Lil Gator Game

A Short Hike + Sword = Lil' Gator Game

That's basically what this one comes down to. What's interesting to me is that I definitely enjoyed this more than A Short Hike. Why? It all comes down to expectations.

By the time I got around to playing A Short Hike, it was already a bonafide indie darling -- one that, juding from its review scores, could be considered one of the greatest indie games of all time. So when I played it and found that it was just a short, pleasant (albeit well-executed) platformer, I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.

Before playing Lil Gator Game, on the other hand, I had zero expectations. And because of this it was a lot easier for me to just accept it for what it is -- a pleasant, short game inspired by A Short Hike, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker [ゼルダの伝説 風のタクト], and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild [ゼルダの伝説 ブレス オブ ザ ワイルド].

Running around an island and slashing cardboard enemies is mindless, yes, but not every game needs to be Battletoads or Mega Man 2 [Rockman 2 Dr.ワイリーの謎]. The writing is a bit too self-aware and the story didn't hit me in the feels like I suspect it hoped to, but the gameplay was engaging enough to keep me invested until the end. Is it a masterpiece? Not by any means. But if you subscribe to Game Pass and three hours to kill, you could do a lot worse than spending them on this game.

Lil Gator Game is a small sized collectathon, that is all set on a colourful island. You play as a makebelieve hero, that is attempting to rekindle with your sister after a long absence in college. The game takes a lot of ideas from Legend of Zelda and other 90's mascot platformers, an smartly recontextualizes them as a child's fantasy. The characters friend have gone ahead and filled with island with make believe enemies and loot in the form of cardboards, and remain in place to give heroic quests to the hero.

The game is really stress free. There are no proper enemies, just cardboards and pots you can smash up for the in game currency. There is also some climbing and platforming, but again very lenient and easy to accomplish. The great majority of items you get are just cosmetics, and the ones with pratical application are mostly just used for the single quest that they feature in. Quests are for the most very straightforward and easy to complete, with some of the NPCs immediatly befriending you just for finding a talking to them.

The main reason to play this one is really its wholesome quirky style, and how it manages to tell a surprisingly heartfelt story in about 3 hours, considering how much you explore. Its style of comedy hits way more often than it misses, and it has plenty of meta jokes that dont feel out of place or rob of its quirkiness.

The game draws a lot fo parallel's to A Small Hike, and I initially even thought they were by the same developer considering the similar game design ideas. A really enjoyable experience, when you want something more chilled back and nostalgic to play, particularly if you have enjoyed your fair share of 90's platformers and legend of zelda.