Giraffe and Annika
Feb. 17th, 2024 09:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingGiraffe and Annika is an extremely chill 3D adventure story game with anime-style character designs and panel-by-panel manga cutscenes. It’s very much an “all ages” game; or, if you’re an adult, I guess it’s a good “play while falling asleep after you eat a weed gummy” game. Personally speaking, I played Giraffe and Annika in short stretches during the day to get a bit of emotional sunshine, and it was lovely. The game takes about four hours to finish, and whether it’s worth $30 depends on how much you value this type of experience.
You play as Annika, a cat-eared ten-year-old girl who mysteriously finds herself on a beautiful forested island. There’s a bit of an Alice in Wonderland flavor to the scenario, as Annika doesn’t worry too much about where she is or how she got there, and she begins the story as something of a blank slate. After investigating an empty house belonging to someone named Lisa, Annika goes back outside to find a blue-haired catboy named Giraffe waiting for her. Giraffe tells Annika that she has special powers, and he asks her to visit three dungeons on the island in order to restore starlight to a magical pendant.
The dungeons are themed open-air environments inhabited by roaming ghosts that will drain Annika’s health meter if they get too close. Thankfully, the dungeons are also filled with health-restoring crystals. At the end of each dungeon is a boss battle that takes the form of a simple rhythm game. It’s possible to die from ghost attacks and other environmental hazards in the dungeons; and, in fact, I died a lot. Thankfully, save points and respawn points are so frequent that this isn’t an issue. There is zero stress in this game.
Annika will gradually unlock abilities that allow her to explore more of the island, such as a very floaty space jump and the ability to swim underwater. She’ll also perform small fetch-quest tasks for NPCs who help her bypass other obstacles. There are various objects that Annika can interact with across the island, but the optional collectibles are just for fun. Objectives are clearly marked, and you’ll never be in danger of getting lost or going off-track from the main quest.
The island is very lush and green and beautiful, and I especially appreciate the cuteness of the character designs. In order to access the second dungeon, for example, you need to feed carrots to a sea turtle; and, to get the carrots, you have to round up a family of rabbits. The rabbits look like a Studio Ghibli adaptation of Beatrix Potter, and they’re adorable. Meanwhile, the sea turtle is completely photorealistic, which is a good illustration of the game’s subtle sense of humor. It's always a pleasure to encounter and interact with new characters in Giraffe and Annika, and I really enjoyed its manga-style cutscenes, which play out panel by panel. The character art is comically expressive, and the bright pastel colors are lovely.
It's difficult to critique Giraffe and Annika, as it’s very sweet and competently constructed. Still, the main 3D playspace of the game feels a bit textureless, and the story is tonally flat, despite its twist. I also felt that the game wears out its welcome when it starts trying to challenge the player at the very end. To me, Giraffe and Annika feels a bit as though it was made by students. I actually appreciate the slightly amateurish design, but I think this would be much more charming if the game didn’t cost $30. I firmly believe that it’s good to pay real money to indie developers and localization teams, especially because I’d love to see more games like this in the world. Regardless, Giraffe and Annika is a short game with a relatively shallow story that looks as though it was built with out-of-the-box 3D graphic assets, so your mileage may vary.
That being said, I can imagine that Giraffe and Annika would be a perfect starter game for its target audience of younger players. As for me, it provided a pleasant and much-needed mood boost during a dismal week in February. The game is probably going to be a hard pass for people who have already had their fill of catgirls going on playdates, and it probably won’t appeal to someone looking for unique or challenging gameplay mechanics. Giraffe and Annika is just a simple fantasy adventure with cute characters and no unnecessary cooking or crafting elements, and sometimes that’s exactly what you need.
You play as Annika, a cat-eared ten-year-old girl who mysteriously finds herself on a beautiful forested island. There’s a bit of an Alice in Wonderland flavor to the scenario, as Annika doesn’t worry too much about where she is or how she got there, and she begins the story as something of a blank slate. After investigating an empty house belonging to someone named Lisa, Annika goes back outside to find a blue-haired catboy named Giraffe waiting for her. Giraffe tells Annika that she has special powers, and he asks her to visit three dungeons on the island in order to restore starlight to a magical pendant.
The dungeons are themed open-air environments inhabited by roaming ghosts that will drain Annika’s health meter if they get too close. Thankfully, the dungeons are also filled with health-restoring crystals. At the end of each dungeon is a boss battle that takes the form of a simple rhythm game. It’s possible to die from ghost attacks and other environmental hazards in the dungeons; and, in fact, I died a lot. Thankfully, save points and respawn points are so frequent that this isn’t an issue. There is zero stress in this game.
Annika will gradually unlock abilities that allow her to explore more of the island, such as a very floaty space jump and the ability to swim underwater. She’ll also perform small fetch-quest tasks for NPCs who help her bypass other obstacles. There are various objects that Annika can interact with across the island, but the optional collectibles are just for fun. Objectives are clearly marked, and you’ll never be in danger of getting lost or going off-track from the main quest.
The island is very lush and green and beautiful, and I especially appreciate the cuteness of the character designs. In order to access the second dungeon, for example, you need to feed carrots to a sea turtle; and, to get the carrots, you have to round up a family of rabbits. The rabbits look like a Studio Ghibli adaptation of Beatrix Potter, and they’re adorable. Meanwhile, the sea turtle is completely photorealistic, which is a good illustration of the game’s subtle sense of humor. It's always a pleasure to encounter and interact with new characters in Giraffe and Annika, and I really enjoyed its manga-style cutscenes, which play out panel by panel. The character art is comically expressive, and the bright pastel colors are lovely.
It's difficult to critique Giraffe and Annika, as it’s very sweet and competently constructed. Still, the main 3D playspace of the game feels a bit textureless, and the story is tonally flat, despite its twist. I also felt that the game wears out its welcome when it starts trying to challenge the player at the very end. To me, Giraffe and Annika feels a bit as though it was made by students. I actually appreciate the slightly amateurish design, but I think this would be much more charming if the game didn’t cost $30. I firmly believe that it’s good to pay real money to indie developers and localization teams, especially because I’d love to see more games like this in the world. Regardless, Giraffe and Annika is a short game with a relatively shallow story that looks as though it was built with out-of-the-box 3D graphic assets, so your mileage may vary.
That being said, I can imagine that Giraffe and Annika would be a perfect starter game for its target audience of younger players. As for me, it provided a pleasant and much-needed mood boost during a dismal week in February. The game is probably going to be a hard pass for people who have already had their fill of catgirls going on playdates, and it probably won’t appeal to someone looking for unique or challenging gameplay mechanics. Giraffe and Annika is just a simple fantasy adventure with cute characters and no unnecessary cooking or crafting elements, and sometimes that’s exactly what you need.
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Date: 2024-02-22 11:32 pm (UTC)