{"id":4485,"date":"2022-10-14T02:41:39","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T00:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relaxing-gameplaid.net\/?p=4485"},"modified":"2022-10-14T02:42:36","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T00:42:36","slug":"kinoko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relaxing-gameplaid.net\/en\/kinoko\/","title":{"rendered":"Kinoko"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Game Infos<\/h5><\/div>

Full Title:<\/span> Kinoko
Year:<\/span> 2020
<\/span><\/p>\n

Release date:<\/span> 24th July 2020
<\/span>Developer:<\/span> ThunderLime
<\/span>Publisher:<\/span> ThunderLime<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/span> Puzzle, Narrative<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Accessibility<\/h5><\/div>

Input:<\/span> Keyboard (problematic), Controller
\nInterface Language: <\/span> Multilanguage
\nAudio Language:<\/span> \/\/
\nSubtitles:<\/span> \/\/<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

Developing Team<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/h5><\/div>

Producer & <\/span><\/span>Designer<\/span>:<\/span> <\/span>Emelie Edholm<\/span><\/p>\n

Environmental Art:<\/span> Sara Leone<\/p>\n

Character Art: & Animation:<\/span> Robin Lawrence<\/p>\n

Music & Sound Design: <\/span><\/span>Michal Pukala<\/span><\/p>\n

System Programming: Callum Keddie, Niklas Evertsson<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

UI, UX, FX and Cinematics: Robert J. Haper<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n


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going deep down<\/h1><\/div><\/i><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

synopsis<\/h3><\/div>

Aurora is a little child living in a pile-dwelling slum, witnessing how trash and pollution is taking over her community and the environment around it, transforming fastly into a disaster.
\nResolved to discover what kind of enviromnental tragedy is occurring and what the reason behind it is, she will embark in an adventure where reality and her imagination collide, with the hope to find a solution to the problem.
\nA game with an important environmental message from a small Brazilian studio.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Technicalities<\/h4><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Graphics<\/h5><\/div><\/i>
Ok!<\/h6><\/div>

Graphically speaking, Kinoko is a low-poly, third-person 3D game. The environment is rich and sunny and with few but very repeated elements, it becomes credible and realistic (within the chosen style, of course).<\/p>\n

The explorable areas aren\u2019t too wide but within that space you can roam freely. The border between the walkable terrain and the zones you aren\u2019t allowed to go to is made by natural barriers like water, cliffs, so you follow the terrain naturally and without effort.
<\/span><\/p>\n

In the past I played a few small games with \u201cinvisible walls\u201d to set the limit between where you could and couldn\u2019t go and stumbling into them when you just thought \u201coh! Nice spot there, let\u2019s go and see..~bonk~\u201d was a little frustrating to say the least.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The transition between the \u201cwinter time\u201d and the \u201cspring time\u201d is very smooth. Every time you complete a quest, a little white disappears and a little green pops up instead. Often you don\u2019t even notice the little changes and you just see that everything was white and snowy in the beginning while it\u2019s all green with flowers and high grass at the end. <\/p>\n

There are also a number of different creatures around, from other little spirits like those with the quests that you are able to pat-pat on the head (and see a little heart on their head when you do it!) and some animals like moles and foxes, but you can\u2019t interact with them.<\/p>\n

Honestly I don\u2019t know the reason for the difference.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, it\u2019s not the point of the game, you don\u2019t need to interact with the creatures (except for the ones you go to for the quests) so it\u2019s not a big deal.<\/p>\n

It would have been just a nice addition though!<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite being so simple, I must admit I find Kinoko's design adorable. The basic head, the big eyes, the absence of mouth and nose increase their \"non-human\" nature and the way they touch their hat during the idle moments give them so much personality! They prove that even the smallest detail bring so much into worldbuilding!<\/p><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Game Mechanics<\/h5><\/div><\/i>
Ok!<\/h6><\/div>

About the mechanics I can say that on one hand they are pretty simple, as you can expect from a student project offered for free, but on the other one they can sometimes appear a little confusing.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ll explain better later.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

First things first: the game is divided in several different areas. To go from the previous to the following one you have to complete some simple quest: clear the snow from the trees by hitting them, melt snow piles and make flowers blooming.
The quests are the same in each area but the number of things you must find for each increases as you progress.
<\/span>In the first starting area you get to know that you must lower a pillar to get forward, but it\u2019s unclear how you\u2019re supposed to do that.
<\/span>You discover how when you complete all the quests for that area, because the pillar becomes active and you can trigger it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The game has no dialogues, so the instructions are provided by some little and very cute critters explaining what you\u2019re supposed to do by showing some illustrated bubbles with a simple animation.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s pretty much it!<\/span><\/p>\n

Note:<\/b> initially I found it very hard to discover how the trees, the piles and the flowers were. Obviously in the first area they were easy to find, but then it was a little confusing. <\/p>\n

However, while I was checking the controller buttons in the options, I realized there was a \u201cmap\u201d one and then, when I clicked on it\u2026a map with the position of the objects you must interact with and the progress of your quest appeared. <\/p>\n

(\u256e\u00b0-\u00b0)\u256e\u2533\u2501\u2501\u2533 <\/p>\n

( \u256f\u00b0\u25a1\u00b0)\u256f \u253b\u2501\u2501\u253b <\/p>\n

MY VERY BIG FAULT. <\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

With this new and empowering arcane knowledge in my hands..I can say that doing the quests is very easy, intuitive and enjoyable.<\/p>\n

Note 2: <\/b>the game has no saving system<\/b>, so keep that in mind when you start playing. If you want to see the end, don't quit it!<\/span><\/p>\n

The only little stain to this were some bugs, glitches and lag. But I\u2019ll talk about them in the \u201cPerformance\u201d section.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Duration & Story<\/h5><\/div><\/i>
Ok!<\/h6><\/div>

The game is pretty short, between 15 and 30 minutes depending on how fast\/straightforward you play.
Besides losing some time wandering to appreciate assets and landscapes, there is nothing useful to extend its duration.<\/span><\/p>\n

The story, since the game is pretty casual and short, is very simple and there isn\u2019t this much to say: you play as Kinoko, a forest spirit entrusted with making winter end and bringing the spring all over the world again. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Soundtrack<\/h5><\/div><\/i>
Ok!<\/h6><\/div>

Kinoko doesn\u2019t have a real \u201csoundtrack\u201d in the strictest sense of the word. The game is very short and has no need of a full soundtrack, so a single track is more than enough.
This \u201csingle-track soundtrack\u201d is very fresh, joyful and it fits perfectly the simple story of the game. It\u2019s easy to feel the transition between the \u201csilent and cold winter\u201d to the cheerful and full of life spring.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a very pleasant company while you guide Kinoko around to do the quests and this makes Kinoko a cozy game to spend 30 minutes relaxing.
I find the music so nice to be even a good background music while doing other tasks. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Performances<\/h5><\/div><\/i>
So-So<\/h6><\/div>

None<\/span> - Black Screen
None<\/font> - Crashes
None<\/font> - Frame
None<\/font> - Freezes
So-So<\/span><\/font> - Glitches
So-So<\/span><\/font> - Lag
None<\/font> - Loading Problems<\/p>\n

As I explained in the video, the first time I ran the game it wasn't all \"rose and flowers\" (like \"a bed of roses\"), as we say in Italian.<\/p>\n

The game was slow and laggy, but initially I thought it was due to something regarding the optimization or maybe some temporary quirkiness of my pc.
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So I didn\u2019t bother to investigate the problem, waiting to see if it would resolve by itself.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

However, I realized quickly that there was also some bugs and glitches: from being unable to interact correctly with some of the little critters, to have no answer from pushing some of the buttons on my controller, from having big lag spikes that put music in distorted loopso to -at some point- having one of the hint bubbles stuck on my screen and busy following the character everywhere. <\/p>\n

So I decided to give it another chance and restart it.
Since the game is a short, student project, the game has no save system and I\u2019d have to restart the gameplay as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Restarting it has solved all the problems and the game went perfectly smoothly.
If you stumble into problems like this, try to restart it one or more times.<\/span><\/p>\n

If those problems hadn\u2019t gone away and stayed no matter what I tried, then I\u2019d have put a red couch because it wouldn\u2019t have been possible to play it.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I put a yellow one instead, also considering that it\u2019s a free game and, as I pointed out above, a student project.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Note:<\/b> scrolling the reviews on Steam, I\u2019ve found that some people gave a thumbs down because they were unable to play it with a keyboard or to start it due to black screen or other loading problems.
I played it only with a controller and I didn't experienced any loading issue, so I can't give any real opinion about those.<\/p>\n

Anyway, with the issues I've personally had, after restarting everything was ok and went smoothly.
So, if you\u2019re among those who experienced my same issues or even more than I had, <\/span>please try to restart it a couple of times<\/i><\/u> before going on a rage and leaving a bad review!
It's a free game and a school project, be understanding. Behind every game there are one or more dedicated people who gabe their time to create it while learning. No need to blast it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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in pills<\/h1><\/div><\/i><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Kinoko is a nice game, created around the passing of the seasons, imaging a little spirit with the task of actively ending one and making another start.
Another nice student-made project, that will give you a cozy relaxing 15mins or a funny small games to the more little gamers!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

RECAP<\/h3><\/h3><\/div>
GRAPHICS - Ok!<\/span><\/div>
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GAME MECHANICS<\/span><\/div>
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DURATION<\/span><\/div>
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SOUNDTRACK<\/span><\/div>
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PERFORMANCES<\/span><\/div>
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YASS<\/h3><\/h3><\/div>
  • <\/i><\/span>
    Cute story<\/div><\/li><\/ul>
    • <\/i><\/span>
      It gives a peaceful feeling<\/div><\/li><\/ul>
      • <\/i><\/span>
        Perfect for taking a break or to play with children<\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>

        SO-SO<\/h3><\/h3><\/div>
        • <\/i><\/span>
          \n

          Beyond quests you can't do or interact with anything else<\/p>\n<\/div><\/li><\/ul>

          • <\/i><\/span>
            Some bugs and glitches that hinder or make impossible to play. Restart the game is useful, though.<\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>

            RELAX-O-METER<\/h3><\/h3><\/div>
            Great!<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
            <\/div><\/div>

            Check the playthrough playlist!<\/h1><\/div><\/i><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>