This is the second in a series of posts about Issue #0 of 同ZINE // douZINE, an anthology of small games by indie devs from Japan. Find the previous one here!

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My thoughts about Mimi and animals by Hidebu Games come with a few caveats : firstly, I played the game in Japanese, so my reactions are largely to that version of the game. From the quick glance I gave to the English version, the translation is sometimes a little wonky, though understandable, and importantly the light-hearted tone comes through... but your mileage may vary on this. I expect the dev translated it himself, and frankly, good job!

(A side note : for anyone with a fairly basic level of Japanese, this is a really good choice of game to flex those muscles! It's aimed at children, and uses adapted vocabulary and limited kanji.)

The other caveat is that it is hard to not be completely in love with a game a solo dev made specifically with their very young daughter in mind, a game which apparently captured her imagination so much that they are now making games together! It's too adorable. I am filled with warmth and joy. I want to play their game!

This caveat does tie in to the main thought I was having when playing Mimi and animals, though, which was how clearly this is a children's game, in a lot of great ways! But I'll come back to that in a bit.

Mimi and animals is a cute adventure game about giving the animal residents of your town a hand as you go about your day, and somehow becoming queen along the way! It's made in RPG Maker but has no combat, centring instead around gathering either items or friends in order to solve problems.

It has a very light-hearted tone throughout, peppered through with a lot of absurd comedy : you pull out the legendary Baguette in the Stone (and make a bear have an existential crisis in doing so), meet a polar bear selling ice-cream in the snow country (because it's so warm there), and the save point flowers give rise to a tongue-in-cheek moment when you see the message left by a resigned gardener, confused about all the visitors to his flower patch.

The gameplay is fairly straightforwards, entirely consisting of figuring out which of your animal friends to bring over to a particular obstacle, or gathering specific items to give to a particular character. It has some similarities with item trade chains in older Zelda games, as helping an animal lets them accompany you as you wander around (which is absolutely adorable), potentially allowing you to solve another problem. But it is often quite open in its design, letting you wander around areas and meet new people for the heck of it, guided only by your curiosity. While the game is limited in scope, this rewarding of poking around, along with the way new areas open up as you explore, make it feel like a wider world than it is. This feels coherent with a child's perspective, with an adventure around the neighbourhood taking on epic proportions (and convenient mole tunnels letting you get back home anytime).

All this adds up to an experience that is for children in a way that is embedded into its design. This doesn't mean that it isn't satisfying for an adult, on the contrary! I found it a lot of fun, and in a way it fits right in with the current trend for "wholesome games". But playing through Mimi and animals, I couldn't help but feel like this was specifically an RPG Maker analogue to a children's storybook. The obstacles range from "oh no! a scary crow!" to A Big Turnip, and the solution, consistently, is more friendship! Despite the twists of the narrative, it keeps that familar rhythm, which evoke the rhythm of storytelling.

And it is a game filled to the brim with kindness and community spirit : your main interaction with the animals of the town is to help them, even the scary crow (who turns out to not be so scary after all, once you get to know them). Your character does not hesitate to share her own precious possessions when it will make others happy, and gets similar help in turn from the animals she befriends. Little lessons about thinking about other people's feelings or dealing with failure are peppered through, often in amusing little story beats. A duckling can tell you about needing quiet times to practice mindfulness, and you can lend you ear to a lonely snowman. You can tell that the creator was thinking about what a child would get out of the game!

In all likelihood, a lot of what I'm drawing attention to is nothing mindblowing, both in and out of games. I readily admit that I'm not that familiar with the landscape of games made for children (not since Adibou, at least), and obviously many of these elements can be found in games aimed at slightly older audiences. But there's something special about a game made with younger children specifically in mind (or in this case, a particular child), and Mimi and animals felt like a good showcase of that spirit.

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Hidebu Games has also made a few other games, the latest one of which is another RPG maker adventure, this time about collecting cats for a cat café! Do check them out if you're interested, along with other games in 同ZINE // douZINE #0.