Recent reviews by Sapphire

Venba is about an Indian mom who moves to Canada with her family. You help her cook traditional South Indian food while learning about her life and her struggles to embrace her roots in a new place.

The gameplay is repetitive and mildly difficult; it can be completed within an hour. I enjoyed learning about the different kinds of food, music, and art shown in the game.

This is a cute puzzle game with charming graphics. The story is also adorable and funny with their refreshing pop culture.

The characters are also annoying with some of their requirements on where to sit. Making me rage quit at times lol. It is short, but for the price point, it is absolutely worth it.

If you're looking for a cozy, relaxing game and want to satisfy that organizational desire, this game is for you. This game shares a few similarities with "Unpacking," which is why I purchased it . I have been seeking a similar game to "Unpacking" to fulfill the itch that "Unpacking" left in me. It has its similarities, as items must be placed in a certain way. In "Urban Jungle," you need to arrange the plants while meeting their sunlight, water, and neighbor needs. This game doesn't have as many restrictions as "Unpacking" regarding where items must be placed.

This game is absolutely relaxing, with beautiful scenes and music, but it does leave a few things to be desired. I found myself skipping the dialogue; the story didn't feel intriguing , and I lost the emotional connection to the characters. One thing I loved about "Unpacking" was how it told a story without having to read a single thing; the gameplay spoke for itself. Other than that, it is a game I recommend buying .

Way better than a Rift in Time

This might be a long review, since I am not sure if I actually liked it or not.

As someone who enjoyed the “Life is Strange” series, this game scratched the itch of nostalgia. The game revolves around you experiencing the trauma and memories of two siblings reliving their trauma and feelings with a single mother.

This game covers just a tiny bit of trans-hate. When I say a little bit, I mean I wish they explored that part of the story a little but further. I wanted to experience the raw truth of the trans community with them not understanding and accepting themselves and experiencing the people who once loved you turn on you for discovering who you really are. There was a situation with a family friend doing something (I am not going to say what because of spoilers) that had me shocked. But that was it. It was a brief moment that I wish it dove deeper into that part of the story. Instead, it was immediately brushed off with Tyler (the character experiencing transhate) just simply forgiving them instantly.

Other than a part of the story dealing with trans-hate, the rest deals with you uncovering the truth about your mother. It turns out you don’t know her as well as you thought you did. And by uncovering your mother’s secrets, you meet other characters you grew up with that have their own secrets. These characters felt pretty flat to me. It was straightforward with who they are, and they almost felt stale as if there was no growth or real, raw “human” emotions behind them. I think one thing that didn’t help was the bad voice acting mixed with bad animation with the characters. I do applaud them for the scenery; I had to take a few moments and look at the world around me in the game.

Now for the siblings, Tyler was built to be the character going through the most trauma and experiencing severe trans-hate. And I hate to say it, but I didn’t feel sympathy for him. I did have moments where things would get dark and I felt bad for him, but his character is so insufferable. He judges others before he allows him to judge him first. He expects the worst out of everybody and turns the cold shoulder to those who are trying to show acceptance and care. I think we didn’t dove deeper into what happened for him to be like that, because it’s unrealistic to have a character be weary of people that haven’t done anything to you in the first place. In summary, Tyler the character was built to be a whiny brat that victimizes himself in situations that weren’t what he made up in his head. I rolled my eyes so much in this game, and I wish his character was written better or at least gave us a chapter to experience the raw feelings he had so I could feel more connected to him. His sister was such a bland character that really didn’t contribute much to the story, and she even felt even more well written than he did.

Lastly, there are two endings where your choices in the game dictate which one you get and how your relationship with your sibling evolves. The only thing I didn’t like was that my choices felt like they didn’t hold any weight in the outcome or impacted the story. It was more like you pick this choice and you get this dialogue and move on. I wish there were consequences or a greater impact in the story.

I know this review was mainly negative, but sadly, that is what stood out to me the most. This definitely scratched that LIS nostalgia that I even bought the entire series to play again. I think this game was fun; it really brought back my love for "story-based” games. And I absolutely support games that tackle hard topics that many games don’t dare to. Even though I feel like this game could’ve done better with that, it was still good overall. I do recommend this game, but at the same time, I feel like you’re not missing out on playing it. I really do hope for more games like this with more hard topics with deeper stories.

This game is absolutely adorable and cozy. The characters each have a unique personalities. Although, they may talk a lot they do add a good sense of life into the game. The scenery is simple and cute, making it really exciting to uncover hidden nooks and crannies with secrets that it may hold. This game is easy to 100% complete with achievements. Although, it does have one quest that is bugged and i had to restart my game just to get that last achievement. I absolutely recommend it on sale since it is really short and sometimes a bit clunky to navigate with.

This is an absolutely adorable game. There’s so much to explore and do. You go around trying to save the town from animals getting sick and structures that need fixing. It really is a feel-good game. It’s incredibly short and easy to get 100% achievements on; if you want a low commitment game, this is it for you.

This is absolutely an adorable game. The graphics and the story is the most coziest thing.

Although, I do have some complaints. Tge puzzles feel extremely easy, don’t get me wrong they are still fun. The story feels like it lacks depth but then again this might not be the type of game to take seriously.

This game is great as a wind down after a hard heavy day.

I believe this game is worth buying if it’s on sale since how fast you can beat it. I do hope more games like this one from the developers. Hopefully more lengthy and difficult.

One of the very few farming sim games I still play till this day. The story is so touching and at times could be triggering to some audiences. Luckily they have now added a warning before you reach the part of the story that can get pretty dark. In which i was surprised. A dark game? A DISNEY dark game!

Farming is fairly easy and works with real time you earn so much currency and there’s an endless catalog of furniture and clothing items. Character customization is amazing. There’s so much inclusivity for religion, body types, and skin color.

The characters have their own personalities and it feels like you are actually getting to know them. Although, you will find those characters that you can’t stand. Im looking at you Mother Gothel lol.

The only downside about this game is the monetization. From the start this was supposed to be free to play game but they changed their mind. There is a battlepass system and an item shop. You don’t need to purchase these things to progress in the game put FOMO can really put that pressure on you. The items are so cute you can’t help yourself but swipe that card.

I do say the items are really pricey than what they seem to be actually worth. And i hear about many people complain about the micro transactions . But i feel like this game takes a pass on that. Every day you look for blue chest and you will earn 50 moonstones. Every week you take part in voting for dreamsnaps and you earn 50 moonstones as well. And the biggest thing to earn moonstones for free is participating in dreamsnaps. With just simply participating you earn 300 moonstones and the biggest pot being 12,000. With so many games in the market with micro transactions i feel like this game is more generous in allowing you to earn them. And large sums at that. A lot of other games won’t let you earn premium currency.

I have owned this game and the DLC on switch and repurchased both on my Steam Deck. And I also own it on xbox through gamepass. I have put over 200 hours on each device. This game is absolutely worth it for a Disney fan. 💕

An arcade full of cats is a cozy game you can totally play while watching a movie. It is fairly challenging to give you hours of gameplay. Not to mention the hidden cats you have to figure out is sooo much fun. I loved playing this game and I will recommend it. It is free and the DLC goes towards kitties. What is more than love than supporting a valuable cause.