aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa this was so cute and compelling!!
(SPOILERS)
like cycle, this is another extremely wholesome time with immaculate vibes! i loved spending time with these characters, they're really charming and the art and music were incredibly pleasant. but thanks to the intriguing lore and the twists in the plot, it doesn't feel like a retread of that game; this feels like its own thing. i really liked how every detail in the story got built up; when the final darker part started, it didn't feel at all cheap or unfitting. it was really cool going from question to question as the plot unraveled ("why does almond have a scar in his eye?" "what did hazel do that she can't forgive herself for?" "why is she unable to age?") and seeing how everything was connected by the end. aaah this was so good!
the games in this universe always do a great job at using high magic concepts (outcasts monsters, worlds that have lost their light, dreams...), and this is no exception. i love the contrast between the happy and low-stakes chats with the main four characters, and the revelation of hazel being unable to age and the pain it brought her. despite her looking just like the other, she feels like she doesn't fit in, because... well, she doesn't, since she can't age. she's lived through countless generations and seen all her closest friends die. i love how the writing makes her suffering clear, but doesn't get overwhelmed with it nor makes the story suddenly super dark. it's a really cool twist that perfectly foreshadows the ending part of the game. and like i said, it makes a great contrast with how innocent and cheery everything else in this world feels, and it's really hard to keep such a tonal balancing act this well :> but i also love how chill & fun said world is; the conversations between the characters are really natural and nice to read, the search for the giant nuts was fun (loved how it forced you to talk to the others, emphasizing their importance and developing their feelings towards the hazel situation further, that was really clever!) the story was super well executed, and at every point i was wondering what would happen next.
i probably made it clear already haha but the characters were great!! everyone being called after nuts is so cute lol. pecan (i had no idea that was a nut name tbh-), cashew and almond were really fun, and i especially loved pistachio and hazel; pistachio being an over-the-top funnyman was really... well, fun haha. gotta respect the spinning maestro. and hazel was really compelling and tragic; i loved how reserved and introspective her way of speaking was, contrasted with how desperate and apologetic she acts at the end, and her scenes at night were really interesting. honestly i was sad to say goodbye to these characters when the game ended, they were all so fun and memorable! (also i was not expecting this to be so funny; pecan saying "goodnight me", pistachio being horrified at the spinning nut, pecan looking around the room to find the symbol on the wall... there were so many bits that made me laugh out loud haha)
the art style is once again super pleasing!! love both the calming orange color palette for the fall-themed forest, and the creepy browns and bright blues of the theater/dream world. everything is just so pleasing to the eyes. and the character designs are great too! i really like how at first glance all of them look kind of the same, but there's actually differences in their designs that clearly set them apart from any angle (hazel especially stands out, which once again emphasizes how she doesn't really "fit" in with the rest). also, amazing detail how their expressions change during dialogue!! not many rpg games do that and it's really cool :D and there's too many neat small things to count! the two notes at pistachio's house, the strings holding hazel and the items in her story like puppets, the symbols at the end lighting up with their character's main color, and when i realized that the eyes FOLLOW YOU i literally screamed haha!! sooo awesome, this game looks soo good. and the music fits everything absurdly well!! i don't know if it's original or not, but it perfectly elevated every scene, from the chill ones to the dramatic ones. ahh the presentation is so great!
i compared this game to cycle cuz they're both pretty similar, and tbh i think they're maybe a bit too alike? both games are about going from day to day in a calm forest, interacting with an outcast with magical abilities, and finding out their secrets... maybe it's just me but i couldn't shake the feeling that, until the final part, i was kind of playing a somewhat different version of cycle. maybe not setting the game in a forest would've helped shake that feeling off? (tbf that would make the "nut" motif a bit harder to justify) and i think hazel was convinced to let the others go a bit too fast; i would've liked if they argued a bit more to really set in stone her belief that this is for the best.
overall, this was a really great experience! a pitch perfect batch of wholesomeness with an unexpected dark twist. this universe just keeps getting more and more interesting, and i can't wait to see what's next!! (you could say this universe is like a... cozy void? ehh?? ehhhh??? i'll see myself out-)