The Three BOOMsketeers!!!

The BGM in this one is just too intense, especially considering how short the loop is.

I first got the chance to try this one out during the June 2022 Next Fest (cough the one that gave you badges cough) and fell in love with it right away. Well… after about 70 hours of playing it on my Deck (as a formal welcome), I don't know that I enjoy it as much anymore. First and foremost, a big plus of the game is that it has a dedicated protagonist as opposed to a customizable one. The plot allows for little to no player input on Tara's feelings (so little, in fact, that I ended up accidentally clicking through the choices that did come up about 75% of the time), but on the flipside, after each major event, every character on the island will have something relevant to say. If the other reality was having to read things like "Nice weather today, right, [Player]?" and "I felt so good today, I cleaned all around the house!" over and over again, what we got is definitely better. Add to that the game having full voice acting for all the characters and I'm sold. Another praise-worthy aspect is the diversity. It's not my place to speak about characters of color, but I am pleasantly surprised that the white characters aren't all American by default. This also somewhat relates to everyone's favorite foods; none of them are shared between characters and just about everyone seems to have positive memories tied to their favorites, which is great when considering the length of the recipe list. I feel like if the devs wanted to, they could work even more unique conversations about everyone's origins into the game with enough time. It's nice to have a nonbinary character, too, and I think it would be even more interesting if there was a bachelor(ette) who's openly asexual. The main story lasts for a year in-game; I just completed it and started my second Spring. There's a good enough balance of quests: if nothing is happening in town or you've just completed a major event, chances are there will be something new to do at the coven, but there are also more casual quests, which you can get by just talking to some of the characters. Still, these are tied to the current season and there are only a handful of them sprinkled in throughout. In general, the first half of the year is chock-full of new and shiny things, but as everything progresses, there's less and less stuff to do and everything slows down, or so I've felt. Initially, turning the seasons is stressful when it feels like you haven't grown enough produce, but near the end of the year, you unlock the ability to build (then expand) a greenhouse… but by that point, I've long since forgotten about that stress and if it weren't for tasks related to growing flowers, I think I would have almost found it useless. Also, as realistic, lively and varied all the characters are, when they start repeating themselves and wishing the season was already over, you know you gotta turn the season. Still, I feel like it's a good thing that you can choose not to progress until all your plants have grown, so you don't end up losing time and money. Speaking of which, the economy in this game is absolutely terrible. People have found a way to exploit the game by fishing, then cooking and selling fish sticks, to the point that there is a separate option in the settings to "embargo fish sticks". Yeah, someone decided that would be better than making the prices make sense. Initially, I found it kind of fun that some of the stores require a certain amount of items to be sold to them before their whole stock is unlocked, but Bruno's store took so much time and so many fish, it's not even funny. And on top of that, most fish are worth virtually nothing! I guess I see the appeal of continuously making fish sticks, but I didn't enjoy fishing at all, so I chose an alternative route. At a certain point, the mine right near Tara's farm is unlocked, and it's got 20 whole levels of mining goodness. I enjoyed mining right away, even if the energy bar is rather short at the very start (judging from negative reviews, this is what made a lot of people quit the game, which is sad; at the same time, though, I realize I can't just say "no, no, it gets better after 30 hours!") and there is an achievement for discovering everything on each and every level, so I just went for it. Eventually, between having nothing to do but mine after everyone goes home and owning whirligigs (at this point I can't tell when I first started seeing good enough profits, to be honest), I've started making more than enough money solely by crafting ingots of all kinds and selling them back to Natalia and Francis. (It may not be hundreds of thousands like the fish fingers exploit, but it works for me!) Cooking and fishing feel like afterthoughts; I like cooking because it gives my brain the good juice to tick boxes on a checklist, but fishing is a mistake. Don't get me wrong, fishing as a mechanic (in farm sims or otherwise) gets a bad rep, because it's absolutely not enjoyable in some games, but here, it's just boring. I wouldn't want to play some minigame I can't even get right most of the time, but here, you're just staring at a pool of 1-4 fish/crustaceans until the thing you think you want is hooked, then reel it in. You might as well be fishing for unrecognizable shadows at this point. I'm glad there's at least a section dedicated to fish by source, but other than that, you won't be able to tell which model they're represented by or which kind of bait they're most likely to nibble on. Just make like Animal Crossing and subject me to completely blind RNG instead of making me choose what I think I want and giving me something that's not even remotely close. (One way to avoid this song and dance is shapeshifting into Tara's cat and going fishing that way. You don't get a conscious choice or the whole fishing animation, but it's so much faster.) Last, but certainly not least, though I've complimented how alive the world feels through character interactions, the romance aspect is woefully underdeveloped. After the wedding, you can talk to your partner every day (but there's no choice for sweet talk, so they'll always talk about what's been going on, as if nothing has changed between you two), give them gifts and engage in some light PDA (and I do mean light, it's things like putting a hand on their cheek or booping them on the nose.) The gifting becomes a vital mechanic at this stage; whereas at first I was able to make friends with everyone at a decent speed just by talking to them every day, by the point you're married, your partner will get little to no relationship progress, so you have to give them one of their favorite foods. From there, after their relationship marker is full, they'll ask you out on a date, with a choice of six different locations (all but one are locked at first, though), which would be fine and interesting… if it didn't turn out that not only is the date just a few snapshots with Tara and her partner silently having fun, the date itself lasts all day (ending at 11 PM specifically, iirc, so you still have a little time to take care of your farm, even if you didn't know beforehand). Even though you're not forced to go to bed right after the date, my jaw dropped when I realized that just happened and there wasn't any warning before committing. (Seems like a no-brainer to me!) After that, you have to keep giving your partner their favorite foods again, rinse and repeat. Besides this, the only special thing I'm aware of when it comes to romance is that your partner will have a petname for Tara and everyone has a different one. Based on all this, I'm shocked that there are separate achievements for marrying each possible partner. Also, if you're not married to Amira or Kim by Summer of second year, they apparently start dating, with no way to reverse it or break them up. As much as I will gladly keep reiterating that I enjoy all the characters having rich lives of their own, that's just anti-player design. I'm still on my first romance path, but if this is really as boring as it is for every partner, I'll just use my backup save to get the other marriage achievements without further commitment. Other than that, I'm waiting on the few recipes that are scattered between various quests for Year 2, as well as a bunch of other unlockables… but for now, I think I'm happy with taking a break.