Little One

My hours are not quite accurate as I was AFK for some time during playing. Completion time would hover, maybe, around 4h, if you explore everything. Peculiar little game, friendly "cousin" of Lisa: The Painful. Same movement system, similar combat, although far more forgiving. + Cool themes + Interesting lore + Nice visuals + Likeable characters + Some optional areas to achieve "true ending" * Rather easy to miss party members, if you don't know from the store page what they look like, although game seems to be beatable without them * Open-ended, doesn't really give you direction where to go, can be confusing - Short - Easy - Pacing issues - Feels like it lacks polish here and there, lots of typos and game crashed a couple times I might have to advise going for it on a sale if you want a short, casual experience.

This game is so great! I loved exploring around and meeting all of the characters, they were just so fun and fighting all of the enemies was cool too. I got both the regular and the "better" ending or I guess true ending? But yea, I am so happy I heard about this game on the r/lisathepainfulrpg subreddit. I love how the game shows a mere glimpse of this mysterious world and leaves you wanting more, so much more. God I would love if this game got even more content, it was that fun to see all of it. I also adore Seph so much and also Valree too. I love how simple the call to adventure is, just getting dog food. Perfect way to introduce the player to the world, it's just a day in Seph's life. Amazing stuff. The writing overall is great, but a minor nitpick I did notice like two types (I forgot where sadly). I was so glad to see that after unlocking the shortcut from the Red Enclave to the marsh, that there was new content added about, was fun to re-explore those areas and see the monster at the docks, it genuinely spooked me. I've seen people talk about the difficulty being too easy, and I would have to agree for the most part. But even though I wish the combats were a bit harder…

NOTE: I was a playtester for the game so my review is probably partially biased as a result. I did pay for the steam release and replayed it again for the review, though. Here's my review: I think what I really like about little one is that it's small scale. It knows it wants to focus on something smaller, and as a result the game feels extremely down to earth and very interested in the mundane stories that exist everywhere in the strange world you see in the game. A giant casually reading in an never ending library. A living boat. A scrap playground full of alien kids and their adopted pretty chill but still weirdish caretaker. A fish that's been stuck on a wall. A friendly flower creature in the middle of the forest. I'm being vague with what I've mentioned, and all of these don't sound that exciting on their own, but they are everywhere and they add up to feeling like care and thought has been given to every little story, interaction or touch of detail that you come across. You feel like as you're exploring you're discovering a world that's alive. With that, there's an amazing feeling of atmosphere that this game captures. A weird sense of wonder and discovery that's hard t…

Little One is an underrated RPG with a lot going for it. I streamed the game and enjoyed getting lost in the world. The visuals are masterfully done, sticking to a few different palettes and using them effectively in areas like dark tunnels or oversized libraries. Seph, the main character, is a mostly silent protagonist, with his conversing only demonstrated in dialog choices and small sound effects used to confirm or deny the NPCs' conversations. The gameplay obviously feels like the LISA games. But the worldbuilding felt like Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass and, at times, Yume Nikki. Enemies felt like something out of Omori or Hylics. There's lots of RPG Maker flavor in this game, and it was fun to feel the influences - intentional or not! This is a great game, and I'd definitely like to see it through to see what else I can find. Backtracking and getting lost is a bit difficult, given the slow walk speed and the lack of any sensical direction from the game itself, but I think the exploration and lost feeling are somewhat intentional. Cool game, definitely worth the pricetag for the art and music alone.

This was one of the best short adventure games I've played. A world with a beautiful atmosphere and delightful characters. The main quest is to get dog food but reveals a story about emotional fragility, eldritch horror and hope. Not to mention the pixel art style is gorgeous and the music is great. If you enjoy meeting zany creatures living their best and worst lives you'll enjoy this game. I hope to see more from this creator.

I went out to get dog food...