Sitting comfortably within the scope of both cosy gaming and animal simulation games, Adorable Adventures introduces us to young boar Boris as he becomes separated from his family. The setup is cute, the graphics are sweet, but I remain cautious, remembering the let-down of AWAY: The Survival Series and other animal simulators.
An A-boar-abal Introduction
When young Boris finds himself separated from his family, he must summon his courage and use his nose to find his way back home. The charming and personable narration of the park warden then introduces the setting and offers gentle guidance as you overcome your first hurdles. It doesn’t so much hold your hand: it stands back and lets you discover things for yourself.
Using scents to track locations and items is a somewhat unique and interesting mechanic. It helps guide players to different points of interest, such as family members or tools. However, these scents can be overpowered by other wild elements.
Gotta Sniff Them All
Adorable Adventures becomes more of a collector game as you follow the trails to the different smells and identify them. There are flowers, mushrooms and hidden objects to find, and you must sniff them all in order to correctly decipher the trails. It’s a cute in-game way of saying “you need to collect so many to ignore them”, but I liked it.
Being able to remove smells is core to progressing the story and recovering Boris’ family members. Often, powerful smells would break through a trail that I had been following and muddy the water. Sometimes this worked so well that I ended up following the wrong trail to a secret or uncovering a new flower.
In this regard, I think Adorable Adventures simulates the experience well. It was also used effectively when entering areas with heavy ash from fire damage. This ability also doesn’t work perfectly, so finding some items will require some thinking and mild problem-solving to keep the gameplay loop fresh.
The Boar Necessities
Although the plot of Adorable Adventures is somewhat shallow, given that there’s little narrative or speaking over a short run time, there is enough for players to connect with. Each sibling has a different request that you must fulfil before tagging along, and each has unique animations to accompany their design. One of them likes to sleep and will just flop on the ground whenever you pause, which I found rather charming.
Adorable Adventures sits firmly in the cute and cosy gaming category with simple roadblocks, low stakes, and no penalties other than having to try again. The controls were intuitive, and even if I got lost, all I had to do was follow the smells to find my way back. It’s not without its faults, however.
Adorable Adventures And Hopeful Futures
Animal adventure/simulator games have been somewhat of a mixed bag over the years. Yes, I was burnt by many games before, but STRAY, Little Kitty Big City and Lost Ember are still recognised for their storytelling and fun gameplay years after their release. So, where does Adorable Adventures stand in this genre?
Adorable Adventures dances the line before cosy and challenging in a way that keeps it accessible without becoming too childish. There are time trials to uncover and secret interactive items to find, but none of them is linked to the story progression. A degree of problem-solving is required to navigate obstacles, but younger players should be able to figure most of them out without too much trouble. It’s the ones linked to achievements that’ll have you scratching your head, though.
Adorable Conclusions
Although I enjoyed my time with Adorable Adventures, it doesn’t overstay its welcome. I completed the main storyline within two hours, but still had many collectables and quests left.
Running around, mopping up achievements, was somewhat of a challenge. Finding all the plants and hidden objects was easy and hit the dopamine receptors pretty hard, but the time trials were rather tricky. It’s not just the fact that I was 0.03 seconds away from hitting the required time for the trophy to ping, but more that I kept losing the starting point on some of the races. The map wasn’t much help in this regard, and scents appeared to be lost once I had uncovered the starting point.
This is where I encountered one of two bugs/glitches within the game. And honestly, it was pretty hilarious. Poor Boris somehow began floating and lifted higher and higher into the air until eventually hitting the sky box. Even the “unstuck” button couldn’t help me with this one. The only way for me to get him back on solid ground was to restart the game and hope it didn’t happen again.
The other bug, if you’re interested: I fell into a rock face. But the button helped me out this time.
Adorable Adventures doesn’t have the narrative or longevity of STRAY, but it does offer plenty for those willing to stick around after the credits roll. It’s the perfect game to cosy up with for an afternoon.
Platforms: Steam, PlayStation 5 & Xbox
Publishers: PQube
Developers: Wild Sheep Studio
Played On: PS5
Key Provided By: Keymailer
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