Ichima-san

Its a quite soulful, casual and unique indie game. A fair amount of the game's content is thoughts, tidbits and food recommendations/recipes from the dev which were an interesting window to a culture I am not part of (I believe the dev might be Japanese... possibly...) While I did like the game, I would not recommend it for its base price (11€). This is mostly because the game itself is short (half of my playtime is from my minmaxing backtracking to get a 100% clear), but also because the slow pace and buggy mechanics can be frustrating at times (having to climb up human-sized staircases as a tiny crippled doll was a very unique form of punishment). I bought it at 50% off, and for that much I think it was OK. While the game has English localization, some of the in-game collectibles are manga which aren't translated, but that's a solved problem these days with phone image translation apps like Google Translate.

I came across Ichima-San via social media and it caught my eye. Playing a small doll evading burglars seemed like a pretty novel idea. Now, I've played, it's not exactly what I was expecting. While the stealth and burglar part is still very much present, the game is much more of a collectothon than a stealth game. I didn't mind too much however since the game is quite charming. All the NPC dolls have very interesting, quirky or just fun facts to share. Exploring the house is also quite fun and you revisit older sections later when you have items that allow you to access previously unreachable areas. There's a few fun and challenging mini games to boot. Final boss also has a fun and unexpected kind of fight. Just overall game was a lot of fun. Got no real complaints aside from ending being a bit simple. Or no extra cutscenes for getting 100% completion.

Ichima-san is one of those great ideas that I really wish had a bit more budget and expertise behind it. Essentially an incredibly Japanese take on Home Alone meets Toy Story, you play as a traditional doll trying to get rid of burglars by setting off alarms, knocking vases on their heads and...well mostly it's that. The other half of the game is a collectathon, with some strong level design, interesting minigames and even some light metroidvania elements. Unfortunately Ichima-san is held back by some serious jank, with some whack physics, broken lighting and generally low rent feel to everything. In spite of these rough edges it's still a lot of fun, and the concept is strong enough to hold your attention for the 7 hours it'll take to 100% it. It feels like a lost PS1 game (take this as both the compliment and criticism it is), and it's recommended for anyone who likes cute characters and is willing to forgive some rickety design.