izigame.me

We NEED a MAYBE option for recommendations. This is game you want to love, but will feel guilty if you don't love it. Yes, it's a very cute sparkly inclusive game, but feels unfinished, unpolished, and feels like a demo where it's a taste of what it could really be. Needs more to explore and do. Buy it on sale as it's a short game. Don't mind the 15.7 hrs, as I left it to idle to take a break from the most important, yet most stressful part of the game that will make you hate it: the sadistic kitchen. You'll see why as you read on, or skip to the TL:DR

🎨 Aesthetic
The art style and world is best described as a bubblegum and cotton candy fever dream of a little girl who plays with dollhouses, with the classic art style reminiscent of Alphonse Mucha of hard outlines lines with blended interiors, with a dash of witchy magic. There are not many characters on the island you're confined to, which is more like an enlarged RPG overworld with mini biomes home to a handful of animals that are all not to scale, like a ferret the size of a bear, a horse the size of a cat, a cat the size of a ferret, a Japanese Spitz the size of a pony and a cat that got messed up by magic that happens to be the size of an oak tree.
I was also under the assumption there would be otters as seen in the game's banner, but I've never came across any otters, nor did I see any shiba's as seen in the loading screen, and also if you like Siamese cats, sorry, there are none.
🔈 Sounds
Generic cutesy low-fi tunes. Only when you're in your cafe is there a breathless indie lyrical voice-over to the theme. The animal sounds are actually quite spot-on, such as the cat purrs, cow moos, and raven cackles.
⚙️ Assembly
For game-play, there isn't much besides grabbing and wiggling animals, being the magical resident's go-to girl for favors, and getting a tiny cafe dollhouse back in service with a convoluted kitchen baking timed mini-game of chucking ingredients into a pot/magic cauldron, which is difficult because instead of being able to grab everything and properly add them to the magic cauldron or pan at full size, you're being given the handicap of being the size of a mouse and using the WASD keys to hopefully not over-yeet them to their destination, and doing everything manually in a cute but labor-intensive way with QTE (quick-time events = pressing buttons at the right time).
That includes using a miniature merry-go-round to use the mixer, running on a mouse wheel to move a baking pan through a counter-top oven, riding a balloon to drop decorations and using a pogo stick to cut out cookies. Also, if you don't have someone's favorite food, you need to BUY the recipe from one of them. Some good neighbors... Cat gods forbid you weren't left with the recipes at the cafe inside that massive recipe book that's there. Why? Because you're actually in Hell and the cafe is your punishment.
At least you get to wiggle animals that, in real life, would maul the crap out of you, or lift them above you like superwoman just to have them become an instant rag-doll, rather than maul the crap out of you. The excuse is that all the animals are friendly and cuddly by MAGIC. LMAO, doesn't that make them enslaved? Maybe the animals are actually the ones in Hell and you're all their collective nightmares...
There is no quick way to traverse the island, so until you can get that broomstick near the END OF THE GAME, or get that enlarging potion that makes the quadrupeds ride-able and the feathered fly-able you have kangaroo-jump around the island. Other fun things you can do to the animals is with potions is to have have them become a levitating orbiting rag doll.
Once you're done with all the achievements there really is no end-game. It can go on and on my friend...

📝 TL;DR
You're new girl in town whom not only took over the cafe, but also the burden of being the go-to girl for everyone's issues in an overly saccharine magical bubblegum world inhabited by witches and anthropomorphic people, and only give you what you need for your cafe by completing their favors, but at least overpaying for your baked goods that you made while shrunken to the size of a mouse by some sadistic magic. The amusement for YOURSELF is being able to grab any and all unwilling animals and either wiggle them to your heart's content, ride them like a mount, or make them levitate with potions and have them orbit you like the bright glowing sun and the whatever planet you're on. Possibly not a planet. Possibly Hell.

❕ NOTE: This is my opinion and thoughts, not an overall view of the game for general audiences, as opinions and experiences vary. As with all reviews, take this as one of many viewpoints, and do your own research. This notice should not be necessary, but is included due to previous inflammatory and derogatory commentary, thus leading to disabling comments, due to players being "butt-hurt" about statements made about the game mentioning bad aspects, mentioning good aspects, disagreeing with it being good, disagreeing with it being bad, using "wording or descriptions" one just doesn't agree with, or all of the above. ❕

☑️ Minimal Comprehension🟦
⭐ Overall
☐Love it!
☐Top 20
☐Good
☐Not Bad
☑Feels Lacking
☐Back to R+D
☐Dumpster Fire
☐Have it join E.T.

👽 Theme
☑Animation
☐Atmospheric
☐Comedy
☑Cute
☐Detective
☐Drama
☐Dystopian
☐Edgy
☐Erotic
☑Fantasy
☐Gothic
☐Macabre
☐Psychological
☐Romance
☐Science Fiction
☐Surreal
☐Suspense
⚔️ Play Style
☑Casual
☐Defensive
☐Explorer /Rational/Simulationist
☐Socializer/Idealist/Narratist
☐Aggressive
☐Achiever/Guardian/Gamist
☐Killer/Artisan/Experientialist
💀 Difficulty
☐Quick Time Event
☑W A S D
☐Brain usage needed
☐Roller Coaster
☐Frustrating
☐Need more fingers
☐Table-flip
☐Masochist
⏳ Length
☐Don't know, didn’t care, couldn't endure
☐What game? (.25-3 hrs)
☐Short (4-6 hrs)
☑Medium (7-20 hrs)
☐Long (21-40 hrs)
☐2nd Job
☐#No Life
🔨 Grind
☑Grind-free
☐Achievements only
☐Needed to Progress
☐2nd Job
☐#Still No Life
💲 Quality for Price
☐Free!
☐Take My Money!
☑Wait for Sale
☐Not worth ‘Free’, give me my time back.
☐Burn your money to fuel your grill.

🌈 Graphics
☐Is it real?
☐Nice
☑Artsy
☑Decent
☐Potato
☐Pixel
☐Pong
📜 Story
☐Library of Alexandria
☐Little Golden Book
☐Immersive
☐Afterthought
☐Entertaining
☑Disappointing
☐Convoluted
☐Notepad
☑Keep hitting ‘SKIP’
☑It’s here somewhere…
☐Narrative Art
☐...there was a story?
🎵 Music
☑Player
☐Source
☑Soundtrack
☐Underscore
☐Adaptive
☐Linear
☐8-bit
☐Dance
☐Choir
☑Instrumental
☐Orchestral
☐Period/World
☑Pop
☐Rock
☑Repetitive
☐Cats in heat
☐Feedback
☐...there was music?
🐛 Bugs
☐Sterile
☑Wall-E
☐Need an exterminator
☐A Bug’s Life
☐Set on Fire
☐...there were bugs? Oh, wait, that was the game...