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Get on itch.io Store"Kinoko" is a relaxing, 15-minute third-person experience where you help a forest spirit clear snow and plant flowers to bring about spring. With no saving system, you'll complete tasks in each forest area to unlock stone pillars and progress. The game, created by ThunderLime, offers a calming experience with guidance from four forest helpers and is best played with a controller.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Adorable graphics and charming character designs create a beautiful atmosphere.
- Relaxing gameplay with soothing music makes it a great way to unwind.
- Short playtime of about 20 minutes is perfect for a quick, enjoyable experience.
- Game is primarily designed for controllers, making it difficult to play with keyboard and mouse.
- Performance issues, including low frame rates and choppy animations, detract from the experience.
- Gameplay can feel repetitive and lacks depth, with limited interactions and no real story.
- graphics116 mentions
- 64 % positive mentions
- 34 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beauty, cuteness, and artistic style, creating a visually stunning and relaxing experience. While many players appreciate the colorful artwork and charming character designs, some have reported performance issues, including lag and high resource usage, which detracts from the overall experience. Despite these concerns, the game's aesthetic appeal and soothing soundtrack contribute to its charm, making it a delightful, albeit short, indie title.
“The graphics are stunning and the little woodland creatures are very adorable.”
“The visuals are stunning and besides, it is free, so if you don't like it you haven't wasted anything.”
“The overall graphics are beautiful and it being a student project makes the game that much more impressive.”
“Some of the artwork is very low quality, with a mish-mash of different polygon counts used on various assets.”
“There's no options to change the resolution for the game or customize the graphics settings.”
“No graphics settings beyond a simple low, medium, high preset that barely does anything; framerate stayed between 30 to 50 fps with a GTX 1060.”
- music103 mentions
- 71 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its calming and soothing qualities, enhancing the overall relaxing atmosphere. Many players appreciate the beautiful soundtrack that complements the cute graphics and charming environment, although some note that it can become repetitive over time. Overall, the music significantly contributes to the game's aesthetic appeal and immersive experience.
“The music is so nice, it's so simple yet so calming; usually I would run out of patience, but everything is so gentle and soothing that I wanted to play for even longer.”
“This is a gorgeously atmospheric game with lovely visuals, relaxing music, and charming sound effects to match - from the delightfully real crunch of the snow as you walk, to the crack of your staff on tree trunks, to the shimmery magical sounds of blooming flowers.”
“The environment, character design, soundtrack, and sound design are extremely artful and so pleasing to experience.”
“There's limited, simple music, no real plot outside of finding the things you can thumb a button at to continue, 0 character building, and while you can explore a little there's little to gain from it.”
“The music gave the environment more feel, but also felt like it was on the loop.”
“Monotonous background ambient music”
- gameplay55 mentions
- 36 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by its simplicity and focus on exploration rather than combat, offering a relaxing experience with intuitive controls. However, many users noted issues such as repetitiveness, poor optimization, and frustrating controls that detracted from the overall enjoyment. While the game features beautiful graphics and a charming atmosphere, the limited gameplay mechanics and short playtime may not satisfy all players.
“An excellent, beautiful game with gameplay based around exploration rather than combat.”
“Level building, interactions, and the game mechanics are masterfully done and feel immediately intuitive.”
“Fun and relaxing game to just chill and relieve stress, cute graphics and easy gameplay.”
“Despite that, however, there are also numerous issues with the game in terms of keyboard and mouse support and overall quality of life factors regarding the gameplay.”
“The game itself is basically a pretty third-person walking simulator with extremely basic and repetitive puzzles that are only hard due to the controls being ridiculous at times and because of the terrible tutorial island that tries to explain the mechanics through random symbols.”
“Often repetitive gameplay and sometimes the buttons wouldn't work at all.”
- story30 mentions
- 37 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The game's story is generally perceived as simplistic and minimal, focusing on themes of nature and seasonal change, which some players found relaxing and enjoyable despite its brevity. While a few users appreciated the art and music, many expressed disappointment over the lack of a substantial plot or character development, with some describing it as more of a casual experience than a narrative-driven game. Overall, players hope for future projects from the developers that offer a more developed storyline.
“One of the best short games I have ever played! Wow, art is amazing, music, story, loved it all.”
“The story is pretty simple, bringing summer to the world, but that doesn't take away from how relaxing it was to play.”
“It is a nice, short, and wholesome story about nature.”
“There's limited, simple music, no real plot outside of finding the things you can thumb a button at to continue, 0 character building, and while you can explore a little there's little to gain from it.”
“I went into it thinking it had a story, and it didn't.”
“The game is also very short which I found disappointing and there was no actual story.”
- optimization29 mentions
- 10 % positive mentions
- 45 % neutral mentions
- 45 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with many players reporting severe performance issues, including low frame rates, stuttering, and lag, particularly for keyboard and mouse users. While some appreciate the graphics and animations, the overall experience is marred by poor optimization, making it difficult to recommend for those not using a controller. Many reviews suggest that significant improvements are needed to make the game playable and enjoyable across all platforms.
“I had no performance issues myself, and honestly the graphics, animations and overall experience was more than I expected.”
“The artwork and sounds of this game set you at ease, animations are pretty smooth, performance is silky smooth.”
“Bit more optimization and gameplay options would only improve this little gem.”
“It's a very easy and casual game had it not been for the lack of optimization for keyboard and mouse players.”
“The game's performance leaves much to be desired, with constant stutters and drops in frames.”
“Keyboard and mouse controls are clunky and frustrating to deal with and the performance is just sad, overall a pretty hostile experience for non-controller users and that's a bummer.”
- emotional26 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is widely praised for its emotional impact, described as a beautiful and wholesome experience that evokes genuine feelings of joy and tranquility. Players appreciate its short playtime, relaxing music, and heartwarming themes, often noting that it provides a comforting escape and a sense of love and peace. Overall, it is recommended for those seeking a gentle, feel-good gaming experience.
“This game is beautiful, I cried (real tears!)”
“Very heartwarming and gentle if you're a casual cozy game kind of person like me!”
“I haven't played a game that made me feel loved in a long time.”
- atmosphere22 mentions
- 77 % positive mentions
- 9 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its beauty and tranquility, featuring charming visuals, relaxing music, and delightful sound effects that enhance the experience. Despite its short playtime, players find it captivating and immersive, often returning to enjoy the serene environments and adorable creatures. Overall, the game successfully creates a calming and picturesque atmosphere that resonates with players.
“A cute little game with a beautiful and calming atmosphere, and a great soundtrack to accompany the nature of it all.”
“This is a gorgeously atmospheric game with lovely visuals, relaxing music, and charming sound effects to match - from the delightfully real crunch of the snow as you walk, to the crack of your staff on tree trunks, to the shimmery magical sounds of blooming flowers.”
“The game although short was incredibly beautiful in every aspect, the music, the graphics and the atmosphere, to the little details of the animals and characters.”
“There isn't a lot of gameplay other than walking around and pressing A, but that's not really needed since it heavily relies on atmosphere.”
“The game, although short, was incredibly beautiful in every aspect: the music, the graphics, and the atmosphere, to the little details of the animals and characters.”
“Short game, but it made my day! The character designs suited the atmosphere and plot of the game, and the graphics were good.”
- stability10 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is notably inconsistent, with many users reporting significant bugs, particularly when using keyboard controls, which can lead to freezing and unresponsive gameplay. While some players found the experience enjoyable despite these issues, others struggled to progress due to frequent glitches. Overall, the game may be worth trying, especially for those with a controller, but potential players should be prepared for a bumpy experience.
“Was looking forward to playing, but I couldn't even get past the start because it was so buggy.”
“It's free, so it doesn't hurt to try it if you're interested, but just know it's kind of buggy. Depending on your setup, even if it's a very good one (mine runs AAA games on high settings with no problems), it may not work for you.”
“Later tried talking to a stone and froze again, so basically anytime you have to talk to someone, the game glitches and doesn't respond to keys anymore.”
- character development7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The character development in the game is highlighted by its charming and unique designs that perfectly complement the atmosphere and plot. Players appreciate the cute art style and how it enhances the overall experience, contributing to a sweet and calming ambiance. Overall, the character designs are seen as a significant strength, adding to the game's visual appeal.
“The character designs from this game are very unique with a cute art style, and they work very well with the in-game environment.”
“The environment, character design, soundtrack, and sound design are extremely artful and so pleasing to experience.”
“Very sweet and calming game <3 love the visuals, love the cuteness of the character designs!”
“The character designs from this game are also very unique with a cute art style, but the character development feels shallow and lacks depth.”
“While the visuals and character designs are charming, the character development is disappointingly simplistic and fails to engage the player.”
“The game has adorable character designs, but the lack of meaningful character development makes it hard to connect with them.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is described as cute and endearing, eliciting squeals and a desire for interaction from players. However, technical issues and lack of optimization detract from the overall experience, suggesting that while the comedic elements are appreciated, they are overshadowed by gameplay frustrations.
“My husband thought it was cute and hilarious that I kept squealing at them during my gameplay and wanting to hug them and give them all head pats.”
