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 

*Update: Funtomata reached out and let me know there's one save slot per Nintendo Switch profile so each child gets their personal save and on PC/Mac you have unlimited save files. 

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

Ghost of Yotei An Epic Journey

 I loved Ghost of Tsushima so I had been counting down very excitedly for Ghost of Yotei. The setting takes place 329 years after the events of Ghost of Tsushima in the area of Mount Yotei in Ezo. From the beginning Ghost of Yotei grabs your attention with the introduction of a woman entering a village and the villagers warning her not to interfere with someone known as the Snake. We are then introduced to this woman who is Atsu explaining her reasons for targeting the snake and the group he's a part of the Yotei Six and their leader Saito and it's very much full on justified revenge. Erika Ishii does an amazing job as Atsu right from the start and I instantly liked Atsu. Obviously the fight with the Snake happens here and this allows the game to give a bit of a tutorial on the game controls and Atsu's fighting skills. It's a great start to everything with a badass duel and setting up the beginning of Atsu's status as the Onryo a vengeful spirit seeking vengeance for past wrongs. 

Atsu searchs for the Snake.

There's an interesting back and forth between the past and the present in Ghost of Yotei. When Atsu returns to her family's home, she can switch back to the past showing memories of her childhood with her family. You get to see what Atsu was like when she was a child alongside her brother Jubei as well as seeing what her parents were like. I loved the minigame of forging swords with Atsu's father and then learning to play the shamisen with her mother. It's smartly done giving us this insight and allowing us to get to know her family and become emotionally attached to them. We see that Atsu and her family were happy, that there was understanding, and love. 

Atsu as a child with her brother Jubei. 

I was happy to see that the open world here is just as beautiful as it was in Ghost of Tsushima. The vibrant colors of flowers, the wind guiding us, and of course there is photo mode in the game. I was also delighted that this game also had plenty of accessibility options including being able to change the difficulty settings of the game and they also included Kurosawa mode where you can play in black and white. They also kept in the foxes and fox shrines. I loved finding all the foxes and of course petting them. I spent a ton of time in photo mode because the stunning vistas and different areas are gorgeous. 

Enjoying the view. 

There is no level grinding in Ghost of Yotei which makes sense because Atsu is an entirely different character and this is a new story and it's hers. Instead, Atsu has an arsenal of various weapons at her disposal and as part of her journey she picks up some new ones and learns how to wield them. Unlocking skills in her skill tree for each weapon requires finding shrines all over the world map which encourages exploring everywhere. Depending on what type of enemy she's fighting Atsu can switch weapons easily to turn the fight to her advantage. I quite enjoyed this combat system because it made battles feel intense and I was having fun with it figuring out what I needed for certain fights like defeating a guy who was twice Atsu's size and when I figured it out and won I felt pretty darn excited about it. 

I loved exploring in Ghost of Yotei and I always love doing side quests in open world games like this. Atsu meets so many interesting people and this comes full circle with what is called her wolf pack. These are people who Atsu cares about as well as friends she makes along the way who can help her with different things like improving her armor and weapons or replenishing tools she uses. Atsu can set up camp and if they can, one of them will show up and sit with her and help her out. 

My personal favorite was Atsu meeting the Ainu people. For those who may not know, the Ainu are the indigenous people of Japan and are considered the native people of Hokkaido. I loved that they were included and that it was done in a thoughtful and mindful way. Apparently the devs made a point of traveling to Hokkaido and meeting with an Ainu cultural advisor, met with the Ainu and learned about their culture, their items, and had advisors directing them on how to best accurately and respectfully portray the Ainu in the game. Atsu interacts with an Ainu kotan (Ainu village) and there are several quests she can do with them. She also meets with some of their merchants on her travels and is able to trade with them. I loved this part of the game and honestly, I wished there had been more with them because the Ainu are an incredible people and I loved hearing their stories, their songs, and listening to their explanations about their day to day life. I would find myself visiting with them often throughout the game. 

Atsu chats with the Ainu. 

The main story itself is great. As I said before, Erika Ishii did an amazing job voicing Atsu. The entire voice acting cast are fantastic and I would just stop and talk to everyone. I felt for Atsu when she was going through the rage and trauma she felt and this is showcased really well with a wolf that sometimes appears to Atsu who she helps sometimes by exacting revenge on hunters who are killing wolves. I truly felt that in a way the wolf represents Atsu's anger and it's a smart choice because I loved that wolf, but I also understood that shared rage about the unfairness of bad people getting away with causing harm because of an imbalance of power. However, I also appreciated the brief moments of peace and joy that Atsu had such as quietly playing a song on her shamisen or taking the time to stop and pet an adorable fox. It adds a level of much needed balance when I would explore or take a little break from the intensity of the main story. 

Atsu pets a cute fox. 

There is even a beautiful nod to Jin and Ghost of Tsushima in one of the Tales in the game and it hit me hard with the emotions and I found myself teary eyed at those nods to him and references to his story. The Tales were some of my favorite things about Ghost of Tsushima and I'm glad to see they had them here in Ghost of Yotei and some of them were heartbreaking, but also connecting to Atsu with the theme of familial love especially between a mother and daughter. It's wonderfully done and the rewards for doing these are worth it as they range from different styles of armor to weapon upgrades. 

I loved every minute of Ghost of Yotei because of the great storytelling with the main story and some of the side stories tying everything together. Learning about the past of the Yotei Six was also intriguing because you come to realize it's not necessarily one sided and Saito himself is quite the egotistical villain. I absolutely despised his character especially when it was revealed how self serving he is multiple times throughout Atsu's adventure. There were far too many great moments in the story to count and some of them wrecked me emotionally, but it made for an epic journey for Atsu right down to the finale and I'm so glad I got to experience all of it. 

Atsu takes a moment. 

*Ghost of Yotei is available to play on Playstation 5

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

Mothergamer Plays Simon the Sorcerer Origins

 *Note: I received the game for free for my full honest review. Thank you to PRHound and Smallthings Studio for the Xbox game key!

* I'm not the best at puzzles so I did play the game with a full guide. Gamespew made an excellent step by step walkthrough guide which you can find here: https://www.gamespew.com/2025/10/simon-the-sorcerer-origins-walkthrough/

It had been ages since I played a Simon the Sorcerer game so I was delighted to get a chance to play Simon the Sorcerer Origins which is celebrating thirty years of Simon the Sorcerer. The original Simon the Sorcerer games were point and click adventures on PC and Chris Barrie brought Simon to life with his comedic timing and wit. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Chris Barrie was voicing Simon once again in Origins. Origins is a prequel with events happening before the first game introducing us to Simon who has moved to a new neighborhood with his family.

Simon in the new house.

This gives you a chance to learn the tutorial about interacting with things, combining items to make something useful to solve various puzzles. It feels familiar in a good way, think Discworld meets Monkey Island. The humor is very British and quite funny with Simon's sarcastic wit. The art style is cute and while the animation can sometimes be a little clunky, it doesn't detract from the fun of the game. 

It doesn't take long before strange things start to happen and Simon is whisked away to a strange world with magic, strange wizards, and even more fantastical creatures. There's a prophecy of sorts and Simon has to figure this out while also trying to find a way back home.

Simon meets Calypso the wizard.

There is fast travel in the game with a hilarious joke about giant map pins. It definitely made having to go back and forth between areas much easier and there is a ton of back and forth through the storytelling and for many of the puzzles. 

Map with map pins.

There are a lot of puzzles and sometimes it was not always obvious what to do which made me grateful for the guide I was using because sometimes a solution was not always clear to me and many times the instructions could be a bit vague. Simon would make a comment that would give small hints about what to do next. The puzzles weren't too bad and not terribly frustrating which I appreciated. 

Simon tries to solve a puzzle. 

I was constantly amused at Simon breaking the fourth wall with his commentary on the ridiculous situations he found himself in during his adventure. Chris Barrie does an excellent job voicing Simon and I found myself laughing often at Simon's antics such as roasting a talking painting's terrible poetry. I really enjoyed Simon the Sorcerer Origins because of the great way it approaches the storytelling. The game doesn't overstay its welcome, I finished it in about six hours and the ending is all wrapped up nicely setting up the events of the first game. It's a nice nod to the series while also introducing it to people who have never played Simon the Sorcerer games before. I had a blast with it and I would be thrilled to see them continue more of Simon's adventures. 

Simon breaks the fourth wall.

*Simon the Sorcerer Origins is available on the following platforms: Steam, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, and Nintendo Switch

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