When I played the NextFest demo, I loved the concept of the chronolens and was excited for a logic game involving a lot of mystery solving. It ended up not quite being that. There's a lot of running about across the map and doing fetch quests, and a lot of the mysteries are trial and error rather than actual logic. I actually didn't mind that it wasn't what I expected in the end.

The game is a LOT bigger than I expected it to be. There's loads to do, lots of quests and things to collect. I do wish there had been more fast travel across the game, but I enjoyed the world a lot and it did help with learning the map more.

It is buggy in a lot of areas, but nothing is game breaking. It did lead to some of the mini games being pretty frustrating, but I got through them eventually. For example, the ice cream game wouldn't save the milk setting so it was nearly impossible to get the perfect flavours. There are also performance issues, particularly when you cross certain parts of the map, but again, nothing game breaking.

The biggest issue I found was with the save system. Even if I saved manually on top of an auto save, I'd come back and find that things I'd done already hadn't stayed done. I found that using the "sleep" at the end of the day was the most consistent way to save.

The story wasn't the strongest and there were a lot of plot holes but I can forgive that part. Story isn't generally something I'm too worried about in games.

I don't normally review soundtracks, but I found the music in this game to be particularly pleasant and fitting.

Overall, I did enjoy it, and I will genuinely miss running around in this world.

On Your Tail

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54 hours

4

[Português]

Senti como se realmente estivesse viajando e explorando o belo lugar chamado Borgo Marina. Aos poucos fui me apegando à cidade e ao seu povo encantador. O jogo tem muita alma em seus cenários e personagens, o que realmente dá vida à experiência. Gostei especialmente dos diálogos e da oportunidade de conhecer um pouco de cada personagem.

Dito isso, a jogabilidade tem vários problemas, na minha opinião. A maioria dos minijogos é entediante, e os de investigação parecem aleatórios demais, basicamente funciona na base da tentativa e erro. A lógica quase não tem utilidade, o que torna essas partes frustrantes.

A história principal também é mal contada: confusa, inconsistente e igualmente aleatória. Não vou dar spoilers, mas a solução do mistério final foi decepcionante. Muitas peças não se encaixam, e há buracos no enredo que prejudicam bastante um jogo de investigação.

Ainda assim, deixo uma avaliação positiva porque o jogo tem muitos momentos fofos e marcantes, e sua mensagem final é tocante, relacionável e agridoce, algo que gostei bastante. No fim das contas, é um jogo muito humano em sua essência, apesar de ser protagonizado por personagens furries (o que adorei, a arte é linda, mtu bem desenhados).

No aspecto prático, um minimapa teria facilitado bastante a navegação. Se o objetivo dos desenvolvedores era fazer o jogador se perder e vagar para incentivar a exploração, então eles definitivamente conseguiram. Muitas vezes fiquei rodando em círculos até memorizar o layout confuso de Borgo Marina.

Conclusão: É um bom jogo, apesar dos problemas de narrativa e jogabilidade. Seus pontos fortes compensam as falhas, e no geral, vale a experiência.

[English]

I felt like I was truly traveling and exploring the beautiful place called Borgo Marina. I started getting attached to the town and its wonderful people. This game has a lot of soul in its environments and characters, which really bring it to life. I especially enjoyed the dialogues and the chance to get to know a little about each character.

That said, the gameplay has quite a few flaws in my opinion. Most of the minigames are boring, and the investigation ones felt too random, you basically have to keep trying until you stumble on the right answer. Logic plays almost no role, which makes them frustrating.

The main story is also poorly told: confusing, inconsistent, and equally random. I won’t spoil anything, but the solution to the central mystery felt disappointing. Too many pieces don’t fit together, and there are plot holes that really hurt an investigation-focused game.

Still, I give it a positive review because there are many cute, memorable moments, and its final message is touching, relatable, and bittersweet, something I really appreciated. In the end, it feels like a very human game at its core, despite being presented through furry characters (which I liked, very well designed and great art).

On a more practical note, a minimap would have made navigation so much easier. If the developers’ goal was to make players wander and get lost to encourage exploration, then they definitely succeeded. I often ran in circles until I finally memorized Borgo Marina’s confusing layout.

Conclusion: It’s a good game despite its issues with storytelling and gameplay. Its highlights make up for its flaws, and overall, it’s an experience worth having.