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  • svgAug 29, 2023Reviews

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    Blue Gravity was kind enough to provide a copy of Little Sim World for me to play!

    I received a pre-alpha demo version of Little Sim World to play, which means I got an early view of a game that is growing bigger and better nearly weekly. What I saw, however, was already incredibly promising.

    What Is It?

    Little Sim World is an adorable life sim that draws inspiration from popular games like The Sims, Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley and Pokemon. You are in charge of your very own little cartoon-looking sim person. Start the game by creating one using a number of customization options (with more to come later!), like hairstyles and color, clothing, and facial attributes. Then, pick out different personality traits like favorite foods and quirks. After that, you’re released into the world of London and set in front of your very dingy new home. 

    Really dingy. Your fence is broken in spots and the paint is flaking. The front door and windows have seen better days. The appliances in the kitchen are dirty and barely fit to use. At least the furniture looks worn, but comfortable and cozy. Your computer, however, looks like the old dinosaurs from way back when that ran Windows ‘95. 

    Worry not, though! You receive a meager paycheck from unemployment benefits that you can use to survive and maybe even fix up your new home. Or, you can hop on that ancient computer of yours and search for a new job! Pick from one of five career paths like athlete, culinary, science, journalist, or painter. Detective is also listed, but either isn’t available yet, or I haven’t reached an appropriate milestone to unlock it. Either way, you’ll Start with basic jobs like professional fan, dishwasher, lab cleaner, greeting card wordsmith, and brush washer. As you level up in skills and traits, you’ll be able to earn promotions that will get your better pay. Better pay means better food, clothes, and house decorations!

    The City

    There isn’t too much to the city just yet, but it’s beautifully drawn and animated. There aren’t any transition screens, either, so moving from one activity or building to another is smooth making it feel like a big open world for you to explore. No waiting on a silly dark screen with a loading bar!

    You’ll find several useful stores spread throughout London. Buy groceries needed to cook and level up your cooking skills with. Or trot on over to Simon’s Pub for some spirits and ready made meals. Get furniture from Futon Furniture and flooring or wallpaper from D&Y. Berry’s Electronics has all your appliance needs, while Banana21 Apparel provides for all your clothing needs!

    Not in the mood for shopping? Head to the gym to get your sweat on. Or go to the library to relax with a good book that’ll level your skills. Perhaps you need to edit your sim’s profile? Pay the Royal Snail a visit and take care of that real quick. The nearby museum is worth a visit, too. You’ll be able to donate items you’ve found to replenish the exhibits, as well as collect stamps for accomplishments. Throw in cars and busses driving around, as well as other people walking along the sidewalks, and London is full of life and things to do!

    Home Design

    The design aspect of Little Sim World is super simple. You buy the elements you want from the shops, like wallpaper from D&Y. Then, while at home, you’ll enter the build menu which is laid out in an easy, intuitive manner. There’s a remove tool to not only remove walls and items, but to get some money back for them. You click the design element you want to work with, like wallpaper, and you can click each individual wall you want papered.

    Or click and drag to cover the whole room. It’s easy to change whole rooms in this manner. Just be sure you have enough money. Buying the design at the shop merely unlocks the use of it. Placing it costs money too!Placing items is just as easy, too. Select the furniture you want to work with and simply click to place it where you want.

    This part of the game is so easy and so simple to learn and do. It was fun designing my sim’s home instead of it being a chore. Switching flooring or rearranging furniture is quick and painless. I can foresee many, many hours spent simply building a fun house.

    Sim’s Needs

    Little Sim World isn’t just all about the fun shopping sprees and exploring, though. Your sim is essentially a real person. They need to eat, drink, and use the toilet. Bathing is essential to a happy and healthy sim, too. Of course entertainment and exercise needs should be looked after as well.

    It’s up to you to fulfill all those needs, and I have to say, that’s a full time job on its own. Maybe it’s because I like to push things instead of balancing my time appropriately, but my sim always feels like it’s starving or needs a shower. Learning to balance my time between working, cooking, having fun, and other needs will take some practice. The challenge is fun, though. It doesn’t feel like a hindrance, but an aspect to rise up to and overcome.

    Final Thoughts

    Little Sim World has quite a few other game elements that aren’t included in this early version. Finding love, traveling the city via car, bus, or underground, even having a roommate if you want to play with a friend. And if they implement those with the same care and effort as they’ve done with the rest of what’s in the demo, it’ll be excellent! One of the planned additions is the ability to choose Identity attributes. You’ll distribute points among attributes like smart, health, charm, courage, energy, and luck. I suspect these will help determine how well your sim does in their romantic relationships, as well as maybe their job, and overall life. 

    There is constantly something to do. Care for the sim’s needs, get them to work on time, and fulfilling tasks are all just what’s available in the demo. Add in romance and whatever exciting new features that are planned for Little Sim World, and it’ll be hard to be bored with the game. 

    As for designing your home and clothing options, the demo has a limited view of each. I imagine Little Sim World will have a much larger variety of everything upon release and I can’t wait. The clothes and design items are already great. I look forward to even more variety for cute or dark aesthetics! 

    I for one cannot wait for the full release of Little Sim World. It’s bound to be an adorably great time.

    Coming Soon!

    This lovely little game is projected to come out in the beginning of 2024! You can find it on Steam now to add it to your Wishlist.

    Want more reviews? Checkout my review for Ooblets or Roots of Pacha!

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  • svgDec 21, 2019Quick Bits

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    If you didn’t get to see Pokémon The Movie: The Power of Us following its release last year, you’ll be pleased to know that the adventure anime will land on Netflix on New Year’s Day 2020.

    The Pokémon Company made the following announcement:

    Ash and Pikachu’s 21st big-screen adventure, Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us, will be available to stream on Netflix starting January 1, 2020.

    The film follows Ash and Pikachu as they travel to Fula City for its yearly Wind Festival. The Wind Festival celebrates the legendary Pokémon Lugia who brings the wind that powers the seaside city.

    In Fula City, Ash meets five residents who come together to save the day after multiple threats endanger the Wind Festival and Fula City. The five residents include a young athlete, a compulsive liar, a shy researcher, a bitter old woman, and a little girl with a secret.

    Mythical Pokémon Zeraora also makes an appearance in the movie.

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  • svgNov 2, 2019Quick Bits

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    An exciting new trailer for the upcoming Pokémon anime series has recently been released.

    The trailer focuses on the series’s first episode, which is titled ‘The Birth of Pikachu’.

    https://youtu.be/2AZd74zPCMw

    As the title suggests, the episode appears to explore how Pikachu met Ash, or to at least give an insight into the life of the mouse-like creature before meeting Ash.

    The episode, which is flashback-like in style, features a lonely young Pichu. Given the episode’s title, we can only assume this is the Pikachu we all know and love.

    The first episode is set in the Kanto region. It has already been confirmed, however, that the series will take place across all regions, including Pokémon Sword and Shield’s Galar region.

    According to Serebeii.net, the first episode will air on November 15th. This coincides with the release date of Pokémon Sword and Shield.

    [source: serebeii.net ]

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  • svgOct 6, 2018News

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    MapleStory2, the MMORPG for kawaii lovers, is now available in English!

    [dropcap]M[/dropcap]apleStory 2 is a cute MMORPG game developed by NSquare and published by Nexon. The game is the sequel to the 2003 South Korean MMORPG game MapleStory.

    About MapleStory

    In the original game, the aim of players was to assume the roles of citizens of Maple World and improve their character’s skill and status over time. Additionally, with the seal of the antagonistic Black Mage weakening, the player is given a quest to prevent his resurrection. However, he eventually escapes the seal keeping him contained anyway, and sets out to rule over Maple World.

    The MapleStory franchise also extended to a DS game, a Korean anime series, and a Facebook adaptation.

    About MapleStory 2

    MapleStory 2 was initially released in Korea on July 7th 2015. It was then later released in China on September 21st 2017, and in the west on the 4th October 2018.

    The game takes many of the features of its predecessor but applies them to a 3D environment.

    The game is available to play on Microsoft Windows and can be purchased from Steam for $24.99.

    Features:
    • Customize your hero
    • Embark on epic quests
    • Build your dream world
    • Explore a brand new dimension of the MapleStory universe
    • Explore a variety of colourful 3D landscapes
    • Engage with a passionate community of fellow Maplers
    • Defeat enemies both old and new
    • Battle a bunch of different bosses.

    “Choose your class, embark on your journey, and the rest is up to you!”

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  • svgSep 7, 2018News

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    About:

    [dropcap]T[/dropcap]oday (7th September 2018) marks the release of the newest addition to Level 5’s popular Yo-Kai Watch franchise. This new addition comes in the form of two versions of a new action-RPG 3DS game, Yo-Kai Watch Blasters: Red Cat Corps, and Yo-Kai Watch Blasters: White Dog Squad.

    Described as “a spin-off done right” players can “Join Jibanyan and his Blasters team in action-packed battles to stop the masterminds behind a series of Yo-kai shenanigans.”

    Using skills and soulmate moves with up to three other friends, take down a variety of big bosses and enemy Yo-Kai. Tackle a myriad of missions, and befriend brand new Yo-Kai to amplify your team’s awesomeness.

    Features:

    • Team up for action-packed local and online** multiplayer for up to 4 players*
    • Strategize with different battle roles: Attacker, Healer, Ranger, and Tank Yo-kai
    • Embark on a journey with more than 400 new and returning Yo-kai to discover and befriend
    • Complete missions for items and Oni Orbs to forge equipment and level up
    • Experience different Yo-kai, missions, and bosses depending on the version you play
    • Get one of three special Yo-kai by linking data with a version of the YO-KAI WATCH 2 games: Befriend Jibanyan S with YO-KAI WATCH 2: Bony Spirits, Komasan S with YO-KAI WATCH 2: Fleshy Souls, or Komajiro S with YO-KAI WATCH 2: Psychic Specters
    • Unlock the two new Oni Crank-a-kai and Lucky Crank-a-kai for even more chances to get hard-to-find Yo-kai or items. QR Code® patterns and Passwords will offer you in-game coins that you can use on the Crank-a-kai.

    Click here for more information about the game(s) or to purchase a digital copy.

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  • svgJun 12, 2018News

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    [dropcap]L[/dropcap]evel-5 already confirmed a Yo-Kai Watch 4 for Switch back in April, with a game trailer set to be released on the 23rd June. However, Yo-Kai Watch fans will be surprised (but delighted) to hear that there will also be a Yo-Kai Watch 5. To celebrate the successful franchise’s fifth birthday, a Yo-Kai Watch 5th Anniversary event will take place on June 27th. More information about the game will be revealed in a special live YouTube broadcast at 12:00 JST (on the 27th June).

    Level-5 have announced that ‘basically’ all of their future main titles are coming to Switch. Their mission being to transition what they have created for the 3DS to the Switch. This means that Yo-Kai Watch 5 will almost definitely be released for Switch, in addition to the confirmed Yo-Kai Watch 4 and Layton’s Mystery Journey port (which includes extra DX). We’re also hopeful that The Snack World, and Inazuma Eleven: Balance of Ares will get a western release, and that Ni No Kuni II could get a port also.

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  • svgMay 28, 2018News

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    We recently posted about Chucklefish (publishers of Stardew Valley) collaborating with Pixpil games to deliver an exciting new game entitled Eastward. In a recent interview with Red Bull, more information about the previously elusive game has come to light. Therefore we thought we’d take this opportunity to update anyone interested.

    Eastward is an upcoming JRPG adventure game with pixel graphics, which is set in a post-apocalyptic Shanghai. The game, which focuses on a father and his daughter, is said to be very emotive and exciting. Eastward has beautiful graphics similar to Chucklefish’s farming simulation Stardew Valley and their upcoming magic school game Witchbrook (which you can read more about here). Therefore, Pixpil’s decision to partner with Chucklefish is undoubtedly a positive and prosperous one.

    Pixpil initially started out as a small team of three. As the game progressed however, the team started to grow. There are currently around a dozen people from Pixpil working on Eastward. The company’s office is located in a Shanghai shopping mall, and is surrounded by many furniture stores. Pixpil have said that the ‘small and sneaky’ location of their headquarters has influenced the game.

    Having also been compared to games such as Zelda and Earthbound, and inspired by Japanese anime, and the hustle and bustle of Shanghai, it’s safe to say the game has a wide variety of influences.

    Pixpil’s co-founder and designer, Feng Ye talks about the game’s protagonists:

    “The main characters are John and Sam,” Ye explains. “A tough, hard-working guy, and a long white fluffy-haired girl respectively, who start their journey in a mysterious underground place isolated from the rest of the world. In the outside world, the human population has shrunk to an all-time low, and strange creatures are beginning to descend on the cities. After leaving their small underground village, John and Sam are about to discover what has made the world become so dangerous and what destiny awaits them.”

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    Despite taking place in a bleak post-apocalyptic world, the upcoming JRPG still has a plethora of interesting characters to discover and engage with. For example a merchant character called William, who has an adopted robot-boy assistant, undergoing surgery to become a real boy.

    Although the game is single player, players will have the opportunity to switch between the two protagonists in order to solve puzzles. The game will feature John the most, but will still incorporate his daughter Sam in order to add variety and different characteristics. On same occasions, the pair will need to be separated in order to proceed. This mechanic adds more complexities and possibilities to the gameplay.

    The game combines 2D art with 3D effects. Eastward consists of tried and tested game art methods, as well as more modern effects, created with a variety of equipment, and a bespoke Homebrew engine. This very unique combination has resulted in beautiful graphics.

    Eastward’s visual allure is one of the key reasons that Chucklefish got involved, according to producer Rosie Ball. “From the moment we saw Eastward we absolutely fell in love with the art style, and we just wanted to find out more! After we spoke to the Pixpil team and got hands-on with the game, we were so happy to discover that it’s not just a pretty game. It’s also really interesting from a technological point of view, with what it’s doing creatively with pixel art. The Pixpil team are being very innovative with their techniques, and that’s something that really excites us at Chucklefish.”

    The developers have also made it clear however, that they want the audio in the game to be just as compelling. Due to difficulties in finding local composers familiar with their game language, Pixpil have decided to outsource audio to Joel Corelitz The Unfinished Swan, Gorogoa, Tumbleseed) and Hyperduck Soundworks (Dust:An Elysian Tail, The Adventure Pals). Pixpil are working closely alongside them to ensure the music and audio is exactly how they want it and that the soundtrack is well-matched to the game.

    It has been hinted that Eastward is ‘moving towards completion’, although no fixed date for the game’s release has been set. Pixpil have said that they are very proud of their game, and belive that their partnership with Chucklefish has been very helpful in getting the ball rolling. Currently, the game is only set to be released for PC and Mac, although developers have expressed interest in releasing the game on other platforms, such as Linux.

    Could this mean a spot beside Stardew Valley in the Nintendo eShop?

    The full interview can be read here.

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  • svgJan 30, 2018Feature

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    [dropcap]A[/dropcap]re you a fan of aesthetically pleasing games? We are too! Here’s a list of 5 beautiful games you can look forward to in 2018.

    The Last Night

    The Last Night is an upcoming Indie Cyberpunk adventure game with pixel graphics. Set in a future where machines surpass humans, in a time referred to as the ‘era of leisure’, the game focuses on Charlie, someone who cannot engage with the augmentation surrounding him due to a childhood accident. The world around him seems pointless and meaningless and he sees an opportunity to change the way things are. But at what risk?

    There isn’t currently a release date for this game.

    The Gardens Between

    The Gardens Between is a surrealist puzzle adventure game, developed and published by The Voxel Agents.

    The game follows two best friends, Arina and Frendt, who find themselves in a beautiful world with garden islands. Players can go backwards and forwards in time, giving them the ability to discover each garden’s secrets. Throughout the course of the game, a story is revealed about friendship, childhood and growing up.

    The game is set for release on Steam in Q3 of 2018.

    Ni No Kuni II

    The developers of the game are Level-5 and we therefore have high hopes for pleasing aesthetics. The publishers of the game are BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment.

    Ni No Kuni II is an anime adventure RPG where the player follows young king Evan on a quest to found a new kingdom. Accompanied by newly made friends, the king attempts to save his people from a terrible evil.

    The game’s release date for Steam is January 18th 2018. The Playstation 4 version will follow a little later,  you can get it here.

    Ori and the Will of the Wisps

    Ori and the Will of the Wisps is an upcoming-platform adventure game developed and published by Moon Studios and Microsoft Studios respectively.

    The game is a sequel to Ori and the Blind Forest, released in 2015.

    To progress in the game, players have to move between platforms and solve puzzles. Throughout the game, players will discover the world beyond the forest of Nibel, uncover the truths of the lost ones, and unearth Ori’s true destiny.

    There isn’t currently a release date for this game. You can play Ori and the Blind Forrest in the meantime!

    The Swords of Ditto

    The game is an indie action adventure RPG with colourful graphics similar to Adventure Time.

    Explore a charming overworld, discover dangerous dungeons and improve your player in a delightful village whilst on your quest to banish the evil that plagues the island. Experience a unique adventure every time you play as different Heroes of Legend in an attempt to defeat the evil Mormo. Use the legendary sword of Ditto and join other players in co-op battles as you embark on the adventure of a lifetime in a world filled with a variety of characters, loot and battles.

    There isn’t currently a release date for this game.

    Looking for beautiful games to play now? Why not check out Rakuen or RiME. Night in The Woods is also a good choice if you want an autumnal game with a great soundtrack!

     

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