The Flower Collectors
- December 18, 2020
- Mi'pu'mi Games GmbH
- 2h median play time
Get on Steam
Get on Epic Games Store"The Flower Collectors" is a nostalgic, pixel art-style game set in 1970s Barcelona. As a retired police officer, you use your telescope to uncover a mystery by observing the streets and residents. The game combines observational mechanics with a slowly unfolding narrative to create a unique and immersive experience.
Nintendo Switch
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features a strong and engaging story set in a unique historical context, specifically post-Franco Spain, which adds depth to the narrative.
- The art style and voice acting are praised for their quality, contributing to an immersive experience.
- The gameplay mechanics, while simple, allow for a unique observation-based detective experience that keeps players engaged.
- The game suffers from poor animations and character movements, which can detract from the overall experience and immersion.
- Gameplay is often described as linear and restrictive, with a lack of meaningful choices or challenges, making it feel more like a guided experience than an interactive game.
- The dialogue and character interactions can feel clichéd and unconvincing, undermining the potential impact of the story.
- story198 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The game's story is widely praised for its engaging narrative, strong voice acting, and unique historical context, particularly set in 1970s Spain. While many players found the storytelling compelling and immersive, some criticized the execution, noting issues with character development and pacing, as well as a lack of meaningful gameplay choices. Overall, the story is seen as the game's greatest strength, though it could benefit from deeper exploration and refinement.
“The story is fantastic and really well written.”
“The story, voice acting, and overall idea of this game is really special.”
“A compelling story, wrapped in a beautiful scene enhanced by the ambient audio.”
“Unfortunately, the story and the gameplay are just okay and are not enough to make me look past the honestly comedic animations.”
“Often, the slow and boring sequences eliminate any pacing or tension the story has built.”
“This running away from the source material undermined the story and the characters in a big way.”
- gameplay88 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 70 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it simplistic and repetitive, primarily revolving around observation and interaction with limited mechanics. While the story and voice acting are praised, the gameplay often feels like a series of cutscenes interspersed with minimal action, leading to frustration over its lack of depth and engagement. Overall, the game presents an interesting concept but falls short in execution, requiring patience from players to navigate its shortcomings.
“The story is nice, voice acting is top notch, gameplay is pleasant, art style is pleasing, music was pretty good.”
“Gameplay consists of spying on people from a balcony through a pair of binoculars or a camera, taking photos, and then posting your drawings and photographs on a board to aid in your deductions.”
“What I appreciate about this gameplay loop is that you don't just move from one set piece to another, but get to be an actual actor in the story.”
“The gameplay is pretty uninspired, just click on the interact points.”
“These mechanics are woefully thin, and could have been expanded upon to give you a feeling of being more involved.”
“My main issue with the gameplay is that it's quite repetitive in that most of what you're doing is just scanning for an item or person, finding them and clicking.”
- graphics36 mentions
- 28 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The graphics of "The Flower Collectors" are characterized by a beautiful and interesting art style, with a slightly cell-shaded look that enhances the scenery. While the animations and character models are often described as simple and lacking polish, many players find the overall aesthetic charming and forgivable given the game's indie status. However, some critiques highlight that the low production quality and limited HUD can detract from the gameplay experience.
“Beautiful art style and nice detective game set in Spain.”
“The slightly cell-shaded look to the graphics works for the scenery.”
“Animations are good for an indie game, the art style is very interesting and overall great.”
“Graphics are rather simple, with characters being all sorts of anthropomorphic animals for some reason.”
“The issue with the graphics comes to the character models.”
“However, the low overall production quality, particularly in terms of the aesthetics, along with the short playtime and the limitations imposed by certain development choices (which in turn, feel like cheap crutches) make this game hard to recommend at full price despite the positive elements.”
- music18 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally well-received, with many players noting that it complements the setting and story effectively, even if it lacks memorable themes. While some feel that the music enhances the overall experience, others criticize its use during timed sequences as feeling arbitrary and lacking feedback. Overall, the soundtrack is appreciated for its quality and ability to enrich the gameplay.
“Such an original game, I really feel lucky playing this game ♡ loved the story, colors, characters... would love to complete all of the achievements sometime 😏 (little note: playing with the soundtrack makes it better and better!)”
“Especially praiseworthy is the quality of voice acting and incidental music.”
“Love the music score!”
“Timed sequences also feel arbitrary with little feedback as to how failure (almost impossible) might be handled, with poorly used music cues used to inject a little slice of contrived tension.”
“- the music accompanies really well, even without having any memorable theme.”
“+not much music but what's there fits the setting and the story”
- replayability8 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
Overall, the game has limited replayability, primarily due to a lack of extra content. While there are some side plots and multiple endings that can enhance the experience for completionists, they are not essential to the main story, which can be completed in about six hours. Players may find some value in pursuing missed achievements, but the overall incentive to replay is minimal.
“It offers somewhat replay value too.”
“The game has little to no replay value and lacks extra content in general.”
“There’s some replayability with side plots that can be missed, though they don’t seem critical to the game’s completion, more of wrapping up all the optional loose ends.”
“The main story takes a good 6 hours if you take your time with it, and it looks to have some replay value based on the achievements I didn't get, so I'm guessing you've got multiple endings.”
- emotional4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the characters likable, but the emotional connections often stem more from expectations than genuine interactions within the game. The lack of facial expressions limits emotional depth, making players depend heavily on the script and voice acting to convey feelings and tone.
“Without the ability to convey anything through facial expressions, you're relying on the script and the voice actor to do the emotional and tonal heavy lifting.”
“These fill in tidbits of information and the characters you meet/observe are likable enough; although sometimes it feels like the emotional connection to them was born from how you expect them to react to situations rather than how they are actually reacting within the game itself.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Reviews suggest that the monetization strategy may enhance the overall appeal of the game, potentially adding to its charm rather than detracting from the experience.
- humor2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is criticized for undermining serious themes, such as police brutality, by juxtaposing them with cartoonish animations that detract from the gravity of the situation. This approach leads to a dissonance where potentially impactful moments are reduced to mere comedic occurrences, leaving players feeling that the humor is misplaced.
“The game cleverly addresses serious topics like police brutality through humor, using exaggerated animations that turn heavy moments into something unexpectedly funny.”
“The juxtaposition of serious themes and comedic animations creates a unique experience, where the absurdity of the characters' actions lightens the mood.”
“By incorporating humor into sensitive subjects, the game manages to make players laugh while still prompting them to think critically about the issues presented.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be slow and tedious, leading to a sense of boredom rather than enjoyment. While the game's serious tone could lend itself to comedic moments, the repetitive nature of grinding detracts from the overall experience.
“The game takes itself too seriously, and while it has potential for comedic moments, the slow and tedious grinding makes the overall experience feel boring.”
“The grinding in this game is so slow and tedious that it overshadows any potential enjoyment, leaving players feeling bored.”
