Let me get this out of the way right off the bat: This game is Cute. With a capital C. The locations are cute, the story is cute, the main character is cute, and the little critters you are making are cute. Even the evil prince who has usurped you is somewhat cute. This game bleeds cuteness, but we mean that in the best possible way. You’ll want to give something or someone a big hug after playing this. More games should leave me with such a feeling.

The game is pretty simple. You buy some critters (thus proving the chicken, or in this case, the goose, came before the egg), and let them loose in the yard. There you will collect their eggs, supply them feed, and beat the tar out of anything that tries to mess with them with a big gnarly stick. The monster beating, by the way, is somewhat cathartic.

And that’s pretty much it. There is a whole economy of buying, feeding, and hatching animals that is strangely compelling, and this is one of those games that will suddenly suck up an hour or two as you try to make just a little more money, or buy one more critter. There is a certain dark humor to the “do I let it hatch or do I sell the eggs” choice that you face in between every level, and a great gambling component in determining if you want the sure prize of pay for your eggs, or the possible greater reward of more critters to make more eggs.

All of that being said, the game can get repetitive at times – especially when you have your farm wiped out by monsters and have to rebuild a new brood. The special items are slow to appear, and you may be fooled into thinking it’s a very shallow game in the first half hour. It’s not, but it would do better exposing some more of the specials and bonuses up front, to draw more users in and show them all of the neat stuff they have coming up.

The game is by the same people (well, person) who brought you Aveyond, and it shares a certain sensibility… it could actually be set in the same universe with better graphics for all we can tell. But that’s a good thing, since we loved that game as well. Like Aveyond, it has a warm happy vibe in a fantasy setting that is strangely compelling. The feel is distinctly “old-school RPG” even though the gameplay is distinctly modern casual game, and the mix is refreshing.

The story, of course, is cute and fun. This is a strength of Amaranth, and it shows here as well. It’s always nice when a developer takes their fantasy world seriously, and tries to bring in interesting characters, scripts, and story lines – and that’s definitely the case here. We do think that the premise of being thrown out of a castle and being offered the chance to buy your way back into the castle is a bit absurd… but it’s cool like that. It’s original at least.

The sound was nice, if not amazingly memorable. The art, while definitely an enormous step up from the standards of Aveyond, is still pretty old school. But it is more than good enough to get the job done, and contributes to the charm of the whole game.

In all, it’s a great game from Aveyond, and a definite step in the right direction for a growing indie developer that really deserves your support. Go play the thing and see for yourself.

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