Smile For Me Review (Femboy Thighs)
Short but amazing Psychonauts-esque "point and click" puzzle game. Except not really point and click, but the idea is the same. Puzzles are straightforward but challenging enough that you feel smart for solving most of them. Characters and music are EXCELLENT, it's easy to spend most of your in-game days just vibing.
The story isn't super mind-blowingly incredible but I'd say you're more there for the characters than the plot. The plot more-or-less services introducing you to the cast and giving you a reason to solve puzzles. But the story is good too.
What sets this apart from other short puzzle games is the charmingly weird gameplay. You don't get dialogue options for characters, for example, but instead move your mouse to nod/shake your head to agree or disagree with questions asked to you. Dialogue itself is great, not trying too hard to be funny or sad, hits a perfect middle-ground tonally and each character feels unique and real!
There's also secrets, a hidden ending, and a bunch of other little treats for exploring every area, taking every dialogue route, etc. There's not really a "fail state" to the game either, you're free to relax and take the game at your own pace. There's a day system meaning you have a limited time before you have to go back to sleep, but it's not meaningless - certain events only happen at specific times of day, and there's... consequences... to being out late.
As for puzzle difficulty, I only needed a guide twice. One achievement is a bit awkward to figure out by yourself and there's like 1 or 2 puzzles that stumped me. Luckily, if you're strongly against guides, there's also a character in-game who will give you 1 hint a day about whatever item you show her. Also, any relevant characters to a specific puzzle will drop more and more obvious hints for every day you can't figure something out, so the game is very casual. But, also challenging enough to feel rewarding if you avoid taking any hints.