Craig

Craig is a simple point-n-clicky type of adventure game, and actually supports mouse controls.
There are objects to interact with in a few ways, mainly for the narration of it all, and items to find and use to move forward and escape the horrible fate that has befallen you.

Story-wise, it is as simple as it gets, you are Craig, a potion maker. You find your house is blocked, and your store locked, too.
The charm lies not in the action, nor the logic behind it, but in the little details that accompany your journey.
Technical-wise, what this game does very well is that once you have certain items, you know what to do with them. It also plays a bit with the key-finding trope .. as you will find keys, but they will always be useless.
However, to acquire these items, you will need to randomly interact with any and everything in every possible way.
To joke and actually explore this a bit, you will keep items without use, have a couple of objects without any use. The inside of your house is full of furniture, so that did not distract, but it was very jarring for me later as I tried to utilizie the objects outside .. and could not, bare one, and the human. To solve the second area, you need to do the main work in the first one.

With this, it is a little bit hit or miss.. if you miss finding one item, you are screwed, but interacting with any and everything always works.

The music- and sound design is very simple as there are only sounds accompanying your actions and narrations. I found the speech-scribble-sound a little bit jarring. Like a screech compared to the soft clicking noises, but that may just be me.
Otherwise, it accompanies the simple but beautiful artistic and playing style well.


First a lemon is the evil, now a lime.. I like limes!

The joy of Craig lies in the many charming narrations, describing and poking fun at Craig. Starting out with the first introduction of Craig, needing to point out you are Craig. There are many narrations where your progatonist addresses himself as he, or is indirectly narrated. The descriptions are full of humour, a quirky perspective on the life our progatonist seems to have - such as talking to anything, freeing the fridge of the "reign of the lime" and wondering why he threw away the recipe he is now going to use.
It is hard to put the finger on what exactly it is that makes it so charming .. it has a lot of different dynamics going of what you are trying to do, and who you are.
You need to make a potion. And all the while you make an antagonist of a lime, the toilet a scary place, the soap a wonderful saviour. Your entire house reflects your needs like grocery shopping, but also your abilities and quirks.

Now, given the two areas, the first one has been a lot more enjoyable, and in fact easily could have made for the entire game.
Everything had a lot to say about Craig, whereas the second area, the outside had a lot more influences on the outside world and how he interacts with it. It changes the perspective and in a fun way - a little bit of cold-boiling neighbor rivalry, chickens being deadly creatures if angered (yes, I love that reference), and just Craig being a little bit awkward around people.

The only downside is that the game ends rather suddenly on a black shop interior - it would have been prettier to end it before you actually enter your store to avoid the lack of maps, and also have a little bit of a narration along the lines of what Craig can now finally do.
As it is a demo in thought, this was done with a different ending frame in mind, and sadly not adjusted.

All that said, the writing really carries the game, and thankfully the mechanics use this to the best of potential. The simple artstyle accompanying it makes for a beautiful and memorable game.
Just .. don't get stuck.