This Starry Midnight We Make
- June 1, 2015
- CAVYHOUSE
Get on SteamIn "This Starry Midnight We Make," create celestial objects using the Star-seeing Basin as you follow overserious clergywoman Hamomoru Tachibana's journey. After meeting Chuuya Shingoh during a night festival in early 20th century Kyoto, Japan, Hamomoru becomes intrigued by his star-growing experiments and joins him, leading to a unique celestial growth simulation adventure.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game offers a unique and meditative experience, encouraging experimentation and creativity in a charming setting.
- Beautiful visuals and music, combined with a compelling story and well-developed characters, enhance the overall gameplay experience.
- The game allows for a high degree of freedom in gameplay, making it enjoyable for players who appreciate exploration and discovery.
- The lack of clear guidance and hints can lead to frustration, as players may find themselves stuck or confused about how to progress.
- The gameplay can become tedious, especially towards the end, requiring significant trial and error to achieve specific goals.
- Some players may find the art style unappealing or experience discomfort due to the visual presentation and animations.
- story78 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 72 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The game's story is set in 1910s Japan and features a mix of charming character interactions and mystical elements, though opinions vary on its execution. While some praise the engaging character writing and the unique storytelling approach through gameplay, others find the overarching narrative heavy-handed and the pacing slow, leading to a less compelling experience. Overall, the story is seen as a decent complement to the gameplay, with some players appreciating its depth and emotional resonance despite its brevity.
“Great translation, awesome Taisho-era aesthetic, entrancing story as always from Cavyhouse.”
“The story is even deeper than it looks at first glance (because of the true story at the end).”
“It's an interesting story set in 1910s Japan with some mystical elements, and Hamomoru is adorable.”
“While I liked Cavyhouse's previous game, Forget Me Not: My Organic Garden, this one falls short in terms of story and gameplay.”
“The game is let down by some ham-handed and poor writing in the overarching story aspect - especially with the game's endings - but this is very much an unavoidable problem with the original script rather than any fault in localization.”
“It's a slow-paced and rather boring puzzle game, gating a slow-paced and rather boring storyline.”
- gameplay34 mentions
- 12 % positive mentions
- 79 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The gameplay is described as meditative and centered around experimentation, with a small tutorial that only covers basic mechanics, leaving players to discover more on their own. While some enjoy the zen-like quality and variety of mechanics, others find it frustrating due to unclear instructions and a reliance on trial and error, leading to moments of tedium. Overall, the gameplay lacks the engaging flow and clarity found in the developer's previous title, "Forget Me Not: My Organic Garden."
“Forget Me Not got you right to the gameplay; the explanation is quick, and you can very quickly get in a rhythm of fulfilling requests, which then leads to more world and character lore.”
“The gameplay here is very meditative; there is a small tutorial and tips throughout the game about how to create structures needed for your quests, but it only shows you the very basics of gameplay mechanics. Everything else is up to your imagination and ability to experiment.”
“Compelling zen gameplay.”
“Starting off, you've got about 15 minutes before the title, and only 2-3 minutes of that time is gameplay.”
“However, the gameplay can become tedious.”
“Much of the puzzle gameplay falls down to trial and error while you learn how to create various celestial objects.”
- graphics16 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 44 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The game's graphics are praised for their unique art style and beautiful visuals, contributing to an ethereal atmosphere that enhances the storytelling. However, some players experience discomfort due to certain moving patterns, which can lead to motion sickness. Overall, the anime-inspired aesthetic, while occasionally crude, is generally well-received and adds to the game's charm.
“This game has a fairly unique art style overall, which I think adds to the 'ethereal' mood.”
“Beautiful visuals and music.”
“Here there is lip-flapping, clothes and hair moving to wind, etc. The drawings can be a little on the crude side occasionally, but it still fits within the distinct art style.”
“The graphics give me a mixture of motion sickness and headaches due to the moving patterns on certain characters.”
“The drawings can be a little on the crude side occasionally, but it still fits within the distinct art style.”
“The anime style has not too shabby graphics, but it may not be enough to keep me playing.”
- music12 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The music in the game is described as calm and unobtrusive, enhancing the relaxing and meditative experience of gameplay. While it may not stand out prominently, it effectively conveys the game's tone and mood, complementing the beautiful visuals and overall charm.
“The music is calm and not annoying, which really makes it a relaxing meditative game about throwing pebbles into the pond.”
“Beautiful visuals and music.”
“The music likewise is very good and matches the mood and style of the game very nicely.”
“The soundtrack usually doesn't stand out, but does a good job of conveying tone.”
“Art and music are fairly decent, and the writing has some charm to it.”
- grinding10 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be quite tedious, especially towards the end, where the need to combine numerous stars can lead to frustration if even one star is incorrect. While the game allows for some multitasking with evolving stars, the slow regeneration rate of beginner stars can make the experience feel overly grindy and repetitive. Overall, the grinding element is seen as the game's primary drawback.
“Moreover, it’s definitely very tedious towards the end, when you have to combine many stars just to get a specific cluster and, if one star is wrong, everything just stops working.”
“The only negative aspect this game has is that it’s very grindy towards the end.”
“The game puts a timer on each type of star you can plant and that's fine as long as you can switch between multiple different 'building sites' where you try to figure out how stars evolve; however, it gets tedious as soon as you are set to get this one star that completes a sequence and you need like 20 or 50 of these beginner stars which only regenerate at a snail's pace.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is perceived as lacking, with users finding the slow-paced gameplay and storyline to be dull and unengaging. This results in a failure to evoke any significant emotional response from players.
“It's a slow-paced and rather boring puzzle game, gating a slow-paced and rather boring storyline.”
