To the Rescue! Review (RitheGuardian)
I really wanted to like this game. It looks cute and fun. I was weary of purchasing due to the mixed reviews, but really wanted to give it a try for myself...
During the tutorial / story intro it just... stopped doing anything. I hit enter to move along the conversation text, and the camera panned a little.. and then just... sat there. This happened when your friend is showing you around the kennels and went back to the food area It wasn't frozen, but I couldn't interact with anything or continue the story. So I had to quit the game via the menu and it said it wouldn't save any of the days progress. Literally 10 minutes into the game.
I clicked to report a bug and it just redirects you to join their discord server.... no thanks.
The controls are a little awkward.
When in the intro, it feels like it has a bit too much filler and it drags a bit. I was itching to get to the game play. (obviously the game stopped working before I could)
From what I was able to see of the story, it seems okay. They're really heavy handed with trying to portray a very common reality. Which is clearly stated in the game description, so it's to be expected.
I'm not in the mood to drag through the intro again today.. Going to try again another time.
I'll update my review accordingly when I do.
UPDATE:
Played again today, got to the 3rd visitor in the first day and after speaking to them the game did the same thing. Just stopped working, but it wasn't frozen. Couldn't move, progress the story, etc. but I could access the menu to quit... again, not saving the days 'work'.
More Bugs & Cons :
- The ribbons don't always work to move the dogs to and from their cages.
- The cursor randomly disappears/doesn't show up when needed.
- Mini games don't make much sense, and some don't work as intended .
- You can't tell what kind of food is in a cage without a dog (say if a dog gets adopted), nor which cage each dog belongs in. So you have to memorize everything/remember. (or else you could end up making dogs not feel well because the wrong food is in the cage)
Opinions on what little game play I could experience:
- The mini games are not fun, but rather stressful; which you'd think would be the opposite when you're tasked with playing with a dog or giving them pets.
- Care tasks are simple enough, but some can be unnecessarily tedious.
- Choosing dogs for adopters is nice, checking to make sure the dog meets their wants.
- Adopters choosing a dog is rated on a star system for HOW MANY dogs you have that meet their needs..... so even if you have one perfect dog that meets their desires, it's a no go. (at least from the one adopter that I encountered)
Since 20% goes towards charity, I will not be refunding the game, despite the fact that I'll likely never play it again. The dev also seems dedicated to fixing and working on the game.