The August Before

I really wish steam had a neutral review button. Overall, the game is cute. It's a narrative puzzle game about packing up your belongings before moving to a new stage of life. You're cleaning rooms, organizing boxes, and deciding what to keep as memories. I really like the puzzle design and the art style, they’re simple but fit the game really well. Unfortunately, I've never played a game with so many bugs. In the first chapter August's Room, I completed everything, but the game wouldn't register it as 100% clear, and the achievement didn't show up at all. I had to replay the entire chapter a second time and it finally worked......Then in Ivy’s Room, I collected every coin and deposited them all into the piggy bank, but the achievement still wouldn’t unlock. Even after a second playthrough, it still didn’t work (Sad because I like collecting achievements)...The bugs really take away from what should be a relaxing experience. I like the concept and the storytelling, but the bugs make it frustrating to fully enjoy. I hope the developers fix these problems because the game has a lot of potential.

I liked it, until I didn't. So I thought this game was leading me somewhere, everything I was adding to Ivy, Beth and August's bags gave me a choice. Did I keep the important memories and let them go. I chose, what I thought would bring the 3 back together. But no, nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. The game ends just saying "All's well that ends well" but... nothing ended well? August is moving away for college, Ivy is moving to some place she and August were going to move to together and... I have no idea what was happening with Beth because it barely shows anything from her point of view. Very disappointing narrative, because you know about as much at the ending as you did going in.

Runs ok on steam deck but the controls are quite uncomfortable, not something I could deal with. It's a slideshow with proton on another desktop Linux system that is somewhere between the minimum and recommended specs. It's a shame, I really am interested in the game and want to play it. Wish I could recommend it but it just isn't playable for me. I'll update this review if anything changes.

Loved the game, wish there were more levels to the game. But, overall, appreciate the gameplay

This game is incredibly cute! I thought that the game had used AI but after talking with the developers, any usage of AI has been removed and hasn't been used since! The puzzles are very cute and the way that the game is made, having to clear through everything really gets you to be know these characters. Finding the passwords were somewhat easy but made me feel incredibly smart once I got it. This game requires your entire attention and rewards you with some incredibly good environmental storytelling. Beth's room is my favorite! If you liked unpacking, you'd definitely like this.

I like it. thumb up