System: Change
Launch date: October 31, 2023
Developer: Astral Shift
Writer: Sq. Enix Collective
Little Goody Two Shoes is the primary sport I’ve skilled that actually seems like a fairy-tale story come to life, and I’m not speaking the family-friendly Disney selection. The quaint countryside village of Kieferburg might seem to be your common sing-songy people city on the floor, however murmurs of a witch within the woods and unusual happenings close by have residents changing into paranoid. To make issues worse, protagonist Elise is getting caught up in the midst of all of it, after an odd supernatural encounter guarantees to grant her her life’s want if she manages to finish unusual duties earlier than the top of the week. What follows is a tense, typically humorous narrative journey that continuously had me on the sting of my seat, even when the tedium of its time-management gameplay started sporting on my persistence.
It’s made extra fascinating by the truth that Elise is sort of a jerk, and infrequently not the best protagonist to root for. Whereas she’s actually struggling a bit from the latest dying of her grandmother, she’s additionally very egocentric and thoughtless, and needs nothing greater than a lifetime of wealth and luxurious. If she will handle to collect just a few objects known as Testaments and ship them to an odd forest denizen by the top of the week, she’s been promised that her want shall be granted, albeit doubtlessly at a price. All of that is additional sophisticated by the sudden arrival of a ditzy lady named Rozenmarine, who principally breaks into Elise’s home in the beginning of the sport after claiming to have seen her in her desires for years. It’s a wealthy and multilayered rabbit gap of a story that turns into deeper and extra twisted over time.
Structurally, Little Goody Two Shoes is a sport of two halves. Throughout the day, its gameplay typically feels extra extra like a lightweight life-sim than the rest; Elise must eat a number of occasions a day, and meals prices cash, so Elise wants to choose up odd jobs round city to outlive. (These play out as pleasant arcade-style minigames with in-world theming and chiptune soundtracks, and so they’re superior.) On the similar time, it’s additionally narratively essential that Elise discover a romantic companion earlier than the top of the week, so the sport encourages gamers to put aside time every day to go on a date with considered one of three love pursuits. Doing these duties or participating in main story-focused scenes advances time in-game, so its as much as the participant to steadiness Elise’s time one of the best they will.
At night time – throughout a small sliver of time known as the Witching Hour – Little Goody Two Shoes performs extra like a horror sport. For one purpose or one other, Elise typically finds herself venturing into the woods, which turns into a dangerous place stuffed with very harmful creatures, traps, and puzzles. Enter the forest unprepared and also you’re more likely to have a tough time, including one other layer of useful resource administration – do I preserve Elise totally fed for so long as I can throughout the day, or I do I replenish on bandages and ointments earlier than venturing forth at night time to make sure I can come out of the forest hellscape in a single piece?
It’s an fascinating premise for a gameplay loop and never that distant from one thing like Persona on paper, nevertheless it’s not good. At the same time as I allotted my time in what felt like one of the best ways, I by no means felt just like the in-game economic system was balanced sufficient round the whole lot else I needed to do. Earning money by way of minigames was at all times amusing, however the strict scoring typically left me with not sufficient funds to afford the whole lot I wanted, and the construction of the sport doesn’t allow you to reattempt these duties with out spending your (already restricted) in-game assets or reloading a save. I did the latter just a few occasions out of necessity, nevertheless it actually took among the enjoyable away. You may promote sure objects to make a fast buck, and somedays objects will simply seem on the bottom or be given to you by NPCs, making all of it however important to do a number of complete loops round city every day. However about midway by way of the sport, this entire system had turn into actually tedious and I used to be wishing I might have simply centered extra on the story.
I did actually love chatting with the assorted residents of Kieferburg, who’re all very well-written and handle to really feel distinct due to some lovely character artwork. The unhealthy information for Elise is that there’s a literal witch hunt occurring in Kieferburg, and relying on the way you reply in dialogue, there’s a really doubtless likelihood that the residents will imagine she’s the witch. There’s some profit to speaking to of us because it helps broaden the lore and supply further context as to what could be occurring, however make sufficient of us suspicious of you and it’s very potential you’ll stumble throughout one of many sport’s ten endings earlier than the thriller will get solved.
It’s additionally not a assure that your dates will simply robotically go effectively, as your responses – even after they’re trustworthy – would possibly forestall you from connecting along with your companion, one thing that can also have an effect on how the ultimate moments of the sport play out. It’s actually fascinating, and provides stakes and rigidity to even small social interactions. As every day passes, these stakes simply preserve rising, too. Though I don’t wish to spoil too many particulars, Elise’s nighttime forest escapades get extra surreal and extra horrifying, and late within the sport I actually started to query whether or not I must be serving to Elise pursue her targets in any respect.
There are different programs at play, too, whose narrative repercussions are alluded to in loading screens however which can not make themselves totally recognized till late within the sport. For instance, there’s one particular character who’s spying on Elise and primarily threatens to blackmail her until the participant retains the twerp well-fed daily. There’s additionally a broader thriller occurring in Kieferburg that, if the participant pursues it, may have Elise stumbling into deserted buildings and darkish caves. However these areas will chip away at Elise’s Sanity – one other stat that may solely be managed by cautious spending on Treatments. All these little mechanics are considerably unimportant individually, however as an entire they play a important function in serving to Little Goody Two Shoes really feel mechanically dense. Once more, I don’t essentially really feel that makes all of those mechanics really feel important, however they had been all participating for a very good chunk of the sport.
One other large purpose that Little Goody Two Shoes is so absorbing is due to its immaculate and astonishingly inventive artwork path and presentation. A hybrid of 90’s anime-inspired character portraits and intricately drawn environments that look straight out of a storybook, its not like the rest I’ve seen. At night time the world is bathed in darkness past the glow from Elise’s lantern, but it nonetheless manages to look lovely (albeit additionally rather more oppressive). Your stock menu is considered on parchment scrolls adorned with calligraphy, and your relationship standing is monitored by opening a a heart-shaped locket. There’s simply so many little visible prospers that basically assist promote the entire fairy-tale aesthetic, and its a giant a part of the explanation why the entire package deal works in addition to it does.
The music is equally unimaginable, though it will have maybe benefited from just a few extra tracks. Throughout the day, bubbly, whimsical jaunts led by playful vocals underpin participant exploration – its so gentle and fantastical which you can simply think about the singing animals off within the distance. On the similar time, there’s nearly at all times a small trace of creepiness to the chord development, a continuing reminder that not the whole lot is because it appears, and that aura turns into extra prevalent within the music because the day slowly shifts to nighttime.
The Verdict
Little Goody Two Shoes tells a fantasy thriller story that’s charming from begin to end, masterfully capturing the essence and themes of fairytales whereas nonetheless managing to spin an unique tackle a few of its tropes. Whereas not each second of gameplay is enjoyable – I grew bored with having to scrounge up money simply to maintain Elise alive – the social-sim components assist flesh out the world of Kieferburg and, consequentially, helped make investments me in Elise’s plight. Followers of narrative-rich adventures ought to completely give this one a shot.
Little Goody Two Footwear copy supplied by the writer for the needs of this evaluate.