RecommendedSteam player
Squirreled Away is almost a fantastic game and yet, nearly everything about it is slightly flawed. If for whatever reason you find yourself predisposed to like this game, you'll be fine. But if you're looking for Squirreled Away to win you over, you may be disappointed. Myself, I'm predisposed. As a casual birder I also watch and feed legions of squirrels. I top off the bird feeder every two or three days. Birds and squirrels? I'm a fan. Squirreled Away's graphics and art direction are charming; the environments are thoughtful and beautifully designed, and the world as a whole is a delight. The 'Squirrel Vision' ability is a well conceived invention and adds critical quality-of-life features by highlighting materials and objectives at a distance. Exploration is a lush and wondrous joy. But then there's also all this: Your inventory is always too full, your stamina is always too low, and anything you need is always too far away. It's fine and necessary to have limits, but these limits need tuning. You can't crack open a few walnuts without tapping out, and you probably have no room to carry them anyway. You can only craft with what's in your pockets, even if your chests are flush with inventory, forcing you to shuffle items back and forth (sometimes cross-country). Other games have recognized and fixed these tedious issues; why must we deal with them here? A critical--perhaps the critical--mechanic is the sheer pleasure of a squirrel's freedom of movement: hopping through grass, jumping streams, climbing branches, leaping from tree to tree. This game about nails it, and it's magical when it's working. But the magic is spoiled whenever your squirrel veers near the underside of a branch, causing a full-on wonk-fest of stuttering paralysis. This movement quirk isn't good, it's frequent, and it badly needs fixing. The game is almost cozy and casual, but there are several non-optional timed puzzles with minimal margins of error. Players without the requisite dexterity--many who will be attracted to Squirreled Away--will be frustrated and unable to finish the game. It's almost family friendly, but one of the squirrels swears about his problems. Sure, it's mild compared to the average game or film, but it's juvenile and out of place here. Likewise, the dog could impede your progress by affectionate licking instead of aggressive biting. Clearly this is minor and in no way a deal-breaker, but I bring it up as another example of the overarching inconsistencies that plague the game. Aside from the environment, just about everything else misses the mark by some margin. Most of this could be fixed by twisting a few knobs and pulling a few levers, but as of this writing Squirreled Away needs some adjustments to take it from average to great. Did I enjoy it? Absolutely, and I'm looking forward to more from this developer. Will others enjoy it? In its current state, a recommendation requires major caveats. I'm afraid its flaws will hamper its broader success, which is a shame.Show moreShow less
9 hours at review52 people found this helpful