Kimmy Reviews

Kimmy was a short game but it has replay value to explore the different dialouges. I picked it up on a 15% sale and it was easily worth it. It does a really great job displaying childrens' emotions, dialouges, and thought processes. In my first playthrough alone the story dealt with themes of honesty, bullying, racism, childhood romance, growing up, and nostalgic summers. The story makes you feel like a kid again, especially reminiscent of adults purposefully keeping secrets in fear of you not being able to emotionally comprehend difficult situations. Pick it up if you're a fan of visual novels!

The latest game from designer Nina Freeman (Cibele, Tacoma), Kimmy is a visual novel with a quirky style courtesy of artist Laura Knetzger (who had also worked with Nina on Freshman Year). The game is very simple to play, with the player primarily making a few choices through dialogue and who to interact with. You play as Dana, who becomes a babysitter to younger girl Kimmy. During the days that you babysit, you have a limited amount of time to play with other kids, buy toys and games, and learn more about the residents of your town. As with many of Nina Freeman’s games, what appears on the surface to be a normal 1960’s summer is in fact a dark, mature tale of the struggles that many families face. The game moves along at a good pace, taking you from interaction to interaction without much fuss and hardly a single wasted word throughout the entire game. It is very interesting to see the world through the eyes of a young girl at that time – I can’t think of any other game where the player takes the role of a middle-school-aged-girl. Overall, it is a very interesting and impactful game that doesn’t take too long to tell its story. If you are a big fan of story in games, or just find this premise interesting, I’d definitely recommend picking Kimmy up! There is a demo on Steam, and the game is available on PC and Mac.

I was in the mood for a short, light game tonight and this one hit the spot. It's an hour-long visual novel about meeting a girl in your neighborhood and making friends over summer. The first 15 minutes or so really annoyed me because everyone you meet is superficial as hell - all they talk about is making money and buying things! It's extremely unfortunate that you are forced to spend money just to advance the story. The story turns out to be quite sweet, though. It's nice getting to know the neighborhood kids and engaging in childlike conversations about the events around you. Definitely worth a playthrough for the character work and the aesthetic, if you can overlook the fact the mechanics make your friends feel more like drug addicts than 10-year-olds.

A sweet game where you babysit Kimmy, a girl who’s often alone. You have a couple of hours each day to chat and play games with other kids in your neighbourhood (which sounds easy, but if you didn’t play these growing up, you might have to guess the rules!) It’s simple and cute, but it also touches on certain parental issues through the more innocent lens of Dana, the 10-year-old protagonist. A pleasant and slightly melancholic way to spend an afternoon, especially a warm summer afternoon!

Despite having played Star Maid Games' previous work, Cibele, I still had no expectations that this particular game would somehow be relatable for me. And even though I felt put off by the game not allowing me to force my new friends into playing any of the weird, but infinitely more interesting, games I kept trying to present to them, that did not take away from the emotional impact this beautiful vignette offers. My heart strings shall surely be expectant and better prepared for you next time, Star Maid! Thank you for this lovely game!

Very sweet, emotionally compelling game with rich worldbuilding and complex characters. More of a picture book than a game proper, but I think it works very well given the material. Very few games (or media in general) take the inner lives of young children seriously, even less young girls. Very relatable themes and feelings to anyone whose ever been a child. It’s very short but worth your time.

pros: nice hand drawn art good dialogue for the characters captivating story cons; no replayability linear story no dialogue choices only activity choices i personally liked the game very much but not worth the price...it would be worth it if it had alternate endings...but because of the subject matter i guess there cannot be any alternate endings or real choices that efffect the game itself. that is a shame though. so wait for a good sale and enjoy a wonderfull yet heartbreaking game. about 2 to 4 hours of game play so it is fairly short game especially for the price...

Really, really good. Really heartfelt. Captured the Americana vibe well, and the story is a really strong coming-of-age piece that feels mature and very sincere. You will definitely believe in and probably relate to the relationship between Dana and Kimmy if you had kids on your block that you grew up with, and that aspect of it makes the writing hit home all the more. It's no direct comparison, but if you like Stand By Me, My Girl, etc. I think you'll appreciate this. Definitely playable in one session, and I wouldn't break it up.

It shouldn't come as a suprise but here is a truth Kimmy exposed me to: I do not know what Bloody Knuckles play like and it took me 2 attempts to get the right rules for Kick the Can. Kimmy is very pretty and engaging to play, but more importantly, I found it displayed great sensitivity and restrain in its writing of kids dialogs: they are of the right complexity and they manage to be very evocative of unseen situations, in a way that is neither sappy or overwritten. The pacing of the overall experience and the sense of closure were on point as well; givin the aftertaste of a game that found its perfect shape.

I really enjoyed this game. My only problem is that it was so short! This game is really enjoyable, and it really gets you in the mind of children around 4 or 10. It's really neat, and I think it's really accurate with how I felt back then, when I was that young. The music is also beautiful, and it slowly gets darker as more and more are revealed about Kimmy, the main character, and her family. Lastly, even though the animation is very simple it's very pleasant, and I really like all the artwork! It's really sad, but worth the money, especially if it's on sale!