Jul 3, 2023News
I love cats. I also enjoy both mystery and adventure games. In the upcoming Peace Island, we get an alluring combination of all of these things. Currently in development by Eric Blumrich and a small team of experienced devs (known for games like Prune and Grand Theft Auto V), this game is already gathering attention online.
You’ll play as cats! Starting out, you’ll be playing as the cat named Elizabeth. The day before, she was was coaxed into her pet taxi and dreading a trip to the veterinarian. She never sees the vet, though, instead falling asleep. When she awakes the next day, her human is nowhere to be found and the door is open.
Throughout the game, you will meet 8 other cats. You’ll need to gain the trust of these cats and eventually gain their friendship. At different points, you will control each of the different cats. Each one has unique strengths, weaknesses, and roles.
The world of Peace Island – outside from being Peace Island – is an open-world based on real-life Maine. Inside the island are 4 defined communities. These are Peace City Landing, Greenwood Farms, Ellison Heights, and LaFlamme Fishworks. These are settlements, farmlands, coastlines, woodlands, and more!
The story of the game is that the humans have all gone missing. The mystery is plentiful. There are an invasive species on the islands, artifacts and documents left behind, and 200 years worth of alternate history to unravel. Not only do you have to figure out what happened to the humans, you have to use the divergent storylines to decide if they are worth bringing back.
Peace Island is currently in development for PC, Mac, and Oculus VR. There is no set release date, yet, but a beta should be coming soon. You can check out more and support the game on Patreon. You can also see daily screenshots on Twitter.
Don’t worry – I have your fill of cat games! Take a look at The Good Life, Another Sight, and Calico – just to get started. I also have mystery game suggestions – like the newest iteration of Layton’s Mystery Journey and the kooky Lord Winklebottom Investigates.
Jan 31, 2023Indie Highlight
In Wylde Flowers, you play as Tara as she starts her new life in the town of Fairhaven, located on a small rural island. She may be a city girl turned farmer with little outdoors experience, but she has the can-do attitude needed to help Gramma Wylde take care of the family farm.
Learn how to plant and care for crops, mind animals, and gather materials like mushrooms and wood. You can also learn to fish, craft items, and much more!
Wylde Flowers features a diverse multicultural cast of characters. Get to know each of them through talking, quests, and story moments. Each one has a compelling backstory and even personal mysteries to discover. You may even find romance and love in one of them! Or if you prefer, platonic relationships and friendships are available and equally fruitful.
Rural life isn’t the only new thing for Tara, though. She’s also learning to become a witch! You will learn how to fly your broomstick, craft potions, control the weather and the seasons, and turn into a cat. Join the local coven who will guide you in your lessons.
Wylde Flowers is already available to play on Apple Arcade and is now also available on Nintendo Switch and Steam. There is currently a free demo available on Steam, too.
The game is also getting a huge free content update, take a sneak peak here.
Check out Sun Haven or Super Zoo Story more cute sim games.
Jan 10, 2023News
Since we last heard about Potionomics, an alchemy-crafting, potion-selling sim, a lot has changed. Developes at Voracious Games now have publisher XSEED/Marvelous backing them up! Now, there’s also deck-building and romancing elements in the mix, in case the game wasn’t perfect enough. Not to mention you practically have Archimedes (the owl, not the inventor) by your side.
You play as witch Sylvia who’s inherited her uncle’s potion shop, along with a huge debt. Players must hone their negotiation skills, outsell crafty competitors, and appease the pickiest customers with the best products in Rafta. Decorating your shop is not only stylish, but can help you to increase your sale prices and provide better quality potions! Gathering ingredients and learning new recipes will also be essential.
Furthermore, certain merchants and shopkeepers will be yours to romance, as recently revealed. Characters such as Muktuk the walrus, Saffron the faun, Luna the moth-human hybrid, and 7 others! You can check out the latest trailer below.
Potionomics is now available on Steam and has gathered mainly positive reviews. You can get this adorable and magical narrative-driven, deck-building shop simulator on Steam here. There’s no news as of yet if Potionomics will be coming to consoles, although chances are great with XSEED as the publisher.
Sep 10, 2022Indie Highlight
Play as Sylvia, a witch who’s taken over her uncle’s potion shop after his untimely death. It’s now up to her to keep the shop running and carry on her uncle’s legacy. Luckily, Sylvia isn’t alone. With the help of her friends she’ll learn to negotiate, outsell her competitors, and perhaps make her shop the number one shop in Rafta.
Learn the necessary skills to negotiate with customers by befriending villagers and other merchants who can teach you better ways to run the potion shop. Use those new skills to manage Sylvia’s stress as you choose the correct cards to settle on the right price. You’ll also learn to create the potions you’ll be selling. Just be careful what ingredients you add to them, because you could end up with some awful concoctions!
While not everyone you encounter will be helpful, as some aren’t friendly, there’s also a chance for romance waiting for you. You’ll get to choose from nine incredibly unique characters for your romantic partner. Choose one to date or date them all to find which one you like best!
After 6 years creating the game, developers Voracious Games are excited to announce that Potionomics will be available for PC via Steam on October 17th. You can currently add it to your wishlist.
For more potion making, check out Alchemy Garden, and for more management gaming, check out Bear and Breakfast.
Aug 26, 2022News
In this adorable new entry to the franchise, join Doraemon, Noby, and friends on a brand new planet for some more farming fun. Use different gadgets to help you grow and harvest crops, tend to the animals, and much more. Spend your days building and designing your farm or fishing on the beach. Explore the underwater areas to harvest pearls. Even fly above the clouds to discover special farms where you can grow and harvest rare crops.
Perhaps even more exciting about this Doraemon Story of Seasons game is the addition of co-op play. So, play solo, or kick back and relax with a friend as you both design, farm, fish, and explore to your heart’s content!
Bandai Namco published a new trailer to announce the upcoming release of the game. You will be able to get Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom starting November 2nd, 2022. It will be available on Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Steam.
You can find the previous Doraemon Story of Seasons game on the Nintendo Switch store, Steam, and the Playstation store (where it is on sale for $14.99 until 9/1/2022).
For other Story of Season games, check out our other articles here.
Sep 24, 2020Indie Highlight
Frogsong is a wholesome upcoming adventure game featuring frogs and bugs. Indie game developer Brandon Braun is both devloping and publishing the game. The planned release date for the game is Autumn 2022. The game is currently being developed for PC.
In Frogsong, you play as Chorus, a small frog with big dreams of protecting the world. However, Chorus is a tree frog, and is expected to devote his life to religious studies. Another barrier to Chorus achieving his goals is his small smize; no one will take him seriously!
But Chorus is dead serious and decides to move to a village named Boreala. There, he begins to train as a member of the Defense Guild with the help of a wise old veteran. Chorus soon realises that things are going to be trickier than anticipated. A powerful army and mysterious rumour are both on the rise. Can Chorus learn how to protect his loved ones before it’s too late?
Chorus is a young frog with a strong desire to protect the people around them. The other warriors of the village make fun of Chorus for their small size, but this just makes Chorus more determined to prove they matter too.
Elder Bufo is the kindhearted leader of Boreala and a veteran member of the Defense Guild. Unable to fight now due to his old age and amputation, he provides advice to the warriors of his village.
Lord Lithos is the tyrannical ruler of the Taural Empire. Suffering from an unknown illness, he seeks to cure death and expand his empire at any cost – if he can’t live forever, the next best thing is a legacy.
Basalt is the captain of the Defense Guild, a spot well earned. She’s a skilled warrior and has been fighting monsters for years. It’s going to take something really impressive for her to take Chorus seriously.
Espo is a strange treasure hunter Chorus meets on their travels. He’s traveling the land of Salia, discovering all sorts of strange artifacts from a forgotten time.
A crowdfunding campaign for Frogsong went live on Indiegogo on May 18th, 2020. Whilst the release of the game is still quite a way off, the developers of Frogsong are fortunately giving regular updates about the progress of the game. You can follow the game’s progress on Twitter, Indiegogo, and on Steam. An alpha demo of Frogsong is also playable on Steam.
For similarly adorable upcoming games to look out for, check out Garden Story, Lonesome Village, and Little Witch In The Woods.
Sep 18, 2020Indie Highlight
Hokko Life is described as a ‘cosy, creativity filled community sim game’. The game is being developed by Robert Tatnell who runs his own indie game dev company, Wonderscope. Initially, Wonderscope intended to both develop and publish Hokko Life. However, this is an understandably big feat for one person. Therefore in April 2020, Wonderscope revealed that they would ‘team’ up (sorry not sorry) with Team 17, who will now publish Hokko Life. Team 17 are notorious for publishing highly regarded games such as My Time at Portia, Overcooked, and Yooka-Laylee. Initially, Hokko Life was expected to release on Steam later in 2020; The impact of COVID-19, however, could (like many games), delay this. The release date for the game on Steam is currently TBA. The price of the game is also not yet known.
Hokko Life begins with you stepping off of a train. Now the proud owner of a kinda dusty old workshop, you are free to craft and create to your heart’s content. The quiet village you’ve moved to, needs your help to create an endearing town for its residents. Armed with plenty of paint and tools, design, build and decorate new homes for your neighbours.
Players can craft materials and combine them as they wish. Combining them creates amazing new furniture and items for the town. By collecting flowers and mixing paints, you can then design wallpapers, flooring and even clothing. With an abundance of choice, you can design items from fetching floral wallpaper to interesting urban-industrial furniture. Whatever your taste, with a workshop at hand, you have complete freedom whilst designing the town.
The first game element to be discussed in the July Hokko Life update is fishing. It’s already been announced that fishing will be a feature for players to look forward to. For example, the game’s Steam page informs us that the fish have unique habits. The advice therefore given is to switch up your approach, and to anticipate each catch presenting unique challenges when reeled in.
The game’s fishing feature, however, has since been switched up. And we’re ‘searious’ when we say it’s possibly one of the best updates yet. We’re not even ‘squidding’!
The majority of Wonderscope’s work this month has been dedicated to working on and improving the fishing gameplay. Robert from Wonderscope has kindly decided to walk people through how fishing works in Hokko Life to show how far the game has come!
After re-starting the inventory, Robert was able to add bait to the game! Players can attach the bait to an equipped fishing rod. Having bait on your fishing rod will alter your chances of reeling in certain fish. Players can craft bait using different resources found in the game: but only once you’ve unlocked the crafting recipes.
If you right click on a certain type of bait in your backpack, you will then be prompted by a message. The message will give you the option of attaching the bait to your fishing rod:
Cast your line so that your bait and hook are in the water. It’s then just a matter of waiting for a fish to spot them. Resist the urge to try to reel in the fish as soon as it nibbles. The fish could take quite a few nibbles at the bait before being hooked, so patience is key. You’ll know when the fish has taken the last bite as the action UI will pop up. When this occurs, you have a short amount of time to press ‘Interact’ to hook the fish before it gets away.
But because nothing in life is easy right? Wanting to make Hokko Life that bit more challenging, Wonderscope have added another step which players must complete before that fishy is theirs. That next step, or challenge is the fishing mini game. The aim of the game is to keep the fish in the ring until it reaches the goal line. Naturally, the fish have minds of their own and the pests will try and swim away. This means you’ll need to position your rod left and right, and press ‘interact’ to reel a fish back into the ring.
If the fiendish fish remains outside of the ring for too long, it’ll get away and you’ll fail the mini game… 😒
On the other hand, there’s a chance that a chest could emerge in the mini game. If you manage to guide the frustrating fishy through this chest, it’ll pop open! And voila! You’ll get your fish and a random reward!
Robert said that he recently tried out a “diorama” look for the fishing mini game. He decided upon building a little scene to make the mini game look more appealing and generally aesthetic. The dev confessed to the mini game originally resembling a boring rectangle and likes the cuter direction he has taken with the fishing aspect. Robert also excitedly added that depending on the location you fish in, the diorama will change in accordance with it!
Fishing challenges were also added to the game more recently. These challenges will unlock for players after they’ve been fishing for a while. Furthermore, Hokko Life will offer a weekly challenge where players can get bonus rewards.
These challenges are generated once an (in-game) week and necessitate players to catch a specified amount of fish within a certain time. These can either be specific fish, or any type of fish. The time limit varies and is based on the rarity of the fish, as well as if there are any nearby. But don’t worry, if you fail you can always go back and retry! Also, things can occur behind the scenes too, making sure that you have a chance of winning the challenge. I smell something fishy there. 🤔
Robert wanted more variation in the challenges, but explained that setting them up and getting them to work took considerably longer than expected, so he decided to settle with just one type for now. On the plus side, he excitingly added that the system is now there for challenge types to be added in the future.
Whilst the fishing update was the most prominent part of July’s Hokko Life devlog, other updates were also covered. These include:
Finally, Hokko Life Devlog #3 contained some brief updates on improvements to other avatar assets and features. These include face and head shapes, tweaks to hair styles, and deleting ‘ugly’ old clothing items and old avatar assets. Robert said deleting the old ugly stuff felt good, so we’ll take his word for it. But seriously though, please give the basic avatar assets some clothes and features before showing them to us. Especially when they seem to be crazily wielding weapons of some kind… #NightmareFuel 😱😂
Make sure to stay tuned for our coverage of Hokko Life Devlog #4! The game is really shaping up, with some new features and updates you won’t want to miss! 😊
Click here to check out an exclusive interview with the game’s solo developer.
For more info on the game be sure to take a peek at this article
You can also visit the game’s website here.
Jun 19, 2020Indie Highlight
STRAY is an upcoming game that combines cyberpunk/cybercities, adventure, mystery-solving, and cats. The developers of STRAY, BlueTwelve Studio, are a small team from the south of France. Supposedly, they are “mostly made of cats and a handful of humans..”. Publishing STRAY is AnnaPurna Interactive, who also published the highly regarded ‘What Remains Of Edith Finch‘.
STRAY originally started off as a concept called HK_Project. The premise being that players explored a strange/modern city as a stray cat. The few images and gifs that were floating about the internet became pretty popular and piqued the interest of many. A few years on, after many had forgot about HK_Project due to radio silence, the game made a surprising reappearance. On June the 11th 2020, an official announcement confirmed that the game, now entitled STRAY, will definitely be released. Even more excitingly, the game seems quite close to completion. The cyberpunk aesthetic, and awesome graphics of STRAY can be seen in the awesome trailer below:
The game’s official website says: “Stray is a third-person cat adventure game set amidst the detailed neon-lit alleys of a decaying cybercity and the murky environments of its seedy underbelly.” As a lost and alone cat, players must “Roam surroundings high and low, defend against unforeseen threats and solve the mysteries of this unwelcoming place inhabited by nothing but unassuming droids and dangerous creatures.”
With no humans about, it’s clear that their are mysteries to unravel whilst you try to escape this weird cybercity.
Seeing as you are a feline after all, the game lets you ‘cat’ in some fun and playful ways. With danger present, you must obviously be stealthy and nimble. However, you can be silly and mischeivous whilst exploring the strange world too.
Whilst exploring, you will befriend a small flying drone, called B12. Between you and your new companion, you attempt to find a way out.
The masterminds behind the game are aiming for a 2021 release. The game will definitely release on PC via Steam, as well as on PlayStation 5. It hasn’t been confirmed whether the game will be backward compatable with consoles such as the PS4. However, as the announcement is very recent, more information regarding gameplay, compatability, pricing, etc, is likely to emerge in the future. So make sure to stay tuned!
If STRAY piques your interest, why not check out a Street Cat’s Tale here?