Soul of Butterflies: Incubation Reviews

Overall, I really enjoy this game, the puzzles are fun and the artwork is beautiful, I recommended giving it a play

Despite the rocky Steam store launch the game is not bad at all. The gameplay is smooth for a point and click of course. This game would have definitely benefited from voice overs. I like the hand drawn art style on offer here. I was under the impression that this would be an adventure game but it seems to be heavy on the puzzles right out the gate lol. The puzzles do slow the game down a bit for me at least. I wanted to play for the story aspect. Still it's worth the price of admission bein' that it's under 5 bucks. Gameplay impressions: https://youtu.be/C9aszgXLDNY

有趣且吸引人的序章，美術風格也相當獨特，雖說敘述劇情的方式需要花一點時間去理解，但劇情其實還是非常有意思，非常期待續作的消息，也推薦喜歡解謎的人來嘗試這款遊戲~

This was a game of three starts for me. The first time I was really lost and stumbling around, unsure of the objectives and the mechanics of the game. But I felt that the story and the underlying atmosphere (sad?, foreboding?, both?) were strong so I persevered and restarted. This second time I tried to be more methodical in absorbing in the nuances of the story and the details of the remarkably small setting, and it worked - my understanding and appreciation of the game were much greater. But I still missed some of the optional achievements, hence a third play through. Now I'm wondering how the story -and game play - will develop in later instalments.

Excellent art, fantastic soundtrack. The puzzles are fairly easy to figure out. The story ends rather abruptly but I am looking forward to more installments in this world.

Not sure how to feel about this, somewhat unusual narrative, but not a finished experience in my opinion, almost like a prologue for a bigger story, closer to 40 minutes, not the 2-3 hours that was mentioned earlier in the forum. I only did like 15 minutes of reading in total, so the very little runtime that it has is not in the context, just figuring out a few puzzles in same location. (Yea apparently it is a prologue) I thought the story was challenging to absorb, perhaps intentionally so, there is definitely a cerebral angle to it that might go over the head, somewhat reminiscent of games like Magnus Imago in terms of diluting a puzzle game with obscure metaphors, admittedly much smaller at only 40 minutes or so - not to mention a strange lack of conclusion. For better or worse, it kinda took a very sharp turn into the obscure narrative like 3 minutes into the game, I liked the vibes at first but I thought we would get more resolution for the characters, and I didn't feel like that happened so. The puzzles were not super intuitive, although looking back the "notebook" pretty much walks you through the game, you just have to think outside the box to actually complete the puzzles - some of them can be a little cryptic. The entire game pretty much takes place in one room, you just have to change the seasons to trigger certain events based on the hints in the text. The point&click UI was a little junky, I felt like the game caused some unnecessary frustration with interactions. I did like the music though, even though it only has a few proper songs, to be fair. The music still works with the tone of the narrative, and that is all that really matters to me, nice and subtle. [h1] Pros: [/h1] (+) See I don't even know if I can say it has a good story, at least for my personal taste, I thought it was interesting, but I didn't feel like it was resolved or really went anywhere, it felt like a demo to me. The way the game completely changes the narrative perspective from relationship to some weird mother nostalgia was certainly a bit different. (+) Only had a few songs, small game, but they worked well with the tone of the narrative. [h1] Feedback: [/h1] The interactions/hotspots felt a bit off, for example when I would try to pull the blanket I could not tell which direction I was going. The whole click and drag is a bit redundant in this genre, should be just click and point. I know the puzzles are hinted in the notebook, but some of them are pretty random, you still have to take a blind guess on some locations, oh I guess there might be an item during this season, okay well, it's not very intuitive just because something was happening at the time, you need to check the older locations. I felt like we needed more context at the end, I am not even sure what is going on. And fine like, it's okay to be obscure, but still, I thought I would get more closure there. [b] Overall Thoughts: 6/10 [/b] I don't know, I didn't love it, I didn't hate it. It was a bit curious, still felt like a demo. If you are slightly interested in reading unconventional story, maybe go for it, but otherwise, I wish it gave me more to work with. [code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]

"Soul of Butterflies: Incubation" was like a mix of spooky elements and brain teasers with a fairy tale vibe. First of all, the art design is pretty cool and gives off this eerie feel that matches the game's mysterious story. Figuring out those puzzles hurts my brain, and I got a bit stuck at first because the hints were kind of unclear. But after that, the rest is just the best part of the game. The story part is indeed intriguing; it feels like a warm-up for something greater, I have to say it did leave me hanging a bit. The plot throws in some unexpected twists, making it interesting but also a bit confusing. The point-and-click interface could be smoother, but it's no big deal. At last the music and sound effect fits well with the game's tone and creates immersion, even though there is limited variety. Overall, the game might seem like a sneak peek right now, but still indeed unique from all kinds of perspective. If anyone is into puzzles or adventure stuff, it's definitely worth a shot.