The Window Box

About

The Window Box is a single player action game. It was developed by Sundew Studios and was released on February 19, 2019. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

"The Window Box" is a narrative-driven adventure game where you play as a young girl named Sundew, experiencing her life through the window of her apartment. Solve puzzles, interact with various objects, and uncover the story as you journey through Sundew's observations andore memories. This poetic and introspective game explores themes of childhood, imagination, and the passage of time.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

80%

Audience ScoreBased on 74 reviews

story32 positive mentions

gameplay3 negative mentions

The art style is stunning and beautifully designed, enhancing the overall experience of the game.
The story is engaging and tackles deep, relatable themes, making it thought-provoking and emotionally impactful.
The combination of whimsical elements with serious topics creates a unique atmosphere that resonates with players.

The game is plagued by bugs and technical issues, which can disrupt the gameplay experience.
Some players found the pacing slow, particularly in the beginning, making it hard to stay engaged.
The puzzles are often seen as simplistic and not integral to the story, leading to a feeling of disconnection from the gameplay.

story
70 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
50%
4%
The story is widely praised for its depth, engaging characters, and exploration of heavy themes such as emotional abuse and personal struggles, making it a compelling experience for players. While some found the narrative disorganized or marred by technical issues, many appreciated the unique storytelling approach and beautiful art design that enhanced the overall experience. Overall, the game offers a rich narrative that resonates with players, particularly those interested in character-driven stories.
- “Beautiful game, beautiful art design, beautiful characters, and absolutely beautiful story.”
- “The story dives into issues each woman is facing - work stress, emotional abuse, poor communication in a relationship, to name a few.”
- “The art style is absolutely beautiful, and the story is so rich and deep, and the way it's told is fresh and keeps you excited throughout the whole story.”
- “The story is fine, though told in a very disorganized way.”
- “On the flip side, the storytelling felt extremely tedious, especially as you are fed a little bit at a time in broken up pieces/sentences and you have to keep spam-clicking to read more - but if you click too many times, you may miss something.”
- “I didn't particularly care for the story as a whole, either.”
graphics
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
63%
26%
11%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their whimsical and beautiful art style, featuring striking colors and a unique aesthetic that enhances the overall experience. Many reviewers highlight the artwork's ability to complement the story and themes, creating a visually captivating environment. While some note that the vibrant visuals can be overwhelming at times, the general consensus is that the graphics significantly contribute to the game's charm and appeal.
- “The art style of this visual novel is beautiful with striking colors!”
- “The aesthetic and presentation is gorgeous, and the characters and plot are compelling, making for a great experience.”
- “The artwork is beautiful and colorful, really lovely to look at.”
- “The game features a kitschy art style.”
- “Graphics don't matter in this game.”
- “Being a visual novel, the first thing I usually notice is the art style and music.”
music
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
80%
8%
12%
The music in the game has received widespread acclaim for its beautiful and calming qualities, effectively complementing the whimsical art style and enhancing the overall atmosphere. Many players found the soundtrack to be both relaxing and memorable, with some even seeking out the original soundtrack after playing. Overall, the music is considered a standout feature that adds significant value to the visual novel experience.
- “The music is great too, subtle but effective, more present when it needs to be.”
- “I would recommend this game for the music alone, but it is actually a good visual novel.”
- “The window box has a really lovely and whimsical art style, and the soundtrack is already stuck in my head.”
- “I would be lying if I said I didn't hop onto YouTube straight after playing this game to find the OST collection!”
- “Being a visual novel, the first thing I usually notice is the art style and music.”
- “The art and music worked well with the whimsical tone, and the structure reminded me of a play.”
emotional
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game explores heavy emotional themes, including emotional abuse and its profound impact on the main character, leading to a deeply affecting narrative that resonates with players. While it offers significant emotional depth, it also presents a challenging experience filled with negative emotions, which may leave some players feeling unsettled. Content warnings for emotional abuse and implied self-harm are strongly advised.
- “This game also handles heavy themes such as emotional abuse and how it heavily affected our dear main character.”
- “The story dives into issues each woman is facing - work stress, emotional abuse, poor communication in a relationship, to name a few.”
- “I was not expecting this emotional and spiritual depth to this novel.”
gameplay
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
75%
The gameplay is characterized by excellent pacing and clever mechanics, but it suffers from a lack of depth, with less than two hours of content for a £10 price tag, making it feel more like an interactive novel than a fully-fledged adventure game.
- “The pacing is wonderful and the different mechanics are witty.”
- “Since games like this have very limited gameplay, those two things are very important.”
- “Less than 2 hours of gameplay for £10?”
- “This is a mediocre hybrid of an interactive novel and a point-and-click adventure game, heavy on the novel part and light on the actual gameplay.”
- “Since games like this have very limited gameplay, those two aspects are very important.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with frequent bugs and loading failures reported by users, leading to a frustrating experience.
- “The game is very buggy and broken, often failing to load.”
- “I frequently encounter crashes that disrupt my gameplay experience.”
- “There are numerous glitches that make it difficult to enjoy the game.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
100%
The game offers a strong narrative and character development, making it engaging for a single playthrough, but it has minimal replayability due to its relatively short duration of around two hours. While some players may find it infinitely replayable, the consensus leans towards a limited incentive to replay after the initial experience.
- “Infinitely replayable.”
- “The game offers a strong story with compelling characters, making it worth revisiting despite its relatively short playtime of around 2 hours.”
- “Not a particularly long play, about 2 hours if you like to go slowly and really take everything in, with minimal replayability, but ultimately a strong story with strong characters.”
- “The game lacks significant replayability, as once you've experienced the story, there's little incentive to go through it again.”
- “After completing the game, I found that there was not much to draw me back for a second playthrough.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game effectively balances serious themes with lightheartedness, preventing the narrative from becoming too grim. Players appreciate the unique blend of funny, surreal, and unsettling moments, which adds depth to the experience while maintaining a casual and enjoyable atmosphere.
- “The backgrounds and sprites are beautiful, and the humor kept things from ever getting grim, even though it was about characters dealing with serious problems.”
- “A nice casual game with some puzzles and weird and funny scenes.”
- “The way the tone shifts between funny, surreal, and unsettling is something I haven't encountered in other visual novels, not to mention how unique the game is thematically.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly due to the fragmented storytelling that requires constant clicking to progress, which can lead to missing important details if players click too quickly.
- “The grinding aspect of the game feels incredibly tedious, as the storytelling is delivered in fragmented pieces, forcing you to spam-click to read more. If you click too quickly, you risk missing important information.”
- “The repetitive nature of grinding makes the gameplay feel monotonous, and it often detracts from the overall enjoyment of the game.”
- “I found the grinding to be excessively time-consuming, with little reward for the effort put in, making it hard to stay engaged.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development in the game is visually appealing, with beautiful background artwork and interesting character design; however, the narrative fails to engage players, leading to a lack of enjoyment in the story.
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised, with users highlighting the effective combination of characters, story, art, and music that creates an immersive experience.
- “I loved the characters, story, art, music, and atmosphere.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization aspect of the game is subtly hinted at through the intro and advertisements, suggesting a darker theme, but it does not detract from the overall character development and engagement, as players find themselves invested in the characters' journeys by the end.