Once Upon a Jester

Delightfully charming little musical adventure that reminded me a bit of Wandersong. Saw a indie game youtube channel recomend it and it was at a very fair price right now, so there where really no reason not to try it, because it looked interesting. A whimsical and bizarre game where you will laugh out loud if you are in for silly jokes and a bit of heart.

Gosh, we enjoyed this game so much. It's adorable and silly and it has such catchy tunes! By the start of the game, we were so rapidly hyped once the princess shows up and starts singing "The Royal Theatrical Spectacle". If we had one critique, it'd be that the last third of the game didn't feel as strong as the first two; but, to be fair, the bar they set themselves was quite high! This is a silly adventure centered (mechanically) around some improv plays where you make choices that affect the plot depending on different vibes/genres. It OOZES charm, and you'll probably find yourself repeating the plays and trying to see all the different variations, from horror to romance. Ironically, even if we're a narrative-based studio, I find myself sometimes skipping side-stuff and jumping directly to the meat of a game, as we have limited time to sink our teeth into so many indie games that get released every year. Not here, though: we made an effort to click EVERYWHERE, as we were so incredibly charmed and amused by almost every interaction. The game is populated by so many adorable characters, each one with their own silly story and silly voice. During the GDC awards (or whatever they're called; pls don't sue us for not remembering the exact name despite us being an indie studio) we learnt this is a student project (or at least, it was included in the student category). We were completely amazed. This level of quality, and it was done as a student project? Impressive. We legit screamed with visible joy the first time "Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime" (the studio's next project) showed up in one of those big indie showcases they do in Summer and Winter (can't remember which one it was). You can bet this studio has us in their corner, rooting and cheering for them.

A cozy musical adventure filled with positive vibes and laugh out loud moments. 10/10 would play again.