Mothergamer Plays Asfalia: The Cranky Volcano and Panic at the Mansion

 *Note: I received both games for free for my honest review. Thank you to Funtomata for the Nintendo Switch game keys!

Since both games are short, one about an hour and the other just a few hours, I'm reviewing both of them in this latest review. Let's start with the first game, The Cranky Volcano. We're introduced to Charlie as she rides her bike home from school. This is a nice way to show off the cute art and give a brief tutorial on how to move the cursor in the game for this point and click adventure. 

Meet Charlie.

Interact with everything, because there's a great chance to get some pretty nice stickers for Charlie's sticker book. Charlie will also find items she can use later that go into her satchel. After fully exploring the yard, Charlie is able to go into the house and talk to her dog Baya and go upstairs to her room to explore. This is another area to get some stickers. 

Cute stickers.

Charlie wants to play with Baya, but Baya doesn't want to play. Baya is resting and it seems like she's not feeling well, but Charlie being a child doesn't necessarily understand this and gets angry and frustrated by this and starts shouting. This is really well done in showing that sometimes kids don't quite know how to regulate their emotions and how that can affect their behavior. It's at this point that Charlie gets transported to a magical world known as Asfalia. 

Charlie explores Asfalia.

Asfalia is delightfully weird and colorful with many whimsical characters that Charlie can talk to and help in the form of some puzzles. The puzzles aren't too complicated because the entire story itself is geared towards young children explaining anger and emotions to them in a wonderfully creative way. The volcano rumbles every now and then showing the urgency of getting things sorted quickly. The game also autosaves when you enter new areas which is fine, but you only get one save slot.

The voice acting in Cranky Volcano is very well done making it feel like a storybook come to life which is a lovely touch. Cranky Volcano doesn't overstay its welcome and I finished it in an hour and got to appreciate the adorable ending. 

A fun party in Asfalia.

Next up is Panic at the Mansion. We are with Charlie once again and her four puppies having fun playing at the park. This is a point and click game as well so there is a short tutorial about how to move and interact with things. The sticker book is back so again you can get some really nice stickers for it.

Charlie has fun with the puppies. 

There's voice acting in this one too and again it's very well done. There's a slight change in the art style too making it a bit more vibrant than the previous game, but still keeping all the whimsy and cute charm. Charlie can play one more game with the puppies and then a storm suddenly breaks out and the puppies run away. Charlie starts looking for the puppies commenting about how scared they must be because of the storm which introduces quite nicely the discussion of fear, being scared, and facing those fears.

Just like the last game Charlie is teleported to Asfalia, but it's in a different area. Charlie meets Lily a tiny flame from a fallen star. Charlie and Lily both don't like the dark and there's a little segment where Charlie can find moonstones to feed Lily so she can shine very brightly. Lily and Charlie team up to find the lost puppies and off they go to try and find a way to the place they were last seen, a mansion at the top of a hill.

Charlie and Lily meet a cute ghost. 

Charlie and Lily meet some interesting characters like a talking knife who really loves cheese and video games or a Chimera that can't tell when someone is in disguise. These add a touch of humor that everyone can enjoy and Charlie can help all of them out with various things. There's a lot of back and forth to previous areas unlike the first game, but I didn't mind because I was having fun seeing where Charlie and Lily's adventure took them. There are a few puzzles, but again nothing terribly challenging since the games are family friendly and keeping in mind young children playing it. 

Solving a puzzle. 

Charlie and Lily discover things about themselves in regards to fear and what it means to find courage even when you're scared. It's a lovely gentle way to teach kids about expressing their emotions in a constructive and mindful way. The lovely voice acting and charming art that looks like a hand painted storybook really helps that to shine in a fantastic way. Panic at the Mansion is also short, but that's not a bad thing. I finished it in about three hours and loved the ending. Both games are fantastic and very well done. The fact that Funtomata worked with child specialists such as emotional coaches because they wanted their games to teach children in a fun and thoughtful manner has me really impressed with them and I hope we get to see more of Charlie and more games like this that are fun and educational for everyone. I'm glad I got to check out The Cranky Volcano and Panic at the Mansion because they were such a wonderful and charming journey with brilliant voice acting and wonderful art. Overall, both games are worth your time if you like short but sweet learning adventures with just the right touch of whimsy. 

A fun little party sticker. 

*Asfalia: The Cranky Volcano and Asfalia: Panic at the Mansion are available to play on the following platforms: Nintendo Switch and Steam 

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