn't trust with the girl you're supposed to rescue. As a result it keeps pushing you to take a side when realistically I wanted to ignore both of them and just solve puzzles. There's a lot of stuff weirdly gatelocked as well. The ending section is way too long and heavy handed and as a result any horror is sapped out of it. The voice sections also feel like they're punishing you because you can't respond in any way so the first few just feel like you're getting yelled at for no reason.

I played this on an Oculus Quest 2 sideloaded to play Rift compatible games.

It is an absolute delight. It's a magical experience and clicking through all the little areas is ridiculously fun. It's not stressful and there's a lot to explore. Especially for a short free game. A lot of thought went into all the different design aspects and as a result it's a very seamless experience and really takes advantage of being in VR.

It gives the same feeling as poking around a model train set and looking inside the little buildings only better because everything moves and being digital means things can change and display in a way you can't really do IRL.

I really hope the creator of this gets the full project off the ground because I would definitely buy a game that was this but with more maps.

My play time on record is low because I originally tried playing this on an ancient laptop that wouldn't run it and played the the game on my Switch. I have completed the game and gotten almost all the unlockables.

Review contains mild mechanics spoilers but not plot spoilers for both this game and Journey.

This is a lovely relaxing single player game. If you liked Journey you'll like this game. It does have some mild combat like elements as Journey did that can be annoying but they're easier to deal with than the ones in Journey as "failure" doesn't feel like it's stripping something away from you.

There's a meditation mode that you can enter at set spots through out the game that's especially calming if you just want to watch the fish swim around. It's a bit like one big interactable fish tank.

If you're looking for something pressing or with hard challenges this isn't the game for you. But if you're looking for something to destress and like watching fish I highly suggest it.

This is fun and cute. I got the Japanese one. I would not suggest it if you haven't taken at least an introductory course. I like this because it makes it easier for me to remember a lot of common words. There are a few too many loan words for my taste but not enough for me to not suggest it. It's not really language learning software. It's basically glorified flash cards. It also splits up the pronunciation so you can see which kanji is read in what way in compound spellings.

Basically if you want a cute way to remember a lot of every day objects this is great. If you want to get better at recognizing the kanji for every day objects it's great. If you don't already know how to read kana or are not currently learning them separately don't buy this game for Japanese.

This is a very fun game about burning stuff. Some of the combinations are well thought out and even the ones that aren't are fun to look for. If you like watching things explode and absurd imagery you'll like this game. The ending is sweet and satisfying and the game play is fun even though it's extremely simple in concept. Partially this is due to the art direction being very consistent throughout the game. I had a lot more fun playing this game with a friend or two in the room coming up with silly combinations to burn with me.

The game benefits from knowing just how weird its premise is and running with it.

Unfortunately once you've gotten all the combinations it doesn't have a lot of replay value as the story is linear and there are a set number of specialized interactions. But it takes awhile to get all those combinations and it's more than worth it for that first play through.

It also runs on well on even low powered machines. I could get this game to run on my net book which barely runs Microsoft Word.

It is hard for me to explain exactly how much I disliked this game. For reference I enjoy exploration games and am more than familiar with the world of fine art and have a very high threshold for "artsy" things in general. I'm convinced that the only reason why this game got good reviews from so many people is because it's obtuse enough that they figured it must make them seem smart to say they liked it.

The main character moves painfully slowly which wouldn't be an issue if the environment were more enjoyable. The addition of random statements that do not tie in with the environment actually take away from the game. Most of it seems like someone came up with some interesting looking areas and some cryptic statements and decided that throwing them together at random would be a lovely idea for a game. Every so often the statements will line up with the environment and there's a moment of clarity about what is going on. Unfortunately those moments of clarity were not interesting enough to make me care in the slightest what was going on.

I think I would have enjoyed this slightly more if no one had tried to tell me it was good first. That and if the bits of dialogue were not randomized in an attempt to make it different or if they were written so that it pieced together better regardless of order. There are ways of making your audience work that are effective and enjoyable, this game doesn't use any of them.