I bought this game for my 8yo daughter and it's perfect for her. Great alternative for Minecraft, that seems to a bit to much complicated and intimidating, There is simple economy, simple crafting system and farm management. Exploration is great - it's calm, you decide where you go, what you do and which slimes you collect and mix. There are few areas more and less dangerous to explore, but you can't die here - you just "pass out" and wake up on your ranch, with empty invertory (which is only four slots, so no tragedy here). When you just think you've seen it all, you will find an area more interesting than whole the rest of this game, including other dimension (which is not even close to hell in Minecraft ;) I absolutely recommend it to parents that seek an exploration game with no violence, no horror elements, and the most dangerous creatures there, are the hungry slimes or "Tarr" - creature that is a mix of too many slimes, that is aggressive to other slimes, but it can be dealt with by shooting with water or just throwing to the sea :)
I really enjoy this game. Mostly adventure games bore me at some point - this one I finished second time and I'm going to take another round. It's fresh, it gets you in, you care about characters, and the mood is mostly fantastic. This game won't scare you. It's to relaxing and it's more like reading a good book. It's not bad, just - hardcore horror players, be warned, this is more mystery, than creepy. If you like "Stranger Things' mood, mixed with "Life is Strange" and "Firewatch" - you'll like it. The plot seems to be pretty simple, but after you finish the game... you propably will start a new one - there is a good reason for it, but I won't spoil. Yet, there are cons: As was said before - the option of picking course of conversation looks good on trailers, and it's one of reasons why I bought the game, but time for pick the dialog opiton is DRASTICALLY short. You have to read three sentences in those bubbles, written with kinda teenage font, most of the time characters are still having a conversation, so it's hard to focus (especially if English isn't your primary language) dialog bubbles soon dissapear, leaving you with no option. Often you don't hear the whole conversation - you choice cut it in the middle, with Alex saying the option you picked. Besides playing another game leaves the main character with precisely the same dialog options as the first time... and it shouldn't. Those who played know why.
At the beginning I thought this game will be to difficult for me. I avoided it. Didn't pay much attention to this title... And than, one day I decided to see why so many good reviews? Hotline Miami IS hard. One shot is deadly, so you will die MANY times. Maybe more often than in Dark Souls :) At some point you stop counting. You will be frustrated. I don't like this "tough as nails" type games... but this title's strength is in short, fast paced levels. You die - you start at the point of entry (usually few steps back ;) No backtracking - no more penalty beyond this "you died, try again" moment. I loved the experience to some masochistic point, that I didn't wanted to stop, so I ended the entire game in few days, but it was VERY satisfying few days. The plot is simple, but constructed the smart way - when you play, you don't understand a thing, until some point - like in Tarantino movies - there comes this "ooo... now I get it" moment. It also has a side-plot. It's pretty funny and let's your imagination write a part of the heroes life you don't see on the screen. AND it has an amazing twist - also very "Tarantino'ish" - I didn't expected it in this kind of game. Controls are great - very simple, let's your reflex and muscle memory work without worrying about which button does what (I advice using gamepad, it's VERY fast paced, but if you're short tempered, use the cheap one... or make sure it's shockproof ;)
