Hideko

I'm amazed at how in-depth this was. There was so many things to do, and I love it. I bought this game full price and it is so worth it, I was basically robbing a store because of the price. ~GAMEPLAY~ On to the game itself, which is very good! The main game consists around making stuff with your 3 main components, the Sun, the Cloud, and the Ground. They all produce something different (Sun makes light, Cloud makes water, Ground makes rocks*) You have physics, which is a plus for me since I was messing around with the sandbox. In my playthrough, I hatched a baby bird, I made a thunderstorm, accidentally set everything on fire, made a skeleton I named "skelly the first", I found out how to make bombs, then I made a volcano, set everything on fire again, I drowned everybody in an ocean, I made a gnome town, I burned the gnome town, turn the last gnome into an alien and then I got to the endgame. *The Ground also produces sand or minerals when on different maps. ~VISUALS~ The visuals of this game are picturesque and lovely. I felt at home playing this game and the colourful visuals were pleasing. I love the little details that weren't necesary but add a lot to the experience like the smearframes that you see when your mouse moves really fast, that you can see wind in the background, that the stars have a weird effect when moving making them grab your attention or maybe that some objects like the Cloud, or the trees have a separate background layer that follows them with a different color. You get the point, it's good. ~MUSIC~ The music in this game is made by bbtombo, and it's good and it fits the theme to a tee. The first, title screen song SLAPS, it goes HARD. But when you're in the middle of gameplay, the music is very calm and unobtrusive and it really sets you into a calm and nice mood. ~ENDGAME SPOILERS~ The endgame went with a more modern vibe giving you heaps of machinery you can create, which could lead to some really cool mechanisms being made. But the last item you will be creating (if you've created every possible item beforehand) is a spaceship. This spaceship, once activated, will take you to space (obviously). This is where you started in the titlescreen, but now, you've got a pink crystal in the way. If you manage to break it, it will turn into a black hole and suck everything on the screen and end the game. If you've gotten every single star before that point, you will unlock creative mode, in which it will give you the materials for an item if you click on it. I actually put so much items in this mode, that when I opened the black hole, I crashed the game, alongside, "skelly the first". ~CONCLUSION~ Do I think this is the Game Of The Year? No. It's not bad, it's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ perfect. But it's a really short experience, like in A Short Hike. The Game Of The Year title almost always goes to a title with a flurry of content. And, Hideko is not that. But, it is MY favourite Calmest Game Of The Year, and no one can take that away from me. Sokpop truly outdid themselves when making this and it shows that they care more about quality, more than quantity, which they also excel at (they make 1 game every month of this quality, like damn). Please buy this game man I beg of you, it's that good. ~Woopser :)

Brimming with charm and beyond delightful. general UI/UX is a little obtuse, but discovering how things work is most of the fun of Hideko. An incredibly refreshing take on the sandbox/crafting genre that is also great for little kids. Can't recommend it enough! 9.5/10

It's a cute puzzle experience, has a great theme accompanied by matching sound effects and visuals. I personally think it's a bit pricey, but if you can get it on sale or want to support the developers I'd recommend!