Heroes of the Seven Islands

Cute graphics and whimsical characters. There isn't a whole lot else to get into. The RPG mechanics are rudimentary like the old Might & Magic games. It's not a hugely challenging game, unless you want to play for score. That isn't to say that the class design, items, spells and abilities aren't interesting, they get the job done and are fairly fun to engage with. But the real meat and potatoes here is mainly going to be the presentation. It's a very densely packed adventure with something funny, cute or new around the corner. It doesn't overstay its welcome and lasts for about as long as it needs to for how deep the game mechanics are. Also the music is incredibly good. It's literally one banger after another. I couldn't believe how good the music was and how well it fit the game.

is good

This is the most Might and Magicky or Wizardry'esque game I've seen. And the paint ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ artstyle is an icing on cake.

a beautiful adventure

I started out skeptical, but it quickly became one of my favorite games! As advertised, the "(poorly) hand-drawn" art is terrible and wonderful and I absolutely love it. The combat has surprising depth and felt balanced and fun. Almost every scene has objects to interact with for bonus XP/gold/items, secrets, or hidden paths; it's amazing how much care and attention the developer put into everything. The quests were fun, but mostly fetch quests (common with the era of games that inspired it). There are a number of puzzles/riddles for bonus loot that I found just the right amount of challenging; I never needed a guide, but there were a few that I had to really think over for a few minutes to figure out. I could go on and on about all the little things that make the game great, but you should just play it. Highly, highly recommended. It took me about 12 hours to do a single slow, methodical play-through for all the secrets and achievements and I'll probably go through again to try different classes/difficulty, which makes the price feel fair.

In the age of AI-slop, hand-drawn has become even more precious to me ♥ I only got a couple quest keys in but there were several, mini moments of wholesomeness that melted my heart. Very cute and the UI feels so nostalgic.