The Stone Cutter and the Mountain Spirit

This is a simplified point-and-click telling of the stone cutter's parable about desire and that feeling of "the grass is always greener". The narrative unfolds with some fairly simple puzzle/hidden object mechanics and other minimal input from the player. A lot of it felt gimmicky and forced to get all achievements but it's also a pretty short experience. The art looks like a combination of watercolor and color pencil. It's quite nice and there are certain parts where the animation is, for some weird reason, wildly captivating and unexpected. The BGM is kinda stereotypical for the setting. Towards the middle I muted it. I started playing this on the Steam Deck but had an bug at Chapter 10 so decided to restart on my PC. Then I learned this game does not have cloud saves so I had to start over. It wasn't a HUGE deal but there are a few parts where you have to click the mouse like a maniac and having to do these sequences even once was frustrating enough. I really dislike that kind of mechanic. I wish I had started this on desktop from the beginning as it was a much better experience. Ultimately I was looking for something along the "interactive fiction" genre and this popped up as a suggestion. I guess in the strictest sense it IS interactive fiction but just wasn't was I was looking for. I got Stone Cutter & Mountain Spirit on sale for around one dollar and that is about where I would recommend picking it up. Very meh compared to the literary version of the parable and does nothing unique in either concept or gameplay but you could do a lot worse in this category.

A short and very relaxing game that doesn’t drain your energy or eats your time.. So it’s Perfect if you are low on both. played this on a steam deck, worked just fine!

Short linear story with simple controls, you can replay specific chapters later if you missed an achievement which furthers the chillness of the game. While the graphics are a unique art style, the layered filter sometimes made me think I had dirt on my screen. I enjoyed playing as the sun.

lol this game was all set out to be a lame old oriental parable about the cycle of life and humility and stuff until...you became a certain hot element (no spoilers)! that part was one of the most fun things i have played in a long time. burn motherf*ckers burn!!! on a general note, it was a well made little game, which doesn't take away much of your time or patience.

TLDR: Fine for children, probably too simple for adults. I bought the game because it reminded me of a picture book I had as a child and wanted to see how the story would be implemented as a game. The art style is quite good. The 3D environments are very pretty and numerous. The effort shows. The Alchemist's model seemed a touch out of place but other characters were well executed. Sad to say, even child me would have been bored with the simplistic gameplay. I'm not much of an achievement hunter but I stumbled upon a fair number of them just playing through the game. I think it'd be a fine game for someone under 10 but I doubt it'd be enough of a challenge to anyone beyond that age. I don't even know if it's supposed to be challenging. Maybe it's just a different way to experience an old fable.

When given the choice between burning everything down and quitting the game, I chose to quit the game. Maybe those weren't the only choices and maybe that's the point, but I'll never know.

This is a great story telling game! I loved how the story turned out to be! And the game is very well made too. Without a doubt this is a 10!

A beautiful fable with a beautiful art. A short game with simple puzzles. Philosophical Games always interesting games

Very cool story. I'm not a clicker, but could go all the way to the end due to the story being so interesting.

This game made me think about life! It's just a great experience overall! Deep and yet, relaxing!

It is a very nice game. Well done.

There was a stumbling block in my path and philosophy helped me understand its role in my journey.

This kind of game is a gem! Love it!