Mail Time is a relaxing, cottagecore adventure set in a peaceful forest, far, far away. It's your first day on the job as a newly minted Mail Scout. Equipped with a mushroom hat, a pack full of letters, and unbridled enthusiasm, it's time to deliver letters and packages across the Grumblewood Gr...
Mail Time is a relaxing, cottagecore adventure set in a peaceful forest, far, far away. It's your first day on the job as a newly minted Mail Scout. Equipped with a mushroom hat, a pack full of letters, and unbridled enthusiasm, it's time to deliver letters and packages across the Grumblewood Grove.
Their recipients eagerly await the sight of your mushroom hat, so don't tarry! Run, jump, glide, and make your way across the forest to deliver parcels and joy to the cute critters that inhabit these woods.
That's right. It's Mail Time!
If you ever wanted to enter a fairy tale, this is your chance. Explore the cozy, peaceful world crafted by Kela van der Deijl, and make friends with all manner of forest critters!
Meet 15 heartwarming characters with their own stories & charms. From poetic frogs to punk-rock woodpeckers and grumpy squirrels, they’re all equally eclectic and in need of your meddling help.
Explore colorful and whimsical environments, jump amongst a huge flower field and scale the towering trees.
Deliver letters and packages to help the inhabitants of the Grumblewood Grove and gain your Mail Scout badges. Soon you’ll be a true Mail Scout!
Customize your Scout, learn the tricks of the trade to scale trees using mushrooms and use letters to glide through the air.
Over 46,000 customization variations are possible!
Use 6 different categories ranging from skin tone to backpack type to customize your Mail Scout.
Earn Mail Scout badges to upgrade your gliding ability.
From Grumblewood Grove to the edges of the forest, explore unique locales straight from the pages of a storybook, meet their inhabitants, and then deliver ALL the mail!
Discover & explore 8 distinct areas. From a lively woodland village to a murky swamp and peaceful farm there’s plenty to see!
Collect hidden trinkets to complete your collection and earn all of the Mail Scout badges!
Reach new heights with gliding and jumping abilities, what’s the highest place you can get to?
No time limits, pressure, or risk of harm. Relax and explore the Forest at your own pace and leisure. It's your first day on the job after all!
Various accessibility options to aid your experience. No one should be left out!
Proceed the story at your own pace, take as long (or short) as you want.
No fall damage (we promise). Simply pick yourself back up and try again!
I enjoyed the game but if I had known how short it was I would have waited for a bigger sale. I finished it in 4 hours, and honestly, as cute as it is, I cant say it was worth $20.00 to me.
The biggest draw of this game is the adorable art style. The world and all the characters are delightful. There was one frustrating bit, but for the most part I didnt have any issues with the controls or jumps.
I missed a couple quests because of various bugs though, which is annoying. I know those will be fixed soon, but I already uninstalled since I cant imagine replaying the game.
All in all, the game was fun and worth playing, but the world and exploration is way smaller than expected.
Pros:
- comfy
- cute art
- charming characters
- light-hearted attitude (with 1 exception, see below)
- just the right length
Cons:
- strange attitude towards criminal activity. Not recommended for kids without parental supervision (see below)
- map layout cumbersome in parts
- bugs (many still persist)
- some parts feel unpolished, mainly collision issues
Note: game features lots of backtracking. Wasn't a big deal for me as the premise set my expectations.
Regarding "strange attitude towards criminal activity":
[[Spoiler warning]]
One questline involves assisting a group in using fraud and embezzlement to get money out of another character. The target is a rich capitalist with a difficult attitude.
The main character acknowledges crime is being committed, yet is supportive and believes the criminals are in the right (because the target is rich and mean). There is no mention or choice to report the crime to authorities.
The final message ends up being that it's okay to steal from someone, if you think they are a 'bad person' and if they have something you want. Also that you don't need to report crimes (and you'll profit from it if you don't)
The clues for what was happening were not clear, so it felt like it came out of nowhere. Apparently there is an alternate ending to the questline (going by the achievement name, it may involve stopping the crime?) but it was not made clear.
Given the light-hearted attitude of the game, I was expecting the characters to realize there are better ways to do things. Like coming to an understanding, working together/sharing resources, having the rich meanie gain a change of heart, etc. There are other messages that could have worked better here, and could have had socially healthy solutions (eg: land rights)
I'm only warning about this because I can see many parents/guardians/supervisors picking this up for their kids, and getting blind sided.
For adults: fill your boots, the game can make for an amusing 3 hours or so.
This game reminds me of Sludge Life of all things if you can believe it. Only this game goes for cute, warm, and cozy, instead of weird, gross and funny.
Unfortunately unlike Sludge Life, there is nothing to do in this game. You do not unlock new ways of traversing the world, you do not find any interesting scenes or aspects of the world, there are no fun platforming challenges, nothing to interact with in the environment, no cool hidden stuff to find.
The only thing you do in this game is deliver mail and collect a few items, that's all.
It's a real shame because I love how the world and its characters look, but it is ultimately just too boring to play for more then 15 minutes, at that point you already feel like you've seen everything the game has to offer.
I decided to pick this up after seeing it on social media from one of the devs. It's a cute and inclusive game! After seeing that it didn't have any reviews yet, I'm proud to be the first. Good job, Kela van der Deijl and Freedom Games! I'm already looking forward to the next adventure :)
