Back alley chronicle

Back Alley Chronicle's prologue is absolutely lovely, reminding me of Millennium Kitchen's games - Attack of the Friday Monsters and the like. I think it would really appeal to fans of these games, and things like Ghibli etc. You play a girl called Saeki, who finds herself whisked off on a bizarre little adventure while paying a visit to the local used-book festival. On one hand, it feels very down-to-earth and familiar, a proper little Japanese slice of life adventure...but then, it has this very surreal fantasy vibe, probably because most people have weird objects as heads (the reason why isn't disclosed...yet, anyway! One guy had a washing machine for a head, and was moaning about how heavy it was lol). It's very, very intriguing, and ended on a cliff-hanger that made me very excited to know what would happen in the next chapter! The prologue covers around 2 hours of the game, and gives a really generous look at what the finished product could be like. There are lots of little quests and activities to get involved with, as well as NPCs to chat to. The quests are your typical run-of-the-mill fetch and gathering affairs - nothing particularly thrilling there, but the atmosphere …

Can't wait for the full version! I had issues finishing the game and had to switch to the beta release that doesn't have an English translation and in general the translation is a bit of a mess, but I still love it, support unique indie projects!

although i am recommending this, i only recommend it if you have A LOT OF PATIENCE. i haven't yet finished it the game is cute and charming, although it can get a little serious sometimes out of the blue, and it's pretty on the eyes. the controls are a liiiittle janky? running has weird turning and i often get stuck on objects a list of bugs i've noticed so far consist of: - english translation is pretty unreadable - portraits dont load properly - when taking to the barber girl, saeki's name and icon show up for the entire convo - read the book near rintarou twice, checked a vending machine across the venue and then got his dialog - venue music randomly restarts at some points