'Her Old Recipes' is a cozy slice-of-life drama kind of story about using baking to deal with grief with a magical twist. The visual novel is cute, a little bit messy, and bursting with personality. It takes what would normally be a grounded in reality story and adds enough magical elements to make it feel almost fairy tale-ish, which I think is also on purpose for what I think was the main folklore inspiration for this piece.
The story follows a young male witch who creates an amalgamation in the shape of a wolf. This construct was made with the express purpose of being fed some recipes (cause it can learn by eating printed paper), so it can help him run his bakery. Though the slice-of-life day with the witch, the wolf slowly learns with the reader the situation with the witch, how the bakery was owned by his grandmother, how said grandmother has died, and the strain on the witch from his mother and himself is what caused him to make the wolf in the first place. In trying to keep her alive, he's just trying to recreate everything she did but just perfectly, which he's been struggling with. Eventually with the help of a lumberjack friend and the wolf, they work through the witch's grief and start living as the grandmother would've wanted him to continue living. The characters are all really well written, each one feeling distinct from the other. The witch being a sad boy, the wolf being a innocent good boy, the lumberjack being a wise friend and his mother being a complicated and angry woman.
The presentation is so good. Like, the first thing that stands out is just how much style and artistic flair this game has. From the UI, to the way the sprites are drawn, to the character designs themselves, very few noticeable hiccups (the only one would be doing mirroring of the sprites, and thus changing up the asymmetrical details). The music is mood setting. The way that the storytelling style changes from standard visual novel to storybook cgs is adorable and just really good in the immersion category. Even the filtered photos make it feel fantastical and not like it's weirdly out of place. There's an aesthetic language that's is so consistent that it's one of my favorites in the jam so far. Writing wise, it could use a couple more pass through for technical stuff like certain words and tenses. However, structure-wise, I felt like it kept going at a nice pace, revealing details and plot points as they became more important. It does get a little bit soap-opera-y and melodramatic when the familial element comes in, making it feel like there's a bit too much trying to pile on, and leaving a sort of unresolved plot thread with his mother, that I felt could've been explored more, other than trying to just paint her as an antagonistic force that doesn't get addressed again.
The folklore element I think is Little Red Riding Hood, and using that as a structural starting point for the character set up is really cute. Especially the "Big Bad Wolf" eating granny's recipes is just a fun interpretation and twist on the classic tale. I thought the setting and the designs were super creative, and the characters were really endearing. I think Russo (the witch) had a simple character arc, going from sad boy to hopeful boy, thanks to the construct that he made. It's simple, but in a good way, giving the feel good cozy vibes and a bit of overcoming grief narrative plot line that warms the heart.
So surprised that this was a first time entry by the author and artist, cause this is just fantastic. The presentation is extremely polished, the art is cute, and the story is also something that just works extremely well for a game jam like this. Like, good judge of keeping the scope in check. It sets out what it wants to do, and executes it. Do I wish that there was a little bit more of a plot happening and there was a bit more deliberate actions being made, sure. Especially with Bonet (the wolf) being super perfect and helpful, a lot of the conflict ends up being existential. But, I get the feeling that this is the story that wanted to be told, and it was told extremely well. Looking forward to so many more projects you decide to cook up.