Info about Hoa: Official game description: Hoa is a beautiful puzzle-platforming game that features breathtaking hand-painted art, lovely music, and a peaceful, relaxing atmosphere. Experience the magic of nature and imagination as you play the main character, Hoa, on her journey through breathtaking environments back to where it all began. **Breathtaking hand-painted art** --------------------------------- Step into a painting that lives - explore a vast world of meticulously crafted sceneries of stunning hand-painted art. **Outstanding original soundtrack** ----------------------------------- Captivatingly story-telling and emotionally-charged, Hoa's exceptional score, originally composed and live-recorded, brings its world to life with a touch of nostalgia. **Lovely creatures** -------------------- Keep an eye out for delightful magical creatures along the way. Most of them want to be friends, some might even tell you a little story or two. Cuteness guaranteed. **Gentle, yet compelling flow** ------------------------------- Navigate with a keen eye and solve exploration-based puzzles. Relax to the organic rhythm of subtle storytelling while being intrigued by endless little wonders. Be a child - it's easier and harder than it may seem. Release date: Aug 24, 2021 Categories: Puzzle Platformer, 2D Platformer, Hand-drawn Art, Relaxing Gameplay, Atmospheric Exploration, Single-player Story, Collectibles Feature scans: - Steam Deck: score 75; verdict: Playable but plagued by crashes and control bugs; summary: The game has significant stability and control issues on Steam Deck, particularly a game-breaking black screen crash at the end of the last level and unresponsive controls. The inverted world level design also causes discomfort. However, general performance is good outside these problems, with the OLED model getting positive remarks. - Hardware Profile: No data Feature extractions: - Community Price: - Community fair range: $5.00 - $10.00 - Reasoning: Multiple reviews indicate that the current base price of $14.99 is too high given the game's short length (2-2.5 hours) and simple, repetitive gameplay. One review explicitly mentions $7-8 as a good sale price, implying the base price should be lower. The community consistently recommends waiting for a sale, suggesting that a fair base-game price range is below $14.99, around $5-$10. - Playtime Metrics: - Game completion: 2.5h - Story completion: 2.5h - Session length: 2.0h - Endgame: N/A - Reasoning: Multiple reviews consistently report game completion and story completion in the range of 2-3 hours, with exact figures such as 2 hours and 2.8 hours. This supports a gameCompletion and storyCompletion of 2.5 hours. Session length evidence is mixed: some players complete the game in one sitting (2-3 hours), while others break it into half-hour daily sessions. The majority of reviews imply a single-session playthrough, so sessionLength is set to 2 hours as a practical estimate. No evidence of endgame content was found, so endgame is null. - Time-to-fun: - Summary: Hoa begins with appealing art and music, but repetitive platforming, lack of challenge, and inconsistent pacing cause boredom to set in within the first few areas; only the final moment offers a narrative click, but it is too late for most players. - Stance: Fun then drops - Anchor: Narrative revelation right before the credits - Time to anchor: N/A - Friction: repetitive level design; lack of threat or challenge; unresponsive controls; tedious mechanics (ladybugs, forced do-overs); shallow puzzles; overly simplistic gameplay - Unlock drivers: N/A - Conditions: appreciation for hand-drawn art; enjoyment of relaxing, chill music; preference for story over gameplay; tolerance for highly repetitive mechanics - Player Archetypes: - Casual Relaxation Seeker (sale) - Motivation: Relaxation, stress relief, and a cozy atmosphere with no failure penalty. - Playstyle: Plays at a gentle pace, exploring every scene without pressure, treating the game as a wind-down activity. - Experience: newcomer - Purchase stance: sale - Labels: Casual gamer; Relaxation seeker; Beginner-friendly player; Cozy game enjoyer - Reference games: Gris; Ori and the Blind Forest; Limbo - Aesthetic Connoisseur (deep sale) - Motivation: To experience beautiful art and music, and to immerse in a handcrafted world. - Playstyle: Takes screenshots often, plays with good audio setup, values visual storytelling and music above mechanics. - Experience: mixed - Purchase stance: deep sale - Labels: Ghibli art lover; Art game enthusiast; Music appreciator; Screen-archer - Reference games: Gris; Ori and the Blind Forest; 植物精灵 (Botanicula); Little Nightmares Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category. Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews. What players like: - Beautiful visuals and graphics (weight 0.71): Players consistently praise the game's visuals, describing them as beautiful, pretty, and a standout feature. The art style is often compared to Ghibli and noted for its bright, cute, and cartoon aesthetic. - Excellent music and soundtrack (weight 0.5): The music and soundtrack are highly praised, with many calling it good, amazing, or excellent. It is noted for carrying the narrative and being Ghibli-inspired. - Chill and cozy atmosphere (weight 0.22): The game is described as chill, cozy, and meditative for most of its duration, with a calm and cute vibe. Players appreciate the relaxing experience. - Early chapters are engaging (weight 0.17): The first few chapters introduce new gameplay mechanics and are considered impressive, healing, and fun. This positive start is noted by multiple players. - Artistic black-and-white sequence (weight 0.06): A specific artistic black-and-white sequence where two shadow characters pass through each other is mentioned as a memorable moment. - No enemies, bosses are friends (weight 0.06): The game features no enemies, and bosses are portrayed as friends, contributing to its non-violent and friendly tone. - Story is condensed and easy to understand (weight 0.06): The story is described as condensed and easy to understand, making it accessible to players. Common complaints: - Boring gameplay overall (weight 0.46): Many players find the gameplay, platforming, and levels boring and uninteresting, contributing to a lack of engagement. - Last level has reversed controls (weight 0.38): The final level features inverted controls and map rotation, causing motion sickness and frustration for many players. - Controls are sluggish or unresponsive (weight 0.31): Controls are described as clunky, sluggish, and unresponsive from the start, making the game difficult to play. - Game is too short (weight 0.23): Players report the game can be completed in under 2.5 hours with no replay value, making it feel padded and unsatisfying. - Chase scene is non-interactive (weight 0.23): A key chase scene with a robot is a cutscene with no player control, which feels frustrating and reduces immersion. - Lack of story and emotional connection (weight 0.22): The story is underdeveloped, leaving players with no emotional connection to the characters or narrative. - Gameplay is simplistic and linear (weight 0.2): The gameplay is described as incredibly simplistic, super linear, and lacking interesting mechanics. Gameplay feedback: - 2D platforming game core (weight 0.27): The game is primarily a 2D platformer, with repeated mentions of platforming gameplay across clusters. Many elements like puzzle-platforming, vine grabbing, and inverted levels build on this foundation. - New mechanics each chapter (weight 0.26): Each chapter introduces a new mechanic, which keeps the gameplay fresh and varied. This includes mechanics like double jump, gliding, vine grabbing, and inverse controls. - Meditative and calm tone (weight 0.22): Players describe the game as meditative and calm, with no enemies and all bosses being friendly, reinforcing a relaxing experience. The fairy protagonist and dream level also contribute to this tranquil mood. - Level design and controls (weight 0.11): General positive or neutral feedback mentions level design and controls, indicating these are acceptable but not remarkable. They are fundamental to the platforming experience. - Collision detection issues (weight 0.07): One piece of feedback points to inaccurate collision detection, which can be frustrating in a precision platformer. This may affect player enjoyment during difficult sections. - Unclear objectives (weight 0.07): Some players find the objective unclear, which can lead to confusion and a lack of direction. This is a notable usability concern. - Backtracking for new powers (weight 0.07): Players are required to backtrack to a boss to obtain new powers, which can feel repetitive or slow down pacing. This is a specific design choice that may not appeal to all. - Collecting butterflies and seals (weight 0.06): Collectibles like butterflies and seals are present, likely serving as optional goals. This adds a light completionist element to the game. Performance notes: - Performance and crashing issues (weight 0.19): The game suffers from frequent crashes and severe stuttering during FMV cutscenes, with an overall feel of running at only 30 FPS. These technical problems significantly degrade the player experience. - Controller dead zone problem (weight 0.06): Players report that the controller has noticeable dead zones, affecting input responsiveness and precision during gameplay. Recommendations: - Overwhelmingly negative purchase recommendations (weight 0.32): Multiple reviewers express strong regret and advise against purchasing the game, with some explicitly stating they would refund if possible. This sentiment is the most common across all clusters. - Only buy at deep discount (weight 0.31): Several reviewers recommend purchasing only when the game is on sale, with some specifying a minimum discount of 50% or a maximum price of $2. This suggests the game is not considered worth its full price. - Motion sickness and vertigo issues (weight 0.13): Two separate clusters warn that the game is not suitable for players prone to motion sickness or vertigo. This indicates a specific accessibility concern that may affect a subset of players. - Only for very young children (weight 0.13): Reviewers suggest the game is only appropriate for young children, specifically ages 3-4 or up to six years old. It is not recommended for general or mature audiences. - Watch video or screenshots first (weight 0.12): Some reviewers advise watching a video preview or looking at screenshots before buying, and suggest spending time on better games. This indicates the game may not deliver an engaging experience. - Achievement hunting only (weight 0.07): One reviewer notes the game is only worth it for easy achievements, implying the gameplay itself is not compelling for most players. Other player notes: - Undeserved rewards criticism (weight 0.08): Players feel the game received rewards it did not deserve, indicating a perceived mismatch between game quality and recognition. Emotions: - Disappointment (weight 0.7): Players felt that the game's beautiful visuals and music were let down by poor story execution, shallow gameplay, and a short length. Many cited a lack of puzzles, repetitive level design, and technical issues as major drawbacks. The game was often described as "style over substance," failing to deliver engaging content despite its aesthetic appeal. - Frustration (weight 0.46): Frustration primarily stemmed from unresponsive controls, inverted camera or movement controls, and annoying level design choices, particularly in the final segment. Bugs like black screens, crashes, and progress loss, along with lazy unskippable cutscene solutions, compounded the negative experience. The chase scenes being relegated to non-interactive cutscenes and forced backtracking further aggravated players. - Anger (weight 0.14): Anger was directed at the final level's inverted controls and the overall feeling that the game deliberately aimed to cause discomfort. Players criticized the long duration of reversed controls and clunky physics, calling it an unnecessary artistic choice that ruined the experience. - Boredom (weight 0.14): Players found the gameplay lacking in variety and challenge, with boring and repetitive jumping sections and large empty spaces in later levels. The linear design, absence of puzzles, and sluggish pacing made the experience feel monotonous and unengaging. - Annoyance (weight 0.11): Annoyance was caused by minor but persistent issues such as screen trembling, slow cutscenes, condescending tutorial text, and FMV stutter bugs. Inability to remap keys and unintuitive vine-grabbing controls further irritated players. - Disgust (weight 0.08): Disgust was reserved for the final level's anti-human design and the story's shift to an overly aggressive and dark tone in its latter half. - Nausea (weight 0.05): The inverted controls in a 2D platformer environment caused motion sickness even worse than experienced in 3D games. Combined with screen flashing and forced rotation, the game induced physical nausea and dizziness. - Appreciation (weight 0.05): Despite overall disappointment, players appreciated the game's beautiful visuals and an artistic black-and-white sequence, which stood out as positive elements. - Dissatisfaction (weight 0.03): Dissatisfaction arose from a sudden difficulty spike and the introduction of inverted controls in the final level without any gradual challenge progression, feeling unfair and poorly designed. - Regret (weight 0.03): Players regretted spending money on a game that was not only short but also unpleasant, considering it a waste of both time and money. - Satisfaction (weight 0.03): Satisfaction was found in the most of the game's relaxing and beautiful segments, which provided a brief positive experience before later frustrations. - Betrayal (weight 0.03): Players felt betrayed by the early game's inviting quality, which lured them into a false sense of comfort before the experience turned extremely unpleasant in later sections. - Fear (weight 0.03): An underwater level triggered thalassophobia in some players, causing a specific and intense fear response. - Emptiness (weight 0.03): The game's short length and lack of narrative weight left players with a feeling of emptiness, as there was little meaningful story to carry the experience. - Dizziness (weight 0.03): Dizziness was directly linked to the reverse world controls introduced in the final level, disorienting players. - Discomfort (weight 0.03): Discomfort was associated specifically with the uncomfortable gameplay mechanics present in the ending segment. - Confusion (weight 0.03): A 3-minute segment where players had no control over the character led to confusion, as they were unsure what was happening or why they could not interact. - Physical discomfort (weight 0.03): The final segment reportedly caused neck pain and vertigo, leading to genuine physical discomfort during gameplay.}