Recent reviews by Effé Kay

Alright, so right out the gate I just want to make this clear. I greatly enjoy this developer's work and I wholeheartedly recommend this game to anyone looking for a unique and unforgettable experience. That being said, there are a lot of flaws with this game, some even gamebreaking, but I would still recommend this despite those flaws. I will list the problems I ran into below, in no particular order.

- Levels generally have an end goal of collecting a set amount of treats or defeating a bunch of enemies. However, several levels were able to be partially skipped because the end level trigger still existed before I finished the objectives. This would skip me ahead to the next level.
- Both Hoverkitty and Hoverflea rotate at the same time regardless of who you are controlling, making it difficult to use their powers in tandem to defeat the enemies.
- Several game over screens had a large pink box obscuring the game.
- Switching between Hoverkitty and Hoverflea sometimes leaves you stuck in place, having to press their respective swap button again to get control of them. Additionally, sometimes the controlled character changes but the camera doesn't.
- The controls for keyboard are awkward. Every level requires that you press B to get rid of the text displaying your controls. Movement is WASD but turning requires pressing R to turn left and L to turn right (Yes, R for left & L for right), and Hoverflea's beam is fired with P.
- The game at one point froze up and crashed at the same point repeatedly. There's a cutscene and level load that for some reason locked the game up. I was able to play through on a better computer (my computer is not good at all) and while the game progressed as normal, the other computer was getting uncomfortably hot while running the game.
- There is a level trigger near the end of the game that puts you into a cutscene from the game's midpoint, effectively sequence breaking backwards.

I need you to understand that these are undeniable flaws and problems, things that are definitely not good. With all that said, however, I still really enjoyed this game. Why? Because this is one of many games made by a passionate developer who does all of the art, all of the music, all of the voice acting, all of the writing, everything on her own. This isn't a cynical cash grab or something like that, this is a work of art and I mean that sincerely. The developer has, through the medium of video game development, created memorable pieces of art that astound and inspire me. It would be great if the major glitches were fixed and it would be great for the controls to be rebindable, but the product she has made that exists here on this page is still a fantastic piece in a series of pieces that show what someone is capable of doing if they have the willpower and drive to complete a project. Countless times I myself have tried to start projects, only for them to fizzle out when I hit a brick wall. When I see stuff like Hoverkitty In The Hoververse, I feel inspired to keep trying. Finishing and delivering a work that isn't just chasing some current trend, all while continuing to grow as an artist, writer, and (especially with this new game) musician, it all just gives me hope that I can maybe do something some day.

People may look at this and thing I'm being ironic, or that I am insincere. I have no means of proving the sincerity of this review. I can only hope that those who read this will take it at face value that I enjoyed this game and I hope others will check out this developer's games and experience the enjoyment I felt.

Edit: This is my steam nominee for game of the year. I played several games this year but this one stuck with me the most.

I am not entirely certain what I played. I mean, I can describe everything that happened, tonal whiplash and all, but I'm not sure I could tell you what it meant, if there was a greater message, if the ending I got was the only one, or what. This is a very short game and I know some people will just refund anything that takes less than 2 hours to complete, but I implore you: don't refund this game solely because of the short runtime.

I will remember this game, I will remember how it made me feel, and the general tenseness and paranoia. It felt uncanny. As if I was playing a game that wasn't supposed to be found.

This developer continues to put out work I find commendable. She finds ways to make things work even if they are not through traditional means. There are questionable design decisions, like a lack of resolution options, the controls eschewing your standard wasd controls for a warl moveset where r turns you left and l turns you right, and wasd being used for the sidescrolling parts where w makes you move right and d moves you left (because those are forward and backward from Bubbleboy's perspective), but I still find enjoyment in her games despite these flaws. There is something special, something magical about these projects. Don't dismiss this as some kind of ironic review. I've played bad games, I've played bad games for the entertainment I get from ripping into them, and this game as well as the dev's other games do not fall into either category. Sure, one can argue that her games made be "bad" in the terms of how they are when compared to other indie games, but I would still have to disagree with that argument as being anything other than a matter of opinion and preference. There is something here in her games that I do not see often. There's a spark of joy, creativity, originality, enthusiasm, and love that I think is very important to the aesthetic and feel of the game.

Basically, I enjoyed it. Flawed, yes, but I liked it.

I will say though that I have no clue why popular user tags include "RPG" and "Action RPG" though. This has absolutely nothing to do with either genre. If someone went into this game expecting any kind of RPG mechanics they will rightfully be left disappointed because that is not at all the kind of game this is.

Holy smokes Hoverkitty just shanked a guy

I enjoyed it It was short but calm and chill

terraria is pretty good

Much like chocolate pancakes, this game is very sweet and lasts just long enough to reach peak enjoyability without becoming stale.

One of the best interactive fiction games out there, I highly recommend it for both its short but sweet and highly replayable nature.

It makes my brain hurt, but in a good way

I don't care that I finished this game in like 2 or 3 days. It's short, yeah, but there's just something so satisfying about watching all the gizmos move around and seeing things unfold and open up into bigger, more complex things.

My only major complaint is that there isn't a way (at least not that I could find) to skip transitions so it became a bit frustrating towards the end of the game when you'd have to backtrack back and forth a lot or solve the same puzzle repeatedly and watch the animation each time in order to get to the alternate endings.

Hey, if you don't like the idea of pointing and clicking on stuff to do time management type things, this game won't change your mind. It's not going to make you suddenly enjoy that style of gameplay. That's okay though. Different strokes and all that.

The point I want to get across here is that this is a game that is put together very well. Graphically it looks nice, the music is good, the sounds are a bit silly (specifically the noises for the various npcs) but it was more of a humorous thing that added to the game for me rather than taking away from it.

I legitimately enjoyed the silly soap opera medical drama story that unraveled over the course of the game and the levels changed up enough with the varying challenges and the additional minigames that it never seemed to overstay its welcome.

Basically, if you're open to this style of game (time management diner dash style) or if you're already familiar with and enjoy that genre of game, I highly recommend this game, as well as any other title by this dev.