RecommendedSteam player
You don't play Mutazione, you live in Mutazione INTRO Mutazione is an indie gem, a wonderful game or maybe more like an experience. It's extremely chill game and relaxing experience. I can't actually define it by genre, it's kind of a point&click, narrative, gardening, mystery game? STORY You play as Kai – a simple girl who loves swimming. After the meteor hit a small town, mutants started appearing there and they live there on that destroyed island. So Kai travels there to see her ill grandpa. This is when your weird journey begins. You meet your grandpa of course and learn that he has been severely ill and he asks you for help to take care of a garden. You and Kai have no idea why at first of course, but it all makes sense in the end. You also meet other characters, each of them have their own character and you fall in love with them. They're a small community, like a family with their own drama, problems and personal issues. Relationships, death, regret, depression, happiness, you'll find everything in Mutazione. You'll definitely find someone to relate to. You slowly become one with them, you start caring about them and you start living in Mutazione, you simply forget you're playing a game. The main goal is to restore the balance in Mutazione. Everyone is lost, your grandpa is ill, there's something happening there and you while participating in Mutazione inhabitants lives become a part of all that. GAMEPLAY Gameplay is simple but it has one unique feature. It looks simple from the first sight because you basically run around and talk with people, listening to their problems and concerns, maybe helping them out a bit. Mostly you'll be running back and forth but it doesn't get boring at all. Each time you traverse through the same location it feels like you want to go back and there again. But you remember I mentioned a garden? This is where the game becomes unique. You also collect seeds and can plant them in the gardens. There are 7 gardens and each garden corresponds to a certain mood. They're mood gardens. And each seed you plant becomes a certain plant in that garden. When you play a corresponding song song to the plants, it helps the plants grow. You need to choose the right song for the right plants. But plants themselves have their own sounds and mood, each plant sings a melody and by planting multiple plants you compose a song. So you compose the garden with various plants corresponding to various moods and you might get a weirdly satisfying song out of it. Time passes while you play. You get to stay there for a week and believe me after that week you will not want it to end. Don't worry, time only moves forward after you do certain actions and you're being notified about that so you can take your time and do everything you like. Mostly you'll be listening to other people or talking with them while exploring the island collecting seeds. Time of day changes too and each character moves to another place then and new dialogues options open up each time. There's also an option in the main menu called “Gardens” where you can play in the gardens without being in the game. You can compose different gardens there and create new songs. TECHNICAL SIDE & GRAPHICS Graphics are technically very simplistic. But does it matter? This game looks absolutely stunning. The art direction is wonderful. The game nice drawn and 2D graphics look phenomenal. Each area is beautifully crafted and has its own atmosphere. Animations are not the best but again, did I care? Nope, it was perfect, it felt like it's supposed to be this way. Performance is obviously great, I don't think I need to talk about it much. It's a 2D game, it will run on potato PC's. I did not encounter any technical issues or bugs. Saving system is awesome and many other game could benefit of this system. The game simply autosaves each you enter/exit the location or after the dialogue so you can play it in short sessions. SOUND Now the sound. The game has no voice-overs but it's a good thing, they would just ruin the atmosphere because sound design is a huge part of the game and its atmosphere. It creates that magical mood when you immerse yourself so deeply into the game that you forget about reality, it takes to another place. Yep this is how good the sound design is. The soundtrack is fantastic, from the first minute the soundtrack grabs you and doesn't get you go. Sometimes you can just wander around Mutazione or just stand still and listen. It's beautiful. On top of that you get to hear very different songs, from calming and soothing ambient music to punk-rock'ish sounds to folk and some creepy tunes. I already mentioned that you can create songs yourself so that's another positive regarding sounds. SUMMARY Mutazione is an indie masterpiece, a hidden gem which is waiting until someone finally discovers it. It will take you somewhere else, it will make you think, you will relate to it. It's a must play for everyone who cherishes games as art form. Pros Great story and writing Amazing artistic design Pinnacle of sound design Great atmosphere Gardening is a unique experience Lovable characters You want to stay in Mutazione forever Cons - Follow my curator page for more My TwitchShow moreShow less
19.4 hours at review81 people found this helpful