Mothergamer Plays Assassin's Creed Mirage

 I was really curious about this installment of Assassin's Creed. If you played Valhalla you know who Basim is, but it's not the Basim we know in Valhalla. This is Basim when he was younger and before he met Eivor. We get to see how Basim came to be where he is. There was a lot of talk of bringing the series back to basics like the classic earlier games and having the game be shorter. This is true in both aspects because I finished the game in about twenty hours. When I think of classic, I instantly think of the Ezio trilogy which I still love and it's easy to see some of those nods to the earlier titles throughout the game. 

Right from the start of the story, it's interesting to see how different Basim is from his Valhalla future. He's a young street thief living with his friend Nehal in Anbar and circumstances happen that cause him to join the assassins and end up in Baghdad. Ninth century Baghdad is beautiful. I took my time just exploring the vast city and checking out the marked historical sites on the map and reading every historical codex I could find. This was wonderfully incorporated into the game because you could enjoy playing the game while stopping to learn about the Islamic Golden Age complete with notes, photos, and art all curated by various historians and museums. It was fascinating for me and I thought it was quite interesting learning about the culture and language during that time period. 

Ninth Century Baghdad is beautiful. 

Stealth is very much emphasized because you are an assassin after all. The game gives you plenty of places to hide including a throwback from the earlier days of blending in with a group of people or sitting on a bench and hiding in plain sight. There are also the hiding closets placed around areas which were amusing for me because you can pop out and surprise the unsuspecting guards. Running across rooftops and ziplines and dropping down on enemies and then hiding quickly is a lot of fun. The parkour is great, but it's not perfect and sometimes neither is the stealth. There were times Basim would do a little hiccup and then I'd either fall and injure myself or end up in an all out brawl with guards that were on high alert. That could get frustrating and sometimes I would just have to cut and run or I'd die and have to reload the last save. The battles themselves aren't bad as if you time it right Basim can parry an attack or use the arsenal of tools he has like smoke bombs to turn the tide of battle in his favor. 

Surprise! 

The story itself isn't bad. I actually liked Basim and found he was definitely not as harsh as his Valhalla version, but again he's younger here and it's part of the story how he comes to be that way. Besides the main story there are side missions that tie into the main story having Basim find clues about each Order member and trying to figure out what they're searching for. If you haven't played Valhalla some of this can be a little confusing, but if you have the puzzle pieces fit together and you can follow where it's all going. They did bring back two of my least favorite mechanics and that's the eavesdropping and following a target. Eavesdropping isn't so bad because if you can blend into a bench or some bushes and you're close enough you just wait and listen. Following a target however was always irritating because if you follow too close or they notice you in any manner, they run away and then you have to wait until the next day to try again. I was glad I could sit and forward time so I didn't have to wait too long for this. 

Doing a little eavesdropping. 

There were definitely a lot of things I loved in Mirage. One of the more adorable things was that you can pick up and cuddle all the cats throughout the city. I also found the tokens system to be interesting. Basically you have three different sets of tokens; merchant, power, and favor. These tokens can be used to bribe people like the merchants to help Basim blend in or cause distractions during missions. I also enjoyed photo mode in the game. Being able to stop and take photos of a leap of faith or a gorgeous vista out in the desert was very cool.  I really loved the character of Roshan and I adore Shoreh Aghdashloo who did an amazing job with the voice acting for her. The relationship between Roshan and Basim as teacher and student I found interesting because it showed the differences between them as well as showing just how young Basim is here. 

That being said, I did not like Nehal because she's rude, she's selfish, and constantly shows up at strange moments and is constantly berating Basim about what she wants instead of actually listening to what he wants and not respecting any of his wishes at all. I had my suspicions about her right from the early start of the story and frankly it was pretty obvious so I wasn't really surprised at the reveal, but felt vindicated that I was right. The ending for the story was a little disappointing and felt a bit empty. While I understand that the whole point is to show how Basim essentially embraced his Isu counterpart and became Loki it just felt flat and abrupt. It gave us some back story about Basim sure, but it really expected us to suspend disbelief and accept that he didn't ask more questions of Loki and just went with it becoming the villain that tries to kill Eivor in Valhalla. It was odd and didn't really mesh with the flow of the story we're being told. 

Other than that, I enjoyed Mirage and I did appreciate that after the main story is finished you can still explore the city and look for any collectibles you may have missed. It's a beautiful game with some memorable moments and I did have fun exploring Baghdad and learning about its history. It was not a bad adventure and I enjoyed the time I had with it. 

A leap of faith. 

*Assassin's Creed Mirage is available to play on the following platforms: Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

*Join our community on Twitch as we play games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Another Crusade A Cute Wooden Puppet Adventure

 *Note: I received the game for free on Nintendo Switch for my honest review of the game. Thank you to Limited Run Games for the game key! 

Another Crusade looks very cute right from the start. Described as a 3D wooden puppet action RPG, the game is very charming with the artwork. The knight is coming home from a finished adventure when a meteor shower happens and suddenly, he finds himself on another adventure to save everyone. 

The knight heading home before an adventure. 

The areas looking like a cute puppet stage are adorable. There is a tutorial with the battle mechanics as the game is turn based. You have to time the attacks just so and this is where I feel the game struggles a bit. There's not really an indicator marker of when you're supposed to hit an enemy so I kept missing a lot which means I would get hit a lot and more often than not get wiped out and I'd have to try again. It's not great when the difficulty spike in a game is right at the start and doesn't get better. The timing window is so precise that constantly missing was very much an issue for me. 

Battling an ogre. 

I did like the road tips when you were in an area map. It would tell you things like healing your HP and MP in a healing spring. The various enemies are interesting, but sometimes when I was trying to get my bearings on a map it would get frustrating trying to run away from them so I didn't end up in a fight. The knight eventually meets his other friends and the witty one liner jokes and puns are smartly done. I found myself laughing at some of the antics of the adventurers and some of the villains too. 

Learning adventurer tips. 

While Another Crusade is cute, the combat could be very frustrating. There's also the lack of a map navigation. I would get lost often which would end up with me getting stuck fighting enemies that were too high a level and not being able to run away so I'd end up dying. You start over at a checkpoint and sometimes that was not always ideal. There's no fast travel in the game either which frankly would have been helpful. 

I really wanted to love Another Crusade, but unfortunately there were a lot of issues with the gameplay mechanics and the imbalance with difficulty spikes made it rather frustrating. There are also crashing issues with the game in odd places. If those issues are addressed Another Crusade could be a good game because the potential is there. 

Wandering the world map. 

*Another Crusade is available on the following platforms: Steam, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 5, Xbox Series X/S 

*Join our community on Twitch as we play games and discussing mental health. 

A Tiny Sticker Tale: The Perfect Amount of Fun and Whimsy

 *Note: I received a game code for the Nintendo Switch for my honest review of the game. Thank you to Ogre Pixel for the game code.

I really enjoyed Lonesome Village so when I saw that Ogre Pixel had created what looked like another wonderful game with A Tiny Sticker Tale I was excited. Described as changing the world around you with the power of stickers sounded interesting. Right away you get to play as an adorable donkey by the name of Flynn. It's a little odd that there's no real beginning to the game with Flynn arriving by boat on an island and talks to a cute rabbit who explains that anything can be a sticker. This gives a good introduction on how to do this and shows your sticker book where you can put the stickers until you need them. The rabbit also explains that she understands that Flynn is trying to find his dad on this island, but no details after that. The whole goal is finding Flynn's dad and using the power of stickers to do it. 

All the stickers so far in my sticker book. 

The game was serious when it said anything can be a sticker which includes some of the characters you meet along the way. You can pick up a character and put them in the sticker book to be placed in a different location. It's easy to figure out what can be a sticker and what can't. The game isn't mind bending puzzles and is relaxing letting you take your time to explore and enjoy. 

Placing a bunny in the world.

Some of the characters ask for help with things such as putting some trees in their favorite camping spot or taking them to a viewpoint where they can look at the moon. The fact that you can pick up the moon and sun too and make them stickers was a nice touch. You can change a scene from day to night which changes some things or allows you to enjoy a different setting in that area. 

Helping out Dusty.

There are also some endearing memory scenes of Flynn and his dad showing their shared love of stickers. Eventually it felt like I was running out of room with the stickers, but the game was ready for that providing me with a cute tent that could also be a sticker, but where I could store excess stickers as well. It also provided another adorable thing in the game, decorating my tent with various furniture items. 

Flynn and his dad look at stickers together. 

I absolutely love the artwork in A Tiny Sticker Tale. It's very cute with really nice music for each area and scene. It's charming and I found myself stopping often just to take it all in and appreciate how lovely it all was. 

Enjoying a moonlight view. 

The game itself isn't very long, I finished it in about three hours. There are collectibles to get which the game provides in the form of a sticker book showing how many items and characters you can find. I genuinely enjoyed A Tiny Sticker Tale because it has the perfect amount of fun and whimsy. It's something wonderfully creative that I've never seen before and it brought up lots of happy memories of collecting stickers when I was a kid. It's warm and gentle providing a few hours of joy which I love.

A lovely rainbow! 

*A Tiny Sticker Tale is available now on Nintendo Switch and Steam

*Join our community on Twitch as we enjoy games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Mothergamer Plays Fire Emblem Engage

 I love the Fire Emblem games and have fond memories of playing the classic ones. I had never played Three Houses or Engage and many friends thought I would like both, but suggested Engage for a fun gameplay with story. I picked up Engage along with the DLC for it and was ready to begin my adventure. I was pleasantly surprised that I could play the main character as male or female. The default name is Alear, but you can change the name if you wish. I also liked that I was able to adjust the game settings with the volume of music and sound effects and adjust the sizing of the subtitles. Another thing that pleased me was that I could have the game set to casual and I could turn permanent death off. That was one thing I never really enjoyed in the previous Fire Emblem games, that if you lost a character on the tactics map they were gone forever. Engage allows you to turn that off so that they can join you in the next battle. 

Alear is ready to fight.

I was curious about the land of Elyos and its five regions that each had an Emblem ring. With the DLC I also got Emblem bracelets. I was intrigued by the fact that Alear is a dragon who was asleep for a thousand years and didn't remember anything. That added a bit of mystery to who she was before and how she got to be there which does get revealed in the story over time. The game does give a solid tutorial on how to summon the Emblem they're equipped with while also going over the tactics and strategy mechanics. I was excited to see the Emblems were heroes from past Fire Emblem games. I was really happy to see Hector and Lynn who are favorites of mine. 

Learning how to summon and how to battle. 

I learned very quickly which Emblems worked better with various characters. Engage does let you play around with it and you can swap between characters. For example, Lynn worked amazingly well with my favorite archer Alcryst while Tiki was a great fit with Alear. The battles are fun and the Engage actions are beautifully done with fantastic artwork and animated scenes. Level grinding wasn't really a chore because I was having so much fun. The overhead map has you running along paths to the highlighted spots for skirmishes and story battles. It's fairly easy to navigate and very pretty. 

Running on the map. 

The story itself is quite good. There's a lot of interesting characters that support Alear and the conversations she had with them revealed new things about them. The villains of the story were great too because they weren't one note and were actually complex with their own ideas about how the world should be and reveals about how they came to be where they were. Story and skirmishes weren't the only thing to do in Engage. You have your own stronghold known as Somniel and here you can rest and spend time with Alear's friends. There's also a variety of minigames like fishing, training exercises, and wyvern riding. You can also adopt animals all over the map ranging from cats to bunnies which you can find on Somniel. 

Fishing time! 

You can play multiplayer via Relay Trials, but I didn't really bother with that too much as I prefer to play story games on my own. I loved every minute of Fire Emblem Engage because of how much fun the battles were, but I also really liked the story meeting new characters and happy to see past memorable characters from previous Fire Emblem games. Overall, Engage does an amazing job of melding story and gameplay together creating a grand adventure. 

What an adventure! 

*Fire Emblem Engage is available on the Nintendo Switch

*Join our community on Twitch as we play games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life

 I loved Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life when it was released on the Gamecube. The cute animals, puttering around the farm, and of course the romance. This game was different than the others because in this one your character actually aged over time and your child grew up and eventually the circle of life would complete as your character passed away from old age. It very much highlighted the importance of treasuring each day and I loved that. 

I was pretty excited about A Wonderful Life remaster and got it on the Switch. I was really happy to see that there were some updates to the original version and quality of life updates that made the game feel more modern. First was the fact that I could play my farmer as a girl and that they asked for your character's pronouns: He/Him, They/Them, She/Her and that made me smile. I know it's basic, but just that they had them is really nice to see. There were some nice skin tone options and a nice variety of hairstyles to choose from as well as colors. I was able to make my character quite easily.

Creating my character. 

The story starts as these stories do with your character coming to Forgotten Valley to take over your dad's farm with the help of his old friend Takakura. Right away I noticed they made the movement controls so much better and I could jump over fences now. I was thrilled to be there and I was ready to start my farm. You do get to choose a dog and name it and not only can you pet the dog, you can also teach it tricks like jumping. I remembered the big thing about A Wonderful Life was take your time, there's no rush. I was able to have a fairly successful first Spring with lots of turnips. After the farm work was done I could go fishing, forage, or talk to my neighbors. 

Spending time with my cute dog. 

I had managed to save enough money to get my very first cow and because I'm a lover of puns I totally named her Moola. I made sure I ordered some fodder so I could feed her while waiting for the grass I had planted in the pasture to grow. I made sure she got all the hugs and brushed her everyday as well. This is important because it builds up a bond with your animals. Happy animals give the best items like golden milk from happy cows. I was able to get chickens later and the chickens are just built different. Whenever it rained I had to let the cows and sheep in because they don't like it. The chickens however are dinosaurs and they did not give a flying cluck about rain at all and were perfectly happy outside all the time and even fed themselves. As long as I hugged them and talked to them every day, they were content. 

Have you hugged your cow today? 

The seasons are only 10 days long which means I had to be choosy about which crops I planted each season because if they didn't get harvested in time or the season changed, the crops would wither which is not good. I usually chose things I could harvest multiple times like tomatoes and strawberries. This saved me a lot of time and because they grew in several seasons it made things easier. There is of course romance in the game and you have your choice of eight different romances and you can romance them all so there is queer romance. Just a note: You have to get married in the first year. It's better to choose someone and start giving them gifts they like soon otherwise the game will choose for you. Yes, it's true. The game will choose for you if you don't lock down that romance within the first year. I chose Cecilia because she was always sweet to everyone and I genuinely liked chatting with her. She also knew a lot about farming and really seemed to love everything about it. There are festivals throughout the game such as a fireworks festival and a Winter music concert. You can invite your special someone to go with you and have a really cute date. 

Enjoying a music festival with Cecilia and the villagers.

There is cooking in the game and food is important because it helps give you energy when you start to tire out. It's also a great gift for several of the villagers especially if it's a dish they love. The three little nature sprites will help you with this teaching you recipes. You can also find notes in the houses of the villagers with recipes like Lou's recipe for curry. The more you cook the better your skills improve allowing you to cook even better dishes. 

Learning the fruit salad recipe. 

The nice thing about A Wonderful Life is that I could play it in spurts. I could play a few days in game, save, and take a break. There's no hurry at all besides the get married in a year aspect. I could grow better tomatoes and buy better farming tools from Van when he came into town. My favorite was the fully upgraded watering can because that made watering crops so much easier.

Growing some lovely tomatoes.

You can also grow fruit trees on your farm. As soon as I got a bigger field I made both of the smaller fields fruit tree orchards. The nice thing about the trees is once you plant them and water them once, you don't have to water them anymore. They'll grow on their own and you can harvest the fruit in their season. It was a nice relaxing way to earn a bit of money for the farm. I also saved some of the fruit for cooking recipes. 

Growing some fruit trees. 

There are time skips at the end of each year such as with the end of one year it shows that my farmer and Cecilia had a son and then we got to name him. I spend as much time with Rowan as I can and he seems to really love farming especially all the animals. With each time skip everyone gets a little older and Rowan is a little more independent exploring the forest on his own, going fishing, and hanging out with the animals. There's a couple of fun mini games too like the territory board game you can play with twin brothers Charlie and Cole. There's also the archeological dig site which lets you find some treasures you can keep to gift or sell and the ancient artifacts that have value you give to resident archeologist Carter. There's always something to do in A Wonderful Life and it's very much at your own pace. It's a nice chill time and you get to appreciate each day you have with your family and everyone in Forgotten Valley. It really is a wonderful life. 

Spending time with the family. 

*Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is available on the following platforms: Nintendo Switch, Playstation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam

*Join our community on Twitch as we play games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Pikmin 4: Wonderful Fun

 I was so excited for Pikmin 4 when it was announced because I really enjoyed the previous Pikmin games. When it was finally here, I dove in right away because I could not wait to explore and have all my little plant friends with me again. Pikmin 4 differs from the previous games in the fact that Olimar is not the main character. There is a brief introduction with Olimar explaining what happened with his ship and giving a glimpse into Pikmin 2 and 3. This time around, you can create your character who is a rookie of the Rescue Corps team arriving to rescue Olimar. Unfortunately, their ship crashes and it's up to the newbie to find and rescue the rest of the team and any castaways. The character creation isn't bad. There are some nice options with hair color and you can choose the suit colors for your team. Naturally, I went with my favorite color of purple. 

Creating my character. 

You're not alone in your search for survivors. You have a cute rescue pup with you named Oatchi as you work with the Pikmin to explore, build, and fight your way through this alien world. You also have to find treasures that fuel the ship which is where the world map comes in handy and gadgets like a treasure tracker that sound an alarm when treasure is near. The map shows treasures as a star icon which is really helpful as well as where various points of interests are. 

checking out the map. 

Having Oatchi helping you out is a delight. He's very cute and he makes friends with all the Pikmin. I could just whistle and the Pikmin would hop on Oatchi to hitch a ride which was quite convenient for getting around obstacles like small bodies of water since not all of the Pikmin can swim. One big difference from the previous Pikmin games is there's no time limit for the number of rescue days. I love this change because it allowed me to take my time exploring while fulfilling objectives and getting every area to one hundred percent. Sometimes I would mess up or a mistake would happen and my poor Pikmin would be lost. This was no longer an issue with the rewind time feature. Until the end of the current day, you can rewind time to correct a mistake or try a different strategy so Pikmin aren't lost. It's a smart choice to add this especially for players new to the world of Pikmin so there's not a lot of frustration and they can continue enjoying the story. 

The Pikmin hitch a ride on Oatchi.

There are many things you can grab to help you on your journey if you have collected enough raw materials to get them crafted from the engineer. Bomb rocks and mines helped me a lot. Having Oatchi to help out was perfect because he would help with the Pikmin and rescues. Oatchi has a lot of useful abilities as well that allow him to fight alongside you. Once he has enough Pup Drive you can make his skills even more powerful with training so it's worth your while. 

Training Oatchi.

Raw materials are vital in Pikmin 4 because they're needed for so many things like having the Pikmin build bridges or making a valve to turn off sprinklers. Oatchi can help with this too as you unlock more of his skills. His rush ability was very useful for taking out monsters and a strategic way to not lose Pikmin to them. Once his rush ability was fully maxed out, Oatchi was a powerhouse and it was really satisifying to take monsters out quickly. 

Working together to build a bridge. 

There are sub levels that are basically caves that have a certain number of floors with a boss that is saved for the last floor. In these you find more treasures to be used for fuel as well as people in need of rescue. It's also another way to introduce two new types of Pikmin and one of the types the glow Pikmin became a favorite of mine. Besides the main story, there are also what is known as Dandori battles and challenges. Dandori is described as the ability to organize tasks strategically and work effectively to execute plans. There are twelve Dandori challenges in the game and they are timed. The whole trick is to work effectively with the Pikmin to gather items quickly and efficiently to score the highest amount of points possible before time ran out. While I understand that it's meant to be challenging, Dandori was my least favorite thing in the game. It got really tedious after a while and at times frustrating as the Dandori battles got progressively harder. I will say one nice thing about it is if I felt too aggravated by it, I could choose get help and the battle would be done for me so I could try it again later in my own time back at base camp. 

Night expeditions felt a bit like Dandori with the timer, but at least I had help from Oatchi and the glow Pikmin. These are set up in different areas you've explored in order to get something called glow sap. This is kind of like a protect your fort situation as you defend a structure called a Luminkoll which is where the glow sap comes from. This was an interesting way to see the area at night. You can have the glow Pikmin grab what look like star candies and put it in the Luminkoll which makes more glow Pikmin. They help you and Oatchi protect it from the monsters that try to come and destroy it. In some of the missions there are two Luminknolls and you can work as a team with Oatchi having him protect one while you and the glow Pikmin protect the other. These get progressively harder too as you go and you can select get help just like with the Dandori battles. I found these less frustrating because it's easy to replace the glow Pikmin quickly and run out the clock. You get a nice reward of glow seeds which allows you to have glow Pikmin with you in the sublevel caves which comes in handy with boss battles. 

Preparing for a night expedition with glow Pikmin.

Finding all the different treasures was a hoot because the different names that were given to every day items put a smile on my face. For example a rubber ducky was dubbed a Dapper Rubber Cutie. The descriptions in the treasure catalog of each item was also great because there was so much whimsy and creativity in each one. I made it my goal to find every single treasure and fill up that catalog and I was thrilled when I actually did it because it meant I had completed every single treasure set. 

Ah, the treasure catalog!

There are side missions in the game too of course. Some of the castaways will have requests ranging from blooming Pikmin to discovering a certain number of creatures. You get rewarded with raw materials which is helpful for all the building you have to do in the game. I took my time with the story and exploring everywhere I wanted. I enjoyed all of it especially just taking in the scenic views with Oatchi and the Pikmin. There is post game content and it's really well done. It gave more exciting things and added more fun to an already brilliant game. There is co-op too, but I tend to prefer playing on my own. However, I did try it out and it's disappointing to say the least because it limits things so much for the second player and feels like maybe they should have just left it out altogether. The main campaign of Pikmin 4 is where it truly shines and I loved every minute of it because it was simply wonderful fun. 

Time for everyone to go home!

*Pikmin 4 is available to play on the Nintendo Switch

*Join our community on Twitch as we play games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Frank and Drake: A Beautiful World Full Of Mystery

 *Note: I received a game code for the Nintendo Switch for the game for my honest review. Thank you to Stride PR and Chorus Worldwide for the game code!

Frank and Drake is an interesting experience. It's a point and click rotoscoped mystery. From the start, I was impressed with the beautiful art style as the story introduces Frank. Just walking down the street, the art really stands out and I was curious to know more about Frank and waiting for Drake to make his appearance.

The rotoscope art looks stunning. 

The game itself lets you know right away that each decision you make doesn't just affect the story's ending, it can also affect what layers of the story you uncover and the relationship between the two characters. It's a unique and complex choose your own adventure visual novel with six different endings. We meet Frank in the story first who is the super in an old apartment building and Frank has amnesia. The building's owner has helped Frank just live a quiet life with his cute two legged dog and helping the neighbors where he can. 

Frank and his cute dog in their apartment.

Things change a bit when Frank gets a note from the building's owner letting him know he's going to be getting a new roommate, Drake. This gives a cool introduction into the puzzle aspects of the game with a puzzle as Frank gets Drake's room ready before he moves in. There's no rush and you can take your time with it. The first one I felt was nice and simple to ease you into things which I like so I wasn't overwhelmed. 

Trying out this puzzle. 

I was already invested in the story with the interesting beginning, but then it added another fascinating layer with how Frank and Drake communicate with post it notes on the fridge. Frank is the daytime character doing things during the day while Drake is nighttime and figuring things out at night. I genuinely loved them both and wanted to know more about them. How did they get there? What were these strange things happening around them? They each offered a unique perspective with their viewpoints as they worked together the best they could with their circumstances. 

Drake walks by a really cool art mural. 

Every time I thought I had the story figured out, it would surprise me with something new and the mystery deepened. The choices you make in the story really matter because they not only affect which ending you get, they can also affect how Frank and Drake interact with the world around them and with each other. The music is great and changes with the characters and the mood of each location they explore. There are various items you can interact with that add more details to their story. The artwork and music complement each other really well which added to the overall story and gameplay.

Some of the puzzles are hit or miss where some took a few minutes for me, a couple were a bit frustrating and took a little longer because it wasn't quite obvious what to do. It didn't sour my like of the game, but I do feel that perhaps there didn't need to be that many because I wanted to keep going with the story. 

Drake was mad at this puzzle. This one was a challenge for me.

The game itself isn't very long. I finished the first playthrough in about four to six hours. The whole point is it's meant to be played multiple times so you can get those six endings and get more answers to the mystery you're exploring. Frank and Drake is a beautiful world full of mystery and I didn't mind playing through again to unlock those secrets. Besides, Frank and Drake are pretty good company. If you appreciate beautiful art, music, interesting stories, and puzzles in a visual novel format then Frank and Drake is worth your time. 

Drake and Frank slowly getting to know each other.

*Frank And Drake are available on the following platforms: Nintendo Switch, Steam, Playstation, and Xbox

*Join our community on Twitch as we play games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Nova Lands: Building Fun With Robots

 *Note: I received a free game code for the Nintendo Switch for my honest review of the game. Thank you to Stride PR!

Nova Lands is a cute builder and exploration game. If you liked the game Forager you will like Nova Lands. It definitely gives off Forager vibes, but it also has its own unique style. Nova Lands has a minimal story, but it gives you the gist of what you're supposed to do. You're an explorer on a new planet island and you must expand your base, build machines and factories to craft, and unlock new resources and other islands. You're not alone however, as other capsules with people land who can help you upgrade your inventory space and various other items you use. 

Meeting Armando. 

Unlocking the islands isn't so simple. You have to build a machine that requires certain resources to unlock them. This is beneficial to you as each island has a variety of resources. You also can build robots to help you gather resources. This is an interesting way of integrating automation into your factories and building. You can designate a robot to collect a specific source and have them add it to storage areas. Other robots you can assign to constantly keep the factories running. Each robot has their own job and it definitely helps to make things a bit easier with gathering and building. 

Just keep building with the help of robots. 

The game itself is a bit of grinding, but I didn't really mind because there was always something to do and before I knew it my character had leveled up. With each level up you unlock skill points that you can use to improve abilities, upgrade the machines to work faster, or improve your robots. Some require multiple skill points so at times I found myself waiting until I had enough points to upgrade specific things.

Upgrading skills. 

You can also unlock more things in the research menu if you have the resources to unlock it. There's a ton of things to unlock ranging from better armor to solar panels to add more energy to your factories to having a farm for growing crops. This is where the automation with the robots really shines because it gives you a chance to explore and come back to all the resources you need. It's convenient and helps to get towards end game things a lot quicker. 

All the research things! 

There is also a museum where you can add the various items you find on each island to complete the collection. This is on the encampment island where you can get upgrades for your armor, new outfits, or upgrade your weapons. The museum is great and it also gives you a hint about what resources you might find on the other islands. There are also monster bosses you have to fight and if you're not prepared they can really hurt you. I died pretty badly to one that caught me by surprise, but once I had upgraded some things I was able to come back and take it out pretty quickly. Without giving too much away, you also meet some aliens and they help you on your journey. It adds a really cool twist to things that help move the story along. 

Checking out the museum. 

Nova Lands is a blast to play. I enjoyed puttering around in this bright colorful world with a relaxing music soundtrack. It's easy to lose track of time as you're just building, exploring, and having a good time seeing what each island holds. My only issue is the aiming system with the rifle and the extractor. Sometimes, I would be targeting one thing and then accidentally hit a wild animal and then I would have to run and avoid the other animals coming after me. It's a small thing, but it is definitely something that should be improved so that doesn't happen. Other than that, the game is a good time and having fun building with robots is great. I also love that the game itself leaves things open ended for more updates and additions which I am looking forward to. If you want a fun builder time sink, definitely check out Nova Lands. It's very much worth your time. 

Getting some upgrades. 

*Nova Lands is available on the following platforms: Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC

*Join our community on Twitch as we play games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

Hello Goodboy: Yes, You Can Pet The Dog

 *Note: I received a game key for the game for my honest review. Thank you to Stride PR and Rolling Glory Jam for the game key!

I was instantly drawn in by the cute art in Hello Goodboy. The whole premise of the game is exploring the idea of handling death and negative emotions, but is done in a way that is gentle and simple. I feel that the game perhaps was also done in a simple style for a way to explain death and dying to children in a way that isn't scary and overwhelming. 

You play as Iko, a young boy transported to the afterlife that is called Kuroto and your guide is a cute dog companion named Coco. Coco tells Iko that all he has to do is be a "good kid" and this is where the game sets you on your journey and the choices you make are up to you. Coco does explain that your time is limited so you have to make those choices carefully. I loved that you could take a moment right away to stop and hug Coco, pet him, or give him belly rubs. You can do this throughout the game any time you want so of course I would hug Coco often. 

All the dog hugs! 

You can pick a door to go through among doors that show four different seasons. You have a magic hourglass which shows that your time is limited and when you choose a door, some of the sand in the hourglass is spent. I discovered because of this you can only pick two doors. However, after you finish the game, you can do a new game+ which lets you choose the two doors you missed. I chose the Summer door first then the Autumn door. 

Choosing the Summer door. 

Each area is beautiful and I enjoyed that you could stop and sit for a moment and just appreciate the view. The artwork reminded me of colorful storybooks with the vibrant colors and lovely scenes. It was a subtle way for the story to remind us to stop and savor those moments of beauty and joy. 

Enjoying a mountain view. 

There are simple puzzles in the game where you have to fix things like a broken mailbox or a broken traffic light that erase a darkness clinging to them. The puzzles aren't terribly challenging and after you repair the broken items you get sparks of happiness. These are used at different intervals in the game for helping others which is pretty interesting.

Iko and Coco repair a mailbox. 

There are also a collection of drinks in your inventory that can be used on the different characters you meet. The whole point is helping these characters with a problem they might have and the drinks that are left over are used during a boss fight to weaken it. I enjoyed meeting the characters and helping them. Each one was unique and wonderful in their own way. They also added special layers to the story when discussing negative emotions or processing something that may be sad. 

A cute moment of joy. 

The music for the game itself is lovely and in some settings hauntingly beautiful. It definitely sets the tone for different areas that Iko and Coco travel to. I love the fact that they let Iko stop and play with Coco. Coco's movements are well done and very much like real dogs. Having those moments in the game helped me to not rush and savor each nuance of the game. 

Wow, it's Autumn! 

I'm not the best at puzzles, but I love puzzle games. There aren't a lot of puzzles in this, but the puzzles in this game weren't overly challenging or stressful which I appreciated because it let me continue the story and enjoy the relaxing vibes the game offered making it feel more like a wonderful visual novel. 

Iko and Coco hang out with a lumberjack. 

I think my only issue is the game is rather short, the main story is only two hours. However, I think that is because I really liked the game a lot and I was a bit sad when it was over. The final boss at the end is a little underwhelming, but I feel that their heart was in the right place and it got the message across about remembering and holding onto the good memories in order to overcome the negative emotions you feel in a thoughtful and mindful way. 

The ending itself is heartwarming and explains why Iko and Coco are there. It also says in its own gentle way that even though saying goodbye is difficult, that sometimes we have to in order to move forward and that the people we love are never truly gone if we keep them in our hearts. Hello Goodboy does a great job of showing that journey of kindness and connection and I genuinely appreciated every minute of it. 

High five!

*Hello Goodboy is available on the following platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC

*Join our community on Twitch as we play games and discuss mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer