▼ Not recommended
7 hrs
As a lover of all things idler, I appreciate the whimsy this game is trying to bring to the table. The hand crafted artwork is beautiful and the varied playlist is def something I can see myself running in the background. But 30 min into it, and I am ready to close it and go back to Spirit City.
For starters, I understand the point of an idler is to keep it open on a second monitor as you go about your day. You passively level, get points etc. Understood. But there is usually some sort of light intro or tutorial to ease you into the interface and explain how this certain idler works. You get nothing of the sort here. And so the confusion begins.
I did figure some things out by just clicking. But other things are still a mystery. There is a map option at the top. If you click on it to start, it is completely blank and you can't do anything with it. Eventually, as you level up you unlock locations you can visit on the map. To idle. Again... none of this is explained. There is another button at the top, 'Adventure Mode'. I still have no idea what that does. You click it and nothing happens.
There just really isn't much going on here, even by idler standards. In your main room, your character just sits at a desk writing. There isn't really much to interact with on the screen other than the productivity tools. You cannot change what activities your character is doing. And speaking of characters... you cannot even fully customize her. You cannot choose if you want to play as a male or female. There is one set skintone, and you start with a short blond bob. You can unlock new hairstyles and new shirts (but not pants?) with money that you passively gain (I am assuming by levelling up, again not explained). There is a cat with some skins that you can pay to unlock and that you can pet. But it doesn't do much either. I see a cauldron in the corner and a potion book I can open up. Maybe one day I will be able to make potions idly but who knows >.>
The productivity tools are basic. A nice feature is the 'Diary' mode. It gives you a section to openly write in, accompanied with a more visual and guided journaling section which I thought was a cool way to encourage reflection/mindfulness (ie. mood scale, what are you grateful for today, proud of etc). It would be nice to see these questions change up or randomize so you aren't exploring the same topic every day.
You can customize how your room looks and buy new items to style it to your liking. This might take some time (as all idlers do) but I did notice that you make most of your experience to level up (how you make money) from using the productivity tools. Progression may be slower for those who use these games more for idling/screensavers (or don't use the tools every session).
And lastly, my progression isn't saving. I have levelled up multiple times now but everytime I close the game and open it back up, all my progress is lost and I am starting new again. There is no button in the settings menu to save, so I am assuming it is suppose to save automatically.
Overall, this is a bit disappointing. It feels like an unfinished EA product. The lack of animations/tasks to assign your character coupled with the complete lack of proper character customization, makes this a hard idler to want to keep running. The art truly is stunning but I would like to see more variation on my screen as I idle. Not just the character doing the same thing. Once the save feature is properly fixed, I may revisit it to unlock more of the maps and level up. I will update my review as needed. But as of right now there are other idlers that just do it better, offering similar productivity tools and more customization options to suit your idler needs.
Update: I am now able to save my game and progress. Thank you to the devs for the speedy fix. I will play a bit more and update my review as needed. Best of luck!!
For starters, I understand the point of an idler is to keep it open on a second monitor as you go about your day. You passively level, get points etc. Understood. But there is usually some sort of light intro or tutorial to ease you into the interface and explain how this certain idler works. You get nothing of the sort here. And so the confusion begins.
I did figure some things out by just clicking. But other things are still a mystery. There is a map option at the top. If you click on it to start, it is completely blank and you can't do anything with it. Eventually, as you level up you unlock locations you can visit on the map. To idle. Again... none of this is explained. There is another button at the top, 'Adventure Mode'. I still have no idea what that does. You click it and nothing happens.
There just really isn't much going on here, even by idler standards. In your main room, your character just sits at a desk writing. There isn't really much to interact with on the screen other than the productivity tools. You cannot change what activities your character is doing. And speaking of characters... you cannot even fully customize her. You cannot choose if you want to play as a male or female. There is one set skintone, and you start with a short blond bob. You can unlock new hairstyles and new shirts (but not pants?) with money that you passively gain (I am assuming by levelling up, again not explained). There is a cat with some skins that you can pay to unlock and that you can pet. But it doesn't do much either. I see a cauldron in the corner and a potion book I can open up. Maybe one day I will be able to make potions idly but who knows >.>
The productivity tools are basic. A nice feature is the 'Diary' mode. It gives you a section to openly write in, accompanied with a more visual and guided journaling section which I thought was a cool way to encourage reflection/mindfulness (ie. mood scale, what are you grateful for today, proud of etc). It would be nice to see these questions change up or randomize so you aren't exploring the same topic every day.
You can customize how your room looks and buy new items to style it to your liking. This might take some time (as all idlers do) but I did notice that you make most of your experience to level up (how you make money) from using the productivity tools. Progression may be slower for those who use these games more for idling/screensavers (or don't use the tools every session).
And lastly, my progression isn't saving. I have levelled up multiple times now but everytime I close the game and open it back up, all my progress is lost and I am starting new again. There is no button in the settings menu to save, so I am assuming it is suppose to save automatically.
Overall, this is a bit disappointing. It feels like an unfinished EA product. The lack of animations/tasks to assign your character coupled with the complete lack of proper character customization, makes this a hard idler to want to keep running. The art truly is stunning but I would like to see more variation on my screen as I idle. Not just the character doing the same thing. Once the save feature is properly fixed, I may revisit it to unlock more of the maps and level up. I will update my review as needed. But as of right now there are other idlers that just do it better, offering similar productivity tools and more customization options to suit your idler needs.
Update: I am now able to save my game and progress. Thank you to the devs for the speedy fix. I will play a bit more and update my review as needed. Best of luck!!
If you enjoy my reviews and find them helpful, please consider following our Starpatch curator page: Starpatch on Steam
41 found helpful
Steam ↗
