Very Retrouvaille

TLDR ratings:

General rating: 9/10
Art and graphics: 9/10
Story: 9/10
Characters: 9.5/10
Accessibility: 8/10
Music: 10/10
Gameplay: 7/10

(TWs: Spoilers, text heavy + long post under cut, and mentions of death and food.)

Art and Graphics

I’m a big fan of pixel art so I was very drawn to the game when I first saw it’s art style. From start to finish, the game’s art was great. I most enjoyed the cute bonus drawings you can find around town. I thought that was a cute little easter egg added to make your experience more fun!

Though pixelated, you can still make out everything around you - which is rather important in games where interacting with your environment is crucial.

I really liked the designs of the characters. They were all interesting. I got a strong Animal Crossing-vibe from their designs. It didn’t come off as a knock-off of the game, though - despite the very “Help Out a Neighbor”/”Complete this Task”-esque of the gameplay and the human/animal hybrids.

The map was a little confusing but nothing I couldn’t work through.

My bigger complaint is that I’m rather certain that a game having a uni-color color scheme might be a bit of a problem to the color-blind, thus making the game somewhat inaccessible. I have yet to hear from the perspective of any colorblind people so leave it at that.

Story

The story was short and simple. I didn’t enjoy the ending at all. I thought it was a huge bummer on the rest of the game. It didn’t feel like much of a plot-twist or a surprise. (Though I honestly didn’t really expect it, although I should have after the atmosphere of the game changed when winter suddenly comes.) It just felt unsatisfying. I’m not sure what the point of the game was.

Perhaps it was teaching us a lesson that sometimes no matter how much trouble we go through or how much struggle, it’s in vain.

But I go through enough negativity and life lessons in real life and would prefer not to have to face those obstacles in what I use as an escapism as well.

Aside from that, it was easy to follow. I thought the game for the most part was well-written and simple, with no complex backstory to get your head spinning.

On a side note, I’m still confused on the mention of that one sister who went missing in the woods. I thought I would have had to side-track from my journey to also find her but apparently, that was false. I’m not entirely sure on what the point of what bringing her up repeatedly really symbolized.

Characters

The characters were all very adorable and unique. I found myself constantly talking to them to see if they’d come up with any other interesting dialogue. I wish they had a few other lines aside from the one thing they do say. I feel like it would’ve added more depth to them.

I’m a very big fan of character design, and appearance + personality are two very important traits in a character.

My favorite was definitely Comb Bear.

Aside from them, I didn’t see much racial diversity among any of the other characters - which is a bit of a disappointment.

Accessibility

The game’s color scheme might certainly be a bit problematic for the visually impaired. I know it gave me a bit of a headache after some time. Perhaps giving an option in which the player can alter the color scheme so it’d better suit their needs would be good.

The font was legible for me - both an acceptable size and style.

The math problem was a bit strenuous at first. Without help from the others I wouldn’t have figured it out. I’m also glad I wandered off and found that extra mail box or I wouldn’t have ever gotten through that portion of the game.

It did not help that at first, due to a some minor bugs, I wasn’t able to go into the next part of town and though that was the end of the map. (With only three houses, three mailboxes and no grave in my formulas - the numbers clearly didn’t add up.) I spoke to Mariza, who informed me that there was clearly more to be explored.

Music

The music in this game was utterly fantastic.

From the moment the title screen popped up and the first notes sounded, I found myself transfixed. I have no complaints about any of the songs, I think they were all composed amazingly and beautifully complimented every seen they were put in.

If I had to pick a favorite, I would have to say that Move Forward is certainly the one that I’ve been hearing on repeat. This is mostly because I’m a very big fan of out-of-tune recorders and cheery tunes. The entire time the song played, I rocked back and forth! The happy energy from it is contagious.

I recall Gymnopedie No. 1 from the time I played “I’m Scared of Girls” a few years back. It did a good job in carrying out the melancholy that comes about in the end. It’s a beautiful song used for foreshadowing future events.

I would have to say that those are the two songs that most left an impression on me.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Very Retrouvaille is what I had the most issue with. While the controls themselves are your typical a, b, left, right, up, down - I mostly had a problem with navigating the map.

At times when I tried to enter another part of town, I would have to step back and then move Farraday back towards the edge for them to actually go through.

The loading transition from when you entered your neighbor’s houses took a bit long, as if the game buffered for a second before cutting to a black load screen. It did the same when your neighbors weren’t home. It’d buffer for a few seconds before either showing you a note they left or letting you know that there was no response from within.

Another complaint (though of lesser importance) is that a lot of trees were positioned awkwardly, leaving you with no walking space between houses. If you found yourself wanting to enter a house and you came from North of the map, chances were you would have to travel all the way around to get to the one house, instead of just being able to cut right through between the houses.

It just seemed unnecessary.

Last notes

I thought the game was very adorable. The characters were lovable and cute. I thought it could use a little more diversity in the character’s races. I also really didn’t particularly enjoy the ending. It just seemed to me like kind of a joykill. I had been having fun and enjoying a particularly cute game, when it all just kind of grew dark out of nowhere for no actual purpose.

I really recommend the game for those starting off in puzzle RPGs or those who are bored and are looking for a new title to experience. It was pretty easy for me to get through. I mostly just enjoyed interacting with the characters.

My general rating is a 9/10.

Trigger warnings for the game: animal death and food mentions.

Tips:

1.) Make sure you take a good look around you and interact with everything you see! You might find a few things that’ll come in handy!