Paws of Coal

I loved this game and want more. I really liked the main character and the mechanics and choices. I read online that the developers have another game they're working on with the same character and mechanics, but that it has been put on hold while they work on other things. If, by some chance, they read reviews, I hope they'd consider breaking down the larger game into short chapters like paws of coal, so that each is a smaller project and we could have more Charles adventures sooner. I would buy each one.

Paws of Coal, though short, is quite the fun detective game. There is really only a few things to solve and a lot of people to talk to. The systems and controls in the game can be a bit confusing to figure out and with it being so short, by the end of the game I didn't feel like I had enough time to sit with it and learn how it was supposed to work. But the writing is where this game shines! Everyone feels unique and has their own charm, fitted perfectly for their individual species. There is a lot of information that is thrown at you though your dialogs and when you get around to making the big deduction at the end it felt really overwhelming with little conclusive evidence for some of the suspected causes and I was second guessing my choices for a long time. I think the main problem I was facing is that I had remembered some things people had said to me in conversation but that did not show up in my list of clues and this is where I got confused when making my final deduction. In the end I did choose the right cause and made the correct cure for the illness but but because of my uncertainty it did not feel as satisfying as you would usually expect from these kinds of games. Wou…

After retrying a few times I can confirm the game is completely bugged due to me saving it, so I'd have to restart to finish it. Bug with the game save meant it counted my ongoing investigation as 'submitted' when I reloaded the game. So any new discoveries can't be added nor can I do anything but give the dr incorrect guesses based on partial info. Not sure how that happened but the clues page just looks wrong and doesn't show me any selected clues anymore, and I can't select or unselect any of them to get progress. Outside of that, accessibility is wonky. Controls: keyboard and mouse required. Controllers aren't compatible and moving with just the keyboard is difficult. Walking is a bit strange with the mouse due to the lack of depth and invisible doors until you stand in the right spot. Sound: music is calming classical music but it stops and starts which sometimes means it gets surprisingly loud. I had to keep fiddling with the settings on starting, especially after a fully silent dialogue scene intro. Art: is cute, visuals are fairly clear but there's no way to highlight interactable things. You need to walk towards them and a prompt will pop up on how you can interact with…

Really enjoyable investigative game with an interesting storyline revolving around work in a coal mine and how it effects everyone.

The controls are clunky and somewhat buggy, but serviceable. Got soft-locked by choosing particular dialog options that should've been mutually exclusive - after having interacted with everything, I just don't have enough info in my journal to come to a logical conclusion.

Adorable art and cute characters. Relaxing music in the background and mysteries to solve! Worthwhile but short. Looklng for more from the dev,