Spirittea

Wowzers this game sucked me right in! Such a good wholesome game. I did find myself having to rely on guides a little more than usual but the puzzles were satisfying nonetheless. The characters are so cute and quirky and you can tell a lot of love has gone into this.

I love the atmosphere of the game. The pixel art is adorable and the cycle of taking care of the bathhouse and doing things in town is fun even after playing a full in game year. I enjoy collecting items and spirits , but I personally had to rely heavily on the games wiki and forums for guides. Regardless, this game is fun, cozy and relaxing.

I mostly wanted to try Spirittea because I love Spirited Away, so the whole spirits and bathhouse thing immediately caught my attention. I ended up really enjoying it. I like exploring the town, meeting all the different spirits and slowly figuring out what they need. It has a really nice atmosphere and there's always something small to do, which makes it pretty easy to lose track of time. It definitely has some rough edges though. Some quests aren't very clear about what you're supposed to do, and there are a few things that feel repetitive or a bit clunky. But for me, the atmosphere and the overall concept make up for most of that. If you like cozy games, Japanese folklore, or just want something relaxing to play, I'd say it's worth giving a go.

This game has very strange pacing. It's extremely slow with progress and the different parts don't jam together the way that makes these kind of games work so well. Finding the spirits is an extreme chore and involves insane amounts of waiting. It's a bit of a frustrating mess.

I enjoyed my time with the game, but after getting about 90% of the way through, I pulled the plug. It takes about 40 hours to get to the start of Fall. To fully complete the game, you have to get to Spring Year 2 - so another 40 hours. The game just doesn't have enough to keep me interested for another 40 hours. Aside from unlocking new spirits, basically the only thing to do in the game is run the bathhouse. When I pulled the plug, I had already unlocked just about everything. Just running the bathhouse for another 40 hours would be boring.

I really wanted to love Spirittea. I loved the idea of running a bathhouse and getting to know the people in a small town. I finished the main story because I wanted to see it through, but I'm not sure I'd return to it. My biggest issue was how often I had to look up guides to complete villager quests. I'm not against using guides, but I found myself confused about how to complete an action or progress often, which felt more intense than I expected from a cosy game. I also wish there was more opportunity to get to know the spirits. Once you've completed their quest, there's no ability to interact with them beyond managing the bathhouse. I would have loved to build ongoing relationships with them, like you can with the villagers. I loved the concept, the town, spending time with villagers, shopping, and building up and managing the bathhouse, and I still really want to root for this game. I just didn't get on with it.