I have a soft spot for pastel colours and the hand-drawn look, super cozy! I really enjoyed the story and dialogue, they’re what really pulled me through the game. I like how rude some of the characters start out and then proceed to become nicer lol.
The platforming puzzles were fun too, really liked the level design, just the right amount of challenge for me, though I think some sections could give us a larger margin of error (like large jumps where you barely make it or timed buttons which give us a very narrow window). The mechanic with the needle is good, but I wish there was an explanation for how it can press buttons on the way back, whether in a dialogue box or through level design. The needle double jump was a fun mechanic, I wish there was more of it.
The open design of the town was cool, I had to read actual signs to get through it and that’s immersive. I noticed the sewers are always accessible though, and if someone got in there before going to the library it would be unintentionally challenging.
Some things I would’ve liked to see were more audiovisual feedback when the needle impacts something or when we hit a button to recall it. I think I would’ve liked more sfx in general, maybe some ambiences to support the wonderful background art.
I’m not really sold on some aspects of the sewer section – like the biohazard/radioactive barrels being oddly dangerous items underneath a peaceful town. The music gets darker too which I found to be at odds with the rest of the soundtrack. I see that library music was used alongside original music, I think the selection was really good overall since most of them fit well.
Also the character art is cute, love that Fern’s eyes close when they jump haha.