I played for maybe seven hours yesterday and made it past the credits, although that isn't the end of the game. I'd guess I have another hour or two left to get to 100% completion (I tend to be slower than almost everyone). I enjoyed it and the game itself works fine, although there are a few things that are confusing (e.g. one of the first quests is to find and return someone's cat, but having the cat follow you into their house isn't enough, you have to hold the cat when you talk with the person). It would be nice if the game is improved in some ways, but it may just be a low budget production and this is all they can do unless the game sells well. Since I enjoyed it, I think the $10 intro price was worth it but others might want to wait for a lower price or see if it is polished post release. There aren't many similar games on GOG so I am happy to see it here.
IMO, this game has the same mood as "A Short Hike" but isn't as polished as that game and is more casual. No timed races would be possible in this one as the terrain isn't that detailed, but you are exploring the area and helping out everyone you meet.
mqstout: There's... not really any game play so far.
I disagree, there are a bunch of quests, although they almost all are just talk with a particular person or add some particular furniture to your cafe that you might have already added (then you can complete the quest right away) or have some animal in your cafe that might already be there (you need to pick up and put down the animal to complete the quest). You can also decorate the cafe (it isn't all that large, though), decorate yourself, find all of the animals (if you pet or pick up an animal their name appears on the animals page, otherwise they appear as ???), and use the various magic potions to create a mini scene.
mqstout: Controls are functionable but stilted.
I agree, they aren't all that bad but not ideal. They are also confusing at times later in the game, but in the end they do work and don't feel nearly as bad as many games, at least playing with controller only. Also worth noting that the d-pad is used as buttons so that will be frustrating on controllers that go diagonal easily (however, there is no time pressure so you could just use the keyboard to access those menus). Edit: I just noticed that you can tab through the map, animals, quests, and a neighbors tab that I hadn't noticed that shows how many quests you have left with each character.
mqstout: The "cooking mini-game" is stale by the 4th time doing it.
That is being generous. There are 19 recipies that I found so far (not likely to be many more if any) and you need to do the "cooking mini-game" once for each to put it on your menu (you can only have six items available at any time, but can switch them without doing the "mini-game" again). The recipes are all very similar and it leaves your counter looking messy with no practical way to make it look nicer.
mqstout: Animations are... creepy.
I would personally say mostly "clunkly". Considering how central petting animals is to the game it is jarring how bad it can look much of the time. Animals can end up in odd places, such as at the moment in my cafe there is a pig butt sticking out over halway up the wall because a pig tried to hop from a shelf through the wall onto the refrigerator and got stuck in the wall (you can also sit on a bench through a wall in one case). I didn't stick around the cafe all that much but I could see there being creepy looking stuff at times. Also, people sometimes don't turn to look at you if you start talking when they are facing away. It is more obvious how much work goes into games that isn't easily visible unless it isn't done.
I really like the colors, I can't think of another game that has that much of a water color feel to it, although I think there must be a few. I did end up quite happy with the overal graphic design except for the low budget clunkyness.
mqstout: The music is irksome (when the vocals come in).
I didn't notice this, the vocals always sounded nice to me, but I could imagine there might be some timing issue that I didn't hit or notice (unless you just mean that you don't like the music?). Most of the music sounds like royalty free clips, but while repetitive (as so much game music is) I think it works decently to set the mood. There are at least pauses in the music and a fairly detailed list of sound types such that you can turn off everything but animal sounds if you want (though I didn't check if it works as described).
Carradice: However, what if the game was an unreliable narrator itself? Maybe what you see is what the people in the village see after making a surprise omelette with some mystery mushrooms found in the forest. Mind, they think they are riding cats.
I laughed when starting the game after reading that since the main menu backgound has a bunch of cats floating through the air. There is definitely some psychedelic influence on the game, though unlike some I've played (Everything, Eidolon), it doesn't feel exclusively designed to be played while high.
