Bloomtown: A Different Story

This game is just fantastic. Really had fun playing this one. If you're a fan of RPGs, slice of life stories, and/or the paranormal, this one is right up your alley.

Bloomtown is a good jrpg for a relatively decent price. It's got fantastic music and surprisingly deep combat mechanics, as well as a cast of lovable characters. The story looks soft and happy on the surface, but is extremely dark underneath. The downside is it goes way too quickly back to happy after seeing some truly vile scenes. It's got a 13 hour day system, but the calendar is unlimited; you could have as many days as you want to to complete the game in it's entirety. There are some bugs with some questlines not properly finishing, some items mislabeled in the end game, and the music can occasionally stop looping, however none of it stops any of the game play, all the quests are fully completable still, and none of the achievements can bug out (some can still be missed however). All in all I think it is worth it, especially if you can snag it for a 25%-50% off.

[h1]Bloomtown is a charming but weird little game.[/h1] It tries a little too hard to be "everything" – it's mostly a story-driven turn-based RPG with multiple dialogue choices and luck-based interactions... but it also has farming, cooking, crafting and fishing mechanics, math-based puzzles, pop and science trivia questions, monster-catching and leveling mechanics, etc. Most of these aspects feel a bit undercooked, and the lack of focus is especially evident in the combat system - often trivial and simplistic, lacking real substance or strategy beyond the usual rock-paper-scissors weakness trope. Another downside, as far as I'm concerned, is the sometimes unbearable amount of text and dialogue that accompanies the player throughout the whole game: dialogue is a bit too invasive, and the overall pacing suffers because of it. You have the option to fast-forward almost everything, including dialogue, but I wouldn't recommend it if you want to immerse yourself in the story (which is admittedly charming, sometimes dark - [i]very dark[/i] - and full of humor) Bloomtown's true strenght, however, resides in the presentation; exquisite pixel art paired with highly detailed animations and a pleasant and atmospheric soundtrack. The art direction is, for the most part, stellar. If you’ve got a "Stranger Things" itch to scratch, Bloomtown's tone and atmosphere will likely appeal to you. It's also a "cozy RPG" for all cozy gamers to enjoy. If you don’t have the patience to get invested in the story and the game's many half-baked mechanics, or if you're looking for a deep RPG, then Bloomtown probably isn’t for you. It's also worth mentioning that the game has a couple of annoying bugs, most notably one that prevents some completed quests from disappearing from the questlog, giving the impression that the quests are still active.

This game is art. Small indie studio made game with such details. Firstly, it's JRPG aspect - overall fine. Need some tuning, cuz you become overpowered very easy. Secondly, world - maaaan, it's have so much detail to everything. Lore? - decent, not so memorable but fine. Conclusion: game is worth the money, maybe wait for sale. Totally recomend!

I dunno... I liked it at first and I haven't technically finished it but I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm close and I just haven't really felt pulled into the story, world, or characters. I think the biggest critique I have about this game is that it gives me the impression it doesn't know what it wants to be... Or rather, there are things that are in the game (gardening, fishing, etc.) which honestly just don't serve any actually purpose to the game and feel like... bloatware. Those things would be nice if this is a game you want to sink hundreds of hours into... But there just isn't enough meat on the bone. I didn't have EVERY problem this guy had, but I agree with his overall sentiment: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198144562030/recommended/2445990/

I thought I was going give a positive recommendation for a lot of my time with this game. TLDR: a lot of good moments trapped in a very badly constructed game. The Good: - Stellar art and music. If I had just seen the pixel art/animations and soundtrack for this game in a vacuum I might have guessed they belonged to goty material. - The "demon subduing" gameloop is pretty fun when it gets going. Hit demons with super-effective damaging spells to "down" them, then roll with a social stat to subdue (catch) them, then fuse them (sacrifice a demon to level up another), and try to get more type coverage across your party to down more demons. Its almost exactly the balance I want from a monster-capture game. - The game is pretty forgiving with the time-management system. The Bad: - The writing and dialogue are extremely lackluster. Part of this is explicit pacing and railroading problems, but part of it is that there just isn't enough good/funny/interesting writing work to justify how dialogue-heavy the game is. - The game is inconsistently opaque with a lot of it's systems and important information. You can see your combat stats on a status screen, but the game doesn't tell you what each stat does. The game often asks you to pick which social stat to give a free boost, but the game doesn't tell you how high each social stat is (outside of when you're testing them or leveling them up individually) so you often don't remember which stat needs a boost. To be clear- there are very good hardcore-type games that force you to take notes as part of the challenge, but here I felt challenged [i]by accident[/i], because of clumsy game design. - The game puts a lot of barriers between you and the demon-subduing system. Part of this is that you need demons in order to catch demons (and starting the cycle is finicky), but also it's just another way in which the game just doesn't give you information. The game tells you "You need to use super-effective spells in order to down demons to subdue them" but doesn't tell you that you need [i]damaging[/i] spells, not the elemental status spells that make up most of your starting tools. You need to maximise the type coverage to increase your chances of catching demons, but the game doesn't let you know what spells your "guardians" (the always equipped demons, that each party member has in addition to the demon equip slot) have, so it's easy to double up on one element while not having another. It's just frustrating. - The game feels unfinished. There are multiple interact-able spots where the protagonist says "I should come back here later with a friend" or "maybe I can open this door when grampa trusts me", but then there just. Isn't a followup on that. There's also greyed out "gift" option for each party member, but there is no gifting system implemented in the game at all. - Connected to the game being unfinished, there are also a number of glitches that were extremely frustrating. Most notably, partway through the third chapter I ran into a bug that almost softlocked me out of completing the main quest. - Lack of NPC diversity. I counted one black character (who has maybe 4 unique dialogue lines), and everyone else in the town appears to be white. I can't speak on how diverse a medium sized (?) town outside of chicago should be in the 1980s, but it's still feels weird and worth commenting on. More subjective comments/gripes/experiences: - The game seems to invite Gravity Falls comparisons, but suffers for them tremendously. Oh, so there are two brown-haired siblings going to a small(er) town for the summer to live with their older male relative? And they link up with a cool redhead girl (who is sortof a romantic interest for the protagonist but not really) and get involved in lots scary magic, culminating in them freeing a powerful demon who they then defeat in a climactic battle? Cool, so does it have any of the excellent writing and jokes that made Gravity falls good? No? Well now I'm more disappointed with this game than I would have been otherwise. - The game has 3 and 1/2 chapters, and I ran out of side-content (side-quests and stat increases) half way through the third chapter. I'm not even sure if this counts as criticism, because the fact I ran out of content meant that I was definitely engaging with that content, if nothing else. Still a little annoying. - A lot of authority worship and being nice to cops. Not sure how subjective this is because while it's a real criticism, a lot people will probably enjoy the game despite it. Two of the four friendship quest-lines end with you making an effort to be nice to a police officer (who is not the actual friend/party member you're trying to spend time with). A lot of the non-magical problems involve getting the legal authorities involved and those authorities fixing those problems without issues, which feels unrealistic, especially for the cold war era. - I did enjoy the final stretch of the game a lot, despite it having the same writing problems the rest of the game had. There are some kinda branching paths for the endgame, and I liked what they were trying to do with them.

I really don't understand any negative reviews here. Without a doubt, this is one of my top indie games form this year! Let's go over some pros: -The pixel art is pure beauty. I'm talking a big chef's kiss for this masterclass in pixel art! -The story is engaging, quirky, fun, and honestly a great example of capturing the beauty of being a kid. -Characters are quirky, witty, and for the most part well-written. I enjoyed everyone I encountered, and they all had some sort of back story. Some more than others, but still. -The side-quests & companion quests are truly the heart of this game as it makes it all worthwhile. You get to understand who they are, why they are who they are, and even help them grow in the end. -Empathy is a major factor, as you don't always have to use violence to resolve conflict. I love this feature in any game brave enough to chance it. -The mini games & side activities are genuinely enjoyable and I never felt like they were a slog -The world itself feels alive with so many things going on all the time in the background. Add in a map that has so many biomes and it's just pure joy to explore -The game is all about being a kid, but also about growing up, so there are a lot of dark, adult themes at play here, and they are executed quite well. -The soundtrack is PHENOMENAL! I'll definitely be playing quite a few songs from the game on Spotify Cons: -The combat is very meh, but it gets the job done, especially once you fully grasp it. Without a doubt though, it is the weakest part of the game. Sometimes it was a slog to get through, but you do. -Capturing demons is not explained well, and until you get monster catching items it's annoying to learn. Basically, eliminate all opponent's in a battle until the only one left is the one you want to capture. Then, use a spell that has "weak" next to it & it will subdue to the demon for capturing. -The writing is sometimes hit or miss, and that may be due to language localization. Still, I figured it needed to be said. Overall score for me is a 8.5/10 The game just has so much heart, and so much love & passion was poured into developing it. I genuinely loved Bloomtown, and it really reminds me of the Persona series along with Gravity Falls. Definitely give it a shot!

What a great little game to stumble upon. I enjoyed the overall vibe most of all. Kind of a traditional RPG but through the eyes of a kid. The dialogue matched that energy and brought some laughs. All around good game. I want to see what this team does next.

This game was so much fun and had so much heart! I got absorbed into the world so fast! Oh and such amazing level visuals!!! sooo cool!

The game is fun. I love the graphics and story. It does feel like some life skills progression are way easier than others, but I'm not complaining since I just want a chill game.

i cant recommend this game enough. game play is great, theres a great sense of humor, and the combat is hard enough to make things interesting 10/10 in my book

Great game. Had tons of fun playing it because it was refreshing and unique to me. There was no real learning curve to it, minus that I never really understood the fusing of demons. All in all, I had a lot of fun with this game. I hope there's a sequel. Battle music was amazing and I looked forward to battles solely for the music. Battle animation was amazing. Would recommend to people.

I would wait until this game goes on sale to get it. If you like Stranger Things vibes/Persona then this might be up your alley. But if you like to math/crosswords puzzles and play around with clunky shape puzzles then this might be for you. *Story: 7/10 *Menu,UI,Controls: 4/10 *Time or in game time: 3/10 (If you know you know.. cooking few veggies stews eats your damn day. Plus the many more things that will eat your time up quickly.) *Farming: 5/10 *Art of places/citys/scenes: 7/10 *Combat... lots of repeats on style/spells visuals .. leaves me at: 4/10 *Music 10/10 Overall it wasn't super bad... but it wasn't great. Hope they add some hot patches to fix some game breaking bugs and even soft locking bugs as well. Have fun digging up help online when you get stuck somewhere or lost. You got almost everyone else asking the same questions when hitting those spots. Take that however you want too. But save your dollars until its on sale. Not worth its full price way it is IMO.

Extremely charming and the dialogue is excellent.

cute little adventure with AMAZING music and adorable art style. the story line is interesting, although some dialogues and humor are a bit cringe, but the characters are lovely (I LOVE HUGO FOREVER) and the chapters are fun. combat is easy but i dont really care to collect all of the demons. some of the quests are fetch quests (especially in act 3, going back and fro to talk to people is quite bothersome, luckily there is fast travel), and some quests have entertaining scenes and dialogues. all in all, a very recommended game if you like pixel adventure and turn based combat.

This a better version of persona at 1/3 the price and 10x the pacing

This is one of those games that gets a tentative recommend from me. It's heavily based on Persona and, true to form, has beautiful music backing a turn-based battle campaign that allows you to get to know your teammates more deeply when you're not off killing and subduing demons. The pixel art style is gorgeous and the characters and atmosphere are quite likeable. However a lot of the animations, especially with crafting and doing certain tasks, run waaay too long even after using the fast forward option, and the story, while cute, isn't anything to write home about. The tedium of crafting and gardening almost made me not want to recommend the game, but ultimately I enjoyed it a lot despite that and it's a cute little JRPG that feels very comforting to play, one which is both auditorily and visually beautiful to boot.

Reminds me of a fun mix of Persona and Chrono Trigger. A strong recommendation to any fan of RPGs.

Cool monsters, chaotic children. If you like persona, you will like this!

It will take you around 24 hours to finish in completionist without a guide. EXCELENT music, amazing game. 10/10

Say no moreeeee. This game so byutifulllll ❤️ Music goes brrrrr 🧎

very good

NICE GAME