Elise is a very ambitious girl who wants to become extremely rich. Unfortunately for her, she is not of noble origin and reality is very different from her dreams, consisting of a house in the forest and humble jobs for the people of the nearby town, with which she can barely feed herself. One day, however, Elise finds a pair of really elegant red shoes in her garden and her life changes radically, becoming a real nightmare, which, paradoxically, could however make her wish come true. At what price?
To find out, just buy the game in which she is the absolute protagonist, but not before reading ours. review of Little Goody Two Shoes from development studio AstralShift, which in many ways is truly amazing.
An incredible experience
At first Little Goody Two Shoes seems like a narrative adventure with elements of a dating simulator, starring a young woman who has to face some daily problems and juggle between several possible love stories, but soon the plot is enriched with nuances that become decisive toward 'horror, the role-playing component becomes more present (although it never becomes predominant) and we begin to meet grotesque characters and experience nightmare situations, in which the narrative acquires unpredictable connotations, often leading to surrealism. In this sense, Little Goody Two Shoes is very similar to the previous AstralShift game, the excellent and little-known Pocket Mirror (you can download the classic version for free from itch.io), of which it is also a direct prequel. The two games share many elements, especially in how they try (successfully) to mix different registers, using the game systems in a very expressive way.
Le inspiration sources They are known, as indicated by the development team itself in some posts on its official blog readable only by those who support them through Patreon. The recipe includes a little Puella Magi Madoka Magica by Magica Quartet, a little Rozen Maiden by Peach-Pit, and a little Alice: Madness Returns by American McGee, all filtered through a personal and original, language-conscious lens. . of the video game medium that is difficult to find even in much larger productions, usually more conservative in their reworking processes. Although not developed with RPG Maker, Little Goody Two Shoes also focuses heavily on some classics of the indie scene made with the Enterbrain engine, such as Ib, The Witch's House, Omori and Yume Nikki. In short, we are looking at a title with a character strongly rooted in indie culture, especially in the freedom with which it manipulates its sources of inspiration, despite being published by Square Enix, which took over the project later.
The entry phase to the game is managed in a fairly classic way, with pop-up windows that explain the different systems as we find them. Understanding where to go isn't difficult, especially when you've figured it out. map of the world, indicating the most important places and objectives. Basically we have to manage Elize's days and nights, between the daily activities she must carry out for the villagers, the love stories she must continue and the night terrors, which transport her to a dream world full of monstrous creatures and pleasant places. that the girl must overcome if she wants to wake up. All this translates into multiple game systems, apparently very distant from each other, almost contradictory, which in reality serve to tell the story of the rift that occurs between the social and the internal of Elize, with the two worlds coming into contact with each other. yes in unpredictable ways.
That said, the protagonist has to eat, so she can't help but work. Each task is counted through an arcade mini-game, in which the determined score determines the satisfaction of the person who has entrusted it to us, so that more or less money can be obtained to spend on sweets and potions, the latter useful to maintain the sanity. For example, we will have to collect eggs paying attention to the fury of the chickens that laid them, or we will have to cut firewood as quickly as possible. Already in the early stages, Little Goody Two Shoes offers a series of decisions to make, which will gradually become more numerous, giving rise to one of the ten different endings available, some of which are truly ruthless. Dating a potential partner or working? Accept blackmail or antagonize the villagers? During the game you will also have to carry out investigations that will reveal the darkest sides of the community in which Elize lives, impregnated with superstitions and willing to carry out cruel acts in situations that she does not understand. So on the one hand we have the activities to do to survive in the community and on the other there is a latent conflict with it, which will become one of the axes of the experience, mixing with stories of love and the supernatural and reaching peaks. very high in the final part.
Il Dreamland (let's call it that) offers something very different from Elize's reality. Meanwhile, it must be said that it is made up of situations, that is, each dream has its own ideas and aims to offer unique experiences, even if only aesthetic ones. There is a common line that you reach as the game progresses, but overall the developers have focused a lot on variety, to make each dream interesting. You usually have to solve some puzzles and avoid enemies to advance. Actually, nothing too complicated. It is clear that the purpose of these sections is not to block the player, integrated as they are into the narrative flow, but to engage them by giving them access to the other side of the story, which in some cases will take over the scene entirely. You can lose, in a sense, by driving Elize crazy, but you don't need to be particularly skilled to continue the adventure, the focus of which remains the narrative.
What is also surprising about Little Goody Two Shoes is the care put into the design. visual style, rendered with excellent quality pixel art, full of character details and carefully crafted backgrounds and animations. There are also videos made in the 90s anime style to season everything. After all, it is very reminiscent of the JRPGs of the 90s, but with quite evident modern touches, especially in the dreams full of effects that we are accustomed to, especially the pixel art games of recent years. The truth is that we see a great leap forward with respect to the aforementioned Pocket Mirror, which AstralShift had already surpassed with the remastered edition: Pocket Mirror ~ GoldenerTraum.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam, playstation store, Xbox Store, Nintendo eShop Price 19,99 € Holygamerz.com 9.0 Readers (11) 7.2 your voteLittle Goody Two Shoes is not only an excellent title, but also a surprise that made us discover Pocket Mirror and, in general, the work of the talented AstralShift team. The experience turned out to be much deeper than we expected, ending up enveloping us in its spirals, as only the best exponents of the genre had managed to do. Perhaps the beginning is a little weak, but after an hour it takes flight and the pace does not drop again until the end, when all the knots, reading the choices made, reach a critical point. Do not miss it.
PRO
- Great story, very well told.
- Many things to do
- The world of dreams
AGAINST
- Maybe a bit slow start
