- Frustrating hidden object gameplay
- Poor guidance and hints
- Charming and beautiful art style
- Relaxing and healing experience
- Engaging and accessible gameplay
- Challenging mini-games
Emotions
Players found satisfaction in the game's charming aesthetics, including cute characters, unique art style, and beautiful music, which contributed to a warm and relaxing atmosphere. The game's educational value, cultural integration, and overall quality, along with developer responsiveness to issues, also significantly enhanced player enjoyment and a sense of completeness. Many appreciated its suitability for children and its stress-relieving nature.
Frustration primarily stemmed from unclear instructions, weak guidance, and the difficulty of finding tiny, hidden objects, often leading to pixel hunting and eye strain. Players also expressed annoyance with unskippable cutscenes, lack of manual saves, and the repetitive or overly difficult nature of achievements and some mini-games. Technical issues like bugs and crashes further contributed to a negative experience.
Disappointment arose from the game not meeting expectations, particularly regarding its relaxing nature or perceived value for money due to its short length and simple puzzles. Players found the gameplay repetitive, the hints unhelpful, and the overall user experience poor despite good initial ideas. Some felt the game was too childish or boring, leading to a sense of unfulfillment.
Joy was frequently experienced due to the game's 'healing' and heartwarming qualities, which improved players' moods and provided a fulfilling experience. The beautiful art style, engaging music, and rich cultural depiction, combined with fun mini-games and the joy of discovery, contributed to a generally happy and positive emotional state.
Players showed appreciation for the developers' significant effort in integrating and promoting cultural themes through the game's art style and detailed visuals. The overall value and the developers' positive attitude and responsiveness were also key factors in fostering this emotion.
Verdict
Mixed
Summary
Positive 70% Ā· Negative 30%. Score: 30 / 100
Positives:
- The game is frequently recommended as an excellent educational and casual game, especially suitable for children and parent-child play. Its simple mechanics, engaging content, and cultural lessons make it a valuable learning tool.
- Players consistently praise the game's art style, describing it as beautiful, cute, hand-drawn, and resembling a children's picture book. This visual aesthetic contributes significantly to the game's overall appeal and relaxing atmosphere.
- The game's music and sound design are highly praised for being pleasant, soothing, and perfectly complementing the visuals and gameplay. The background music enhances the relaxing and immersive experience.
- Many players found the game to be a relaxing, healing, and enjoyable experience. The calm pace, soothing music, and overall gentle atmosphere contribute to a stress-relieving and pleasant playtime, suitable for unwinding.
- The gameplay is described as simple yet engaging, with a good balance of hidden object puzzles and mini-games. The inclusion of a hint system and the option to skip difficult mini-games are appreciated features that enhance accessibility.
Negatives:
- Many players found the hidden object gameplay frustrating and visually taxing. Items are often too small, blend into the background, or are illogically placed, leading to eye strain, headaches, and a general feeling of being stuck or annoyed rather than relaxed.
- Players frequently reported issues with unclear instructions, weak guidance, and unhelpful hints. This lack of clarity often left them confused about objectives or item locations, hindering progression and increasing frustration.
- Several mini-games were criticized for being overly difficult, poorly explained, or having unreasonable time limits. This often led to player frustration and a feeling that the mini-games detracted from the overall experience.
- The game's music, often limited to one track per season, was described as repetitive and sometimes irritating, contributing to player fatigue rather than enhancing the relaxing atmosphere.
- The game's auto-save system and lack of manual saves, combined with unskippable cutscenes and the need to replay entire seasons or solar terms for missed items/achievements, made the achievement hunting process tedious and punishing.
Gameplay:
- The core gameplay revolves around finding hidden objects within scenes, often requiring keen observation and careful clicking. Players interact with the environment by finding and using items to progress, with a simple 'find item -> use item' loop.
- The game is deeply rooted in Chinese traditional culture, specifically the 24 Solar Terms. Each season and solar term features unique challenges, activities, and related poetry, providing an educational and culturally rich experience.
- The game incorporates various mini-games to break up the hidden object gameplay, ranging from simple puzzles to more complex ones like match-3 or Huarong Dao. While some mini-games can be challenging, players have the option to skip them.
- The game primarily tests players' eyesight and attention to detail, as many items are subtly hidden within the scenes. Patience and careful observation are key to success.
- The game's puzzles sometimes incorporate agricultural proverbs as clues, adding another layer of cultural immersion. Players can also find external guides for assistance. The game is suitable for patient players who appreciate its art style and is inspired by titles like 'Hidden Folks'.
Performance:
- A recent update (v1.05) successfully resolved critical startup issues that were preventing players from launching the game. This shows responsiveness from the developers in addressing major bugs.
- Players report that the game performs well on the Steam Deck, indicating good optimization for portable play. This is a positive technical aspect for users of that platform.
- The game's hints and card-stuck problems have been improved, making the gameplay experience smoother. This suggests a better user experience regarding in-game guidance and common frustrations.
Recommendations:
- Many players highly recommend this game, especially for its relaxing nature, charming art, and cultural themes like traditional Chinese solar terms. It's seen as a good value, particularly for those seeking a casual, hidden-object puzzle experience.
- Players warn that the game may cause motion sickness or eye strain, and its unclear instructions or interface can lead to frustration. These issues could significantly impact the playability for some users.
- Some players suggest waiting for a sale or further improvements before purchasing, with one even requesting a refund. This indicates a segment of the audience feels the current price or state of the game isn't fully justified.
- One specific piece of feedback suggests that players who dislike poetry might not enjoy the game. This implies a strong narrative or thematic element involving poetry.
Miscellaneous:
- Players report that the game's main story can be completed in a relatively short amount of time, typically ranging from 3 to 6 hours.
- Players desire more flexible progression options, such as the ability to re-read specific solar term nodes or save progress at the beginning of each season.
- Players suggest adding a reward mechanism for replaying mini-games to encourage engagement, and a skip function for mini-games if a player is stuck for an extended period.
- Players are impressed by the game's quality, especially considering it was developed by a small team of three creators in their spare time, highlighting its indie nature.
- One reviewer noted that the game's art style resembles that of a textbook.
