Critters for Sale
- June 3, 2021
- Sonoshee
- 8h median play time
Get on Steam"Critters for Sale" is a narrative-driven horror adventure game where you buy and sell mysterious creatures that grant unique abilities. As you delve deeper into the shady world of critter trading, you'll uncover a dark conspiracy that threatens your life and the lives of those around you. With multiple endings based on your choices, each playthrough offers a different experience.
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Reviews
- The game features a unique and captivating art style that combines 1-bit graphics with surreal visuals, creating an otherworldly atmosphere.
- The soundtrack is exceptional, enhancing the overall experience and perfectly complementing the game's bizarre narrative.
- Critters for Sale offers a mind-bending and immersive experience, with intriguing storylines that explore themes of death, reincarnation, and the absurd.
- The gameplay can be tedious, requiring players to replay chapters multiple times to unlock different endings, which can lead to frustration.
- Some puzzles are overly cryptic or require knowledge from other chapters, making it difficult to progress without external help.
- The narrative can feel disjointed and lacks a coherent resolution, leaving players with more questions than answers.
- story191 mentions
- 26 % positive mentions
- 70 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The story of "Critters for Sale" is a surreal and abstract experience, often described as a collection of disjointed narratives that explore themes of dark magic, pop culture, and absurdity. While some players appreciate the unique and intriguing storytelling, others find it overly cryptic and lacking coherence, with many endings feeling like filler rather than contributing to a substantial plot. Overall, the game is seen as a visually stunning and audibly captivating journey that prioritizes atmosphere and artistic expression over a traditional narrative structure.
“I love anything that is more about a feeling rather than a conventional story, and this game delivers it plenty.”
“Each story connects to the other and eventually comes around full circle to create a fascinating and mind-boggling storyline.”
“The writing is fascinating, and despite the surreal themes and nonlinear storytelling, once you get all the endings the story... well, doesn't make sense precisely, but it becomes clearer.”
“The main issue lies in the fact that a visual novel lives and dies by the quality of its story.”
“None of it builds to anything substantial; there are no themes connecting the different chapters, and no narrative through-line except a vague plot to bring the devil to earth.”
“The story feels elaborate but ends up being completely dissatisfying.”
- music163 mentions
- 51 % positive mentions
- 47 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its exceptional quality and ability to enhance the overall atmosphere, perfectly complementing the unique visuals and surreal storytelling. Reviewers highlight the diverse soundtrack, which ranges from lo-fi and vaporwave to more eclectic styles, creating a captivating and immersive experience. While some puzzles involving music can be challenging, the overall consensus is that the soundtrack significantly elevates the gameplay, making it a standout feature of the game.
“With its beautiful black and white retro art style, perfectly-fitting OST, and some of the weirdest stories you'll read, this game creates a unique surrealist experience that I absolutely recommend.”
“The soundtrack was also incredible, perfectly selling the vibe of each new level and area and creating wholly unique musical moments.”
“The music in conjunction with the visuals creates this hypnotic display that is borderline entrancing.”
“Although there's a piano music puzzle which was very annoying, since my ears aren't good at picking up sounds (this one puzzle is already simplified, welp).”
“The overall story is actually quite easy to follow, but its simplicity masks the underlying explorations of music and religion that don't seem to come to any sort of resolution.”
“The problem here is that it's not designed for repeated play in the sense that you'll have to go through the same scenes multiple times, even if you want to beeline right to the divergence point to get to another route and you have a very useless fast-forward button that does little more than speed up the soundtrack.”
- graphics159 mentions
- 39 % positive mentions
- 59 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The graphics of "Critters for Sale" are widely praised for their unique ditherpunk aesthetic, characterized by striking monochrome visuals that create an eerie and surreal atmosphere. Players appreciate the captivating art style, which is complemented by a fitting soundtrack, enhancing the overall immersive experience. While the visuals are often described as mesmerizing and innovative, some critiques note that the gameplay may not offer much beyond the aesthetic appeal.
“With its beautiful black and white retro art style, perfectly fitting OST, and some of the weirdest stories you'll read, this game creates a unique surrealist experience that I absolutely recommend.”
“The visuals serve as a robust foundation for the narrative.”
“Stunning visuals, unique plots, a killer soundtrack, and pleasantly bizarre characters all make this game an absolute blast to play.”
“There just isn't much here beyond the aesthetic.”
“It's a pure aesthetic experience with little to no rhyme or reason behind it.”
“The graphics are some truly bizarre 1-bit black and white video and there’s a reason the game opens with an epilepsy warning.”
- gameplay46 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 76 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Critters for Sale" is primarily a blend of visual novel and point-and-click mechanics, often described as simplistic and repetitive, with minimal engaging elements. While the puzzles and narrative structure vary across scenarios, many players feel that the gameplay lacks depth and can become tedious, overshadowed by the game's unique art style and presentation. Overall, it appeals more to those who appreciate its aesthetic and storytelling rather than those seeking a robust gameplay experience.
“Unlike anything before it, 'Critters for Sale' doesn't compromise in its stylistic choices, storytelling, and mechanics.”
“The gameplay consists mostly of reading text pop-ups and dialogue (very fun to read too, like the Middle Eastern folktales), but I also really appreciate the puzzles.”
“Gameplay-wise, the point-and-click style works really well with the aesthetics, and the mini-games were really engaging and creative (especially the doomsday casino ones), despite how simple they seem to be.”
“That plotlessness (and just generally uncompelling writing) really works against the game because it is at its core a fairly repetitive visual novel with a bit of ending-hunt gameplay, but these endings are usually underwhelming and the writing just often falls flat.”
“But the gameplay here ranges from just being boring to becoming outright obnoxious.”
“The main issue I think people are going to have with this title is the nature of its gameplay, namely its repetitive elements and lack of save slots.”
- humor23 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a blend of absurdist and surreal elements, often eliciting laughter through bizarre scenarios and clever writing. While some players appreciate the unique and unpredictable comedic style, others find the reliance on random humor and celebrity references to be tiresome. Overall, the game successfully combines humor with its unsettling themes, creating an entertaining experience that resonates with fans of esoteric and trippy narratives.
“The humor in this game is quite good, and I was really a fan of the way the photos morphed and moved on the screen.”
“It's funny, it's clever, it's trippy, and it doesn't overstay its welcome.”
“Love how the plot came together, love the absurd humor/horror combo.”
- atmosphere21 mentions
- 48 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is characterized by a surreal and eerie quality, enhanced by a snazzy soundtrack and effective sound design that create a dream-like experience. Players appreciate the unique visuals and the unsettling tension that permeates the narrative, inviting them to explore a bizarre world filled with contradictions and deep lore. Overall, the cohesive atmosphere, marked by its artistic and auditory elements, captivates players and encourages repeated engagement.
“The atmospheric sounds and music elevate the experience even more.”
“It builds an atmosphere that quickly pulls you in and doesn't let go.”
“Instead, it dwells on the unseen, the unsettling and the plain strange, building an uncomfortable atmosphere that is always encouraging tension between the act of playing and the act of experiencing a story - do we really want to agree to talk to a strange, plastic-faced celebrity in the middle of a dark and liminal club?”
“Through its surreal atmosphere and absurdist elements, it somehow manages to craft an extremely interesting universe with its own inner workings and captivating lore.”
“Still you should mainly take this game as a deep trip to feel lost in a highly surrealistic atmosphere while also deciphering some average difficulty puzzles in some of the stories.”
- grinding13 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 8 % neutral mentions
- 85 % negative mentions
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, particularly when replaying sections to unlock different endings or complete puzzles. While some appreciate the inclusion of fast-forward options to alleviate repetitiveness, many still feel that the need to restart and navigate through familiar content detracts from the overall enjoyment. Despite these frustrations, some users acknowledge that the effort can be worthwhile for a more complete experience.
“Redoing things overall isn't all that tedious with a fast forward button, but having a 'skip intro' button for some stories would have been a nice little addition to lessen the repetitiveness of getting to the next choice.”
“Having to restart the entire short story after seeing each ending also became tedious as I had to speed through all the content that stayed the same each time.”
“You're supposed to play each part multiple times to explore the different endings (and to make the 'story' feel more complete), but it's just tedious and still doesn't make any of what's going on make sense, let alone be entertaining.”
“My one complaint is that, in typical visual novel fashion, replaying for extra endings is very tedious.”
- emotional5 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is characterized by its intriguing storytelling across diverse themes such as time travel and black magic, which evoke a range of sensory and emotional responses. While some scenes may lack explicit emotional depth, the writing captivates players, encouraging them to engage with the narrative and derive personal interpretations, ultimately leaving a lasting thematic impact.
“Even if you don't fully grasp the meaning of a scene (and many were intentionally left open to interpretation), you at least have some sort of thematic or emotional takeaway.”
“You may sense and feel more and become aware of things normally filtered out by your mind -- visual, auditory, sensory, and emotional.”
“It is also written phenomenally; though there is not much of an emotional beat, it definitely is interesting to read and keeps you guessing, and sometimes completely pulls the rug from under you.”
- character development4 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Character development is highlighted by users for its incredible and unique designs that evoke a sense of grandeur and fun. Characters like Dante Feelgood and Borja Butch are particularly praised, showcasing a blend of bizarre aesthetics and sharp visuals that enhance the overall experience. The creative character designs contribute significantly to the game's appeal, making them memorable and engaging.
“The character designs are incredible and strange, and all of it just feels like it has an odd sense of grandeur.”
“The character designs were sharp and fun; that one Martian really won my heart.”
“The doomsday casino's character designs are so perfect, especially Dante Feelgood and Borja Butch + Son.”
- replayability3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is considered low, as multiple endings feel superficial and do not significantly impact the overall narrative. Players express disappointment with the short length of the game, which diminishes the incentive to replay it after uncovering all its secrets.
“Four of these chapters have multiple endings, but these are here simply to boost replayability and don't really factor into the overall story.”
“Replay value is low - the unique endings for choosing certain dialogue options or paths just aren't worth it.”
“Critters for Sale is a bit too short for my tastes, leaving me wanting more. It had basically zero replay value once I figured out all its secrets.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Users report that the game's optimization is nearly flawless, resulting in smooth performance throughout.
“As for performance, it’s pretty much flawless.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect highlights that while some songs used in the game are not free for broadcasting, streamers have generally faced minimal repercussions, primarily receiving ads on their YouTube uploads rather than copyright strikes.
