Want to play a cute, kawaii-like game?? Well, Cuddly Forest Friends might be for you! With the recent influx of “cosy” games cropping up all over the place the eShop has felt inundated with cuddly critters and farming sims, but few have quite as much instant visual appeal as this cute simulation/mini-game collection by Nippon Columbia.
This pastel rainbow of a game begins in a little section of a forest where a group of cuddly animal friends greet you. You’re quickly gifted with a magical seed which they want to grow into the tree of happiness – but they need your help to make this project happen!
The game is a basic simulation game with mini-game and crafting elements. By making your 9 little forest friends happy you gradually make the tree of happiness grow and discover what kind of tree it truly is. Your new friends include; Rabbit, Squirrel, Mouse, Degu, Hamster, Porcupine, Flying Squirrel, Capybara, and Beaver. To make your new friends happy you can complete various activities such as building toys and furniture, gathering materials, cooking, petting your forest pals and of course playing numerous mini-games.
The mini-games have varied difficulty and are cutesy but short and sweet, with each rewarding you with gaining those delicious happiness points! The mini-games include fishing, eating fruit, collecting honey or just simply whacking something with a hammer! In these games, you choose the character you want to play as and the AI will pick three opponents for you to compete with in order to win the game. There are 10+ mini-games available in total, and whilst some repeat specific themes and mechanics, most have a distinct identity to them, although I would have preferred more which deviated from the “four animals in a circular arena” trope.
You are able to pick which mini-game you want to play and if you’re lucky the game you pick may have double happiness points or double stamps! The said stamps are collected when you play (or more importantly win,) a mini-game and you can unlock new games with a particular number of stamps – simple right? Honestly, don’t worry because the game walks you through everything and anything.
This hand-holding walk-through can be quite annoying for the more experienced player who wants an action-packed experience. However, a player who wants a more laid-back, cute or cosy game will not be hampered by this and I can imagine the numerous repeated reminders of what to do will make it a much more straightforward time for kids.
You can also decorate and craft accessories as well as build other various objects. When you are crafting objects or gathering resources from the different areas you have an option to cheer, which in turn will give you benefits such as receiving more items from the hunt or quicker working. As the game progresses more areas to gather materials from open up, with each yielding vastly different spoils.
Sometimes your friends can make special requests for certain food or accessories etc, to be made or found. By fulfilling these simple requests, you can gain more happiness points. Their friendship points also increase, which reveals small facts about each character – though they aren’t exactly what I’d call revelations. You like corn got it; most of us do.
The overall aesthetic has a classic kawaii style, as do the animations and menus. The colour pallet is also very fitting – lots of different pastel shades of the rainbow are splashed over every surface. The game is rendered in 3D but has a heavy layer of cell-shading to it which makes it feel straight out of an animation. Honestly, it’s well done, if a little simple for more picky eyes.
Either way, the Switch handles this game well and the colours pop on the screen both in handheld and in the docked mode. It’s even prettier on an OLED with the vibrant setting on, as you’d probably expect.
The music is very whimsical but can get quite repetitive over time. It’s sure to leave you with an earworm, though not necessarily a pleasant one. The sound effects are cute at first, but again quickly become repetitive and frankly obnoxious. There are also lots of loading screens between sections which can be quite frustrating when you just want your tree to grow as big and quickly as possible and get the maximum happiness in the forest! Of all things which annoyed me this was the worst – I can’t see why so much time is needed between screens in a game with such a simple art style and premise. I can only assume that they’re more of a stylistic choice than a necessity, and that’s even worse. They aren’t even long-loading screens, but they’re constantly breaking the experience up with a sound effect you quickly begin to dread.
Cuddly Forest Friends is definitely a game for the younger player or those wanting a simple, well-guided, untaxing game. The experienced gamer who likes to explore and has lots of options will find this game slow, restrictive or simply too shallow due to the lack of a real story, complex minigames, material gathering or meaningful decoration. When the most interesting items I could find were a hamster wheel and a lamp, I think something was lacking. It’s a well-put-together, cute kawaii-style game, and that’s the main draw to buying it; but that’s all it is. Lots of styles but little to no substance. It’s a good pick-up for young children and those who just want to zonk with something cuddly, but I think most adults will want to avoid this one; especially for the price.
Written by Katie-Pria Guy
Reviewed on Nintendo Switch, Grab your copy here https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-games/Cuddly-Forest-Friends-2326547.html
Writer wanted to make two separate scores, based on adults and children liking the game, however, our score system only allows for one, so we have included them below.
OVERALL FOR ADULTS – 5/10
OVERALL FOR YOUNGER KIDS – 8/10
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