Leaves: The Return

88%
Game Brain Score Based on 130 reviews
  • graphics
  • gameplay
  • story
Leaves: The Return Game Cover
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Mononino and the Treefruities fared well without you - until another disaster scattered the leaves of their home tree. Once more, take on the journey and challenging puzzles along the way.

  • Mac OS
  • PC
  • Windows
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

88%
Audience ScoreBased on 130 reviews
graphics17 positive mentions
grinding9 negative mentions
  • The game features beautiful artwork and a whimsical, surreal aesthetic that enhances the overall experience.
  • Puzzles are diverse and provide a good level of challenge, making them enjoyable for puzzle enthusiasts.
  • The game maintains the charm and magic of its predecessor, offering a fun and engaging point-and-click adventure.
  • Many puzzles can feel tedious and require excessive backtracking, which can detract from the overall enjoyment.
  • The game suffers from technical issues, including a lack of frame rate cap, which can lead to overheating problems on some systems.
  • There is a significant reuse of assets and puzzles from the first game, making it feel less like a true sequel and more like an expansion.
  • graphics36 mentions

    The graphics of the game are characterized by a unique and beautiful surreal art style that many players find captivating, with intricate details and imaginative designs. However, some reviews note that the simplistic 2D visuals lack depth and quality, limiting the overall graphical experience despite the appealing aesthetic. Overall, while the artwork is praised for its creativity and charm, the technical execution leaves room for improvement.

    • “The artwork is beautiful and the attention to detail is fantastic.”
    • “The graphics were fantastic, I loved the designs and the art style.”
    • “The art style and imagination that went into this game is just insanely awesome!!”
    • “While there are options to change the resolution for the game, all this does is scale up the simplistic 2D art assets used to make the game, which makes little or no difference to the graphics quality.”
    • “Without any other substantial graphics tweaks, it's not possible for gamers to improve the lackluster 2D visuals.”
    • “The graphics are the same as the first game with somewhat odd-looking backgrounds and characters that look somewhat like a surreal Monty Python but not nearly as comedic.”
  • gameplay14 mentions

    The gameplay in this sequel features a mix of new and familiar puzzles, maintaining the same mechanics as its predecessor while introducing some complexity. While the visuals and aesthetics are praised, the user interface and overall gameplay experience are criticized for feeling outdated and frustrating. Despite these issues, many players find the puzzles engaging and the overall experience enjoyable, with some improvements noted in the mechanics.

    • “It has some brand new puzzles with a higher level of complexity, and a new take on some old puzzles and mechanics.”
    • “As an overall package, this is a puzzle game with fun gameplay and phenomenal aesthetics.”
    • “During several hours you won't be bored; the rich gameplay throws you into the magical world of leaves.”
    • “This sequel is very much a copy and paste of 'Leaves - The Journey', but with different puzzles; otherwise, the technical aspects of the game (and most of the gameplay) are identical, with no improvements over the first and all the same defects.”
    • “For gameplay purposes, the user interface for this game is mostly just 2D static images with a few flash-like sprites and objects on top... it might as well be a browser game.”
    • “Unfortunately, just like the first game: unbelievably beautiful, unbelievably illogical, frustrating mechanics, infuriating logic.”
  • story14 mentions

    The game's story is largely disconnected from its predecessor, offering minimal narrative depth and a simplistic, often nonsensical plot. Many players noted the absence of a compelling storyline, with some describing it as almost non-existent and merely serving as a backdrop for puzzles. Overall, the narrative fails to engage, leaving players with a sense of disappointment regarding its development.

    • “Moral of the story: you never know what life has in store for you, and if I had given up when all odds were against me, I wouldn't be where I am today.”
    • “The storyline is simple, but there are leaves and inhabitants to collect.”
    • “[*] wordless storytelling”
    • “It's hard to say that the return is a good sequel, since there isn't really any story.”
    • “There's pretty much no story whatsoever, same as the first.”
    • “Zero story, much more linear with a lot of backtracking, studded with idiotic puzzles, many of which are 'copy this pattern' ones.”
  • music11 mentions

    The music in the game is generally described as relaxing and ambient, enhancing the overall experience without being overwhelming. While some users find it merely adequate, others appreciate how it complements the game's surreal visuals and challenging puzzles. Overall, the soundtrack is seen as a positive aspect that adds depth to the gameplay.

    • “I relaxed for 5 minutes listening to this music, long enough to realize that I would be okay.”
    • “Puzzles are challenging, artwork is in a style I very much enjoy and music is relaxing.”
    • “The music and sound effects add dimension to the characters.”
    • “The graphics are lovely (strange surrealist sculptures and art), the music and sound effects are... well, okay, they're merely adequate.”
    • “I often turn my sound off on my computer while gaming because I just can't take listening to too much game music, but that's not an issue with this game.”
    • “And still almost no music at all.”
  • grinding9 mentions

    Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience, with some puzzles being enjoyable and quirky, while others are described as tedious and repetitive, particularly in terms of movement and the mechanics of using items like the spyglass. Although the initial hours are engaging, the enjoyment tends to wane towards the end due to the cumbersome nature of certain tasks and the need to revisit areas multiple times.

    • “Nothing overwhelmingly challenging, but there are a couple tedious ones.”
    • “But it was more fun the first hour or two, and got a bit tedious towards the end of the game.”
    • “I also found it tedious after a while that using the spyglass (magnifier) was so cumbersome (click on the dangling ball to open inventory, click on spyglass to select, drag it down into main screen to use) - and it would automatically disappear after use, so you'd have to repeat the sequence for each scene.”
  • stability2 mentions

    Users have reported stability issues, including bugs that cause puzzle pieces to become unresponsive and turn white, as well as problems with different save files potentially being buggy.

    • “In one puzzle, a piece was so buggy that it turned white and I couldn't move it anymore.”
    • “But on different save files, they can be buggy as well.”
  • atmosphere2 mentions

    The atmosphere is consistently described as eerie, contributing to the game's overall immersive experience. Reviewers appreciate the combination of challenging and original puzzles that enhance this captivating ambiance.

    • “The game features an eerie atmosphere that keeps you on edge.”
    • “Challenging and original puzzles combined with an excellent atmosphere create an immersive experience.”
    • “The game fails to create an eerie atmosphere, leaving players feeling disconnected from the environment.”
    • “Despite its potential, the atmosphere feels flat and uninspired, lacking the tension and immersion expected from a horror game.”
    • “The overall ambiance is disappointing, with a lack of sound design and visual elements that could have enhanced the eerie atmosphere.”
  • optimization1 mentions

    The game's optimization is widely criticized, with many users noting that technical performance remains its weakest aspect, similar to its predecessor.

    • “The worst aspect of this game, just like the first, is the technical performance.”
    • “The game suffers from severe optimization issues that make it nearly unplayable at times.”
    • “Despite its potential, the lack of proper optimization leads to frustrating lag and crashes.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
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