Squirreled Away Review Summary

Cozy, relaxing, and cute experience: The game is consistently praised for its cozy, chill, and relaxing atmosphere, often described as 'cute' and 'adorable'. Many reviewers highlight its ability to provide a comforting and refreshing experience, making it suitable for unwinding.

Fun, engaging solo/co-op gameplay: Reviewers appreciate both solo and multiplayer options, finding the gameplay engaging and fun. The game is considered suitable for relaxed gameplay with friends, with quests that are interesting without being overwhelming.

Rewarding and fluid movement: The movement mechanics, especially climbing and jumping, are highlighted as well-executed and rewarding. Players enjoy the feeling of moving like a squirrel through the environment, with controls that become fantastic once mastered.

Unique squirrel perspective is enjoyable: Experiencing the world from a squirrel's perspective is seen as magical and unique. Reviewers find it satisfying to play as a squirrel, collecting items and navigating the environment.

Balanced crafting and exploration: The game offers a good balance of crafting and exploration, with plenty of quests and puzzles to engage with. Crafting materials don't require excessive grinding, providing a sense of progression without being tedious.

Game-breaking bugs cause progress loss: Numerous reviews cite game-breaking bugs that cause loss of player progress, including disappearing builds, chests, and items. Save files are often corrupted, and the lack of a backup system exacerbates the problem. The frequency and severity of these bugs make the game unplayable for many.

Limited building/decoration options: Players desire more building and decoration options to allow for greater personalization. The limited variety of building pieces and furniture restricts creative expression.

Cumbersome climbing controls/camera: Climbing, especially on small branches or upside-down, suffers from camera issues and cumbersome controls. This makes navigation and platforming challenging and frustrating.

Lacks fast travel options: The large game world lacks fast travel options, making traversal tedious. The slow travel speed, even with speed boosts, further exacerbates the issue, hindering resource management and exploration.

Missing key UI features: The game lacks essential customization and convenience features. This includes button remapping, a mini-map, and item sorting, impacting user experience.

Core gameplay: survival, craft, platforming: The game blends survival, crafting, and platforming elements, tasking players to gather resources, build bases, and complete quests as a squirrel. The core gameplay loop revolves around exploration, resource management, and interacting with other characters to progress through the game's linear structure.

Game mechanics are easy, functional: The game features like climbing, quest system, acorn riddles, building mechanics, dismounting, squirrel vision, and open-world exploration are easy to understand and work well. These elements contribute to a smooth and accessible gameplay experience.

Limited building spots, backtracking: Players can construct a house for their squirrel, but building spots are limited, leading to excessive backtracking for materials. The building system allows free construction within a defined area, but the scarcity of building locations hampers the experience.

Swimming/fishing feel pointless: While swimming and fishing are possible, they are not integrated into the main questline and feel inconsequential. This lack of integration makes these features feel like underdeveloped side activities.

Enjoyable, humorous core concept: The core concept and building mechanics are enjoyable and humorous, centered around a squirrel constructing structures. However, this point lacks specific details, reducing its overall importance.

Inconsistent performance across devices: The game's performance is inconsistent across different hardware configurations. Some users report smooth gameplay on high-end PCs, while others struggle to maintain stable framerates even on lower settings or on the Steam Deck. Additionally, maxing out settings may not provide a worthwhile visual upgrade.

Inconsistent bug reports: The presence of bugs is inconsistent, with some players reporting a polished experience while others encounter issues. This suggests that the game's stability may vary depending on hardware or specific in-game actions.

Enjoyable, worth the price: Many reviewers find the game enjoyable and worth the price, especially for casual or co-op play. They appreciate its relaxing nature and simple mechanics, making it suitable for unwinding. Some recommend trying the demo first and express a desire for more content.

Backup saves advised: The reviewer suggests making frequent manual backup saves to mitigate potential data loss. This is a specific workaround for a potentially serious issue.

Delay house building: The reviewer recommends holding off building a house until after completing the cannonball quest to avoid a potential bug. This is a specific workaround for a potentially serious issue.

Caution advised for Steam Deck: Steam Deck users should be cautious due to unverified status and potential performance issues. This may result in lower framerates or mediocre graphics.

Craft glider early: Crafting the glider early is recommended, requiring feathers obtainable using fart bombs to access mushrooms. This is a specific tip for early game progression.

Cute, want customization: The game is considered 'cute' and reviewers are interested in customization options. This suggests that the game has an appealing aesthetic and that players are looking for ways to personalize their experience.

Awaiting bug fixes/updates: Reviewers are waiting for updates to address bugs and improve the game. This suggests that the initial release may have had some technical issues or lacked desired features, and players are anticipating future improvements from the developers.