Circle

About

Circle is a single player action game. It was developed by Nanasi Project and was released on January 17, 2020. It received neutral reviews from players.

Circle is an indie nurturing adventure game. Nurture "Circle" and explore the "Outside" of the room. You must procure foods for the "Circle" and love the "Circle" for yourself.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

59%

Audience ScoreBased on 37 reviews

emotional3 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

The game effectively conveys feelings of unease and anxiety, making it a thought-provoking experience.
It offers a unique perspective on mental health and neurodiversity, making it worth a play for those interested in these themes.
Despite its flaws, some players find the game charming and heartwarming in its own strange way.

The translation is poorly executed, leading to confusion and making the story difficult to follow.
The graphics and overall design quality are very low, which detracts from the gaming experience.
Many players find the gameplay to be overly simplistic and lacking in challenge, making it feel more like an art exhibition than a game.

gameplay
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The gameplay is characterized as an interactive novel with minimal mechanics focused on managing a "circle" through feeding and social interactions. However, players find the gameplay to be confusing and overly complex for its simplicity, often requiring a tutorial to understand the basic controls. Overall, the experience is more about the narrative than traditional gameplay elements.
- “It's a Japanese art-not-game interactive novel with some light gameplay elements that largely consist of managing a 'circle' by giving it food or being sociable with it.”
- “The gameplay is bewilderingly difficult to get into, despite being basic, because it's so obtuse it needs a tutorial for the 2-3 key presses you have to bother with if you seriously wanted to play this art.”
- “It's a Japanese art-not-game interactive novel with some light gameplay elements that largely consist of time managing a 'circle' by giving it food or being sociable with it.”
- “The gameplay is bewilderingly difficult to get into, despite being basic, because it's so obtuse it needs a tutorial for the 2-3 key presses you have to bother with if you seriously wanted to play this 'art'.”
story
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The story has been criticized for its terrible translation and unclear plot, resulting in a confusing and incoherent narrative that detracts from the overall experience. While some users find the quirky translations charming, the general consensus is that the storytelling is a jumbled mess, making it difficult to engage with the game.
- “Terrible translation and an unclear plot makes this jumbled mess of nonsense unplayable.”
- “I found the translations to be oddly charming as well, but they are totally bonkers, so the story is basically an incoherent mess.”
- “Looks like it was made in paint, has ear-splitting noises, and incomprehensible story progression.”
music
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The music in the game has received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with many users describing it as grating and headache-inducing, particularly due to overlapping tracks. While some found the art direction charming, the overall audio experience, including poor translations and a lack of quality in the soundtrack, detracted significantly from the gameplay.
- “The godawful, ear-grating soundtrack is supplemented with terrible 2D pixel art and some of the worst Japanese-English translation I've ever seen.”
- “I found the art direction pretty charming, to be honest, but the game itself was headache-inducing, literally, due to the overlapping music.”
- “Besides the spelling errors, the music on the second stage is terrible. There are a couple of good points, but they don't outweigh the bad.”
graphics
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The graphics of the game have been criticized for relying on outdated retro pixel art, lacking modern visual fidelity. Players are frustrated by the absence of options to adjust resolution or customize graphics settings, leaving them unable to enhance the low-quality visuals.
- “A choice was made to use obsolete, decades-old retro pixel art as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics.”
- “There are no options to change the resolution for the game or customize the graphics settings.”
- “There's no way for gamers to improve the low-quality graphics.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is characterized as sweet and heartwarming, evoking a unique emotional resonance that leaves players feeling uplifted.
- “The game is overall sweet and heartwarming in a strange way.”
- “The emotional depth of the characters really resonated with me.”
- “I found myself tearing up during several key moments in the story.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by its hilarious English translation, which can be confusing but often leads to genuinely funny moments. Overall, players find the comedic elements to be a standout feature, adding to the game's charm.
- “The English translation is hilarious.”
- “The text of this game will likely confuse you, but can be quite hilarious at times.”