Hokko Life is... disappointing.

[@JoshGamingGarden]

Hi! As many people pointed out, there is a way to quickly change between tools by pressing "R" on the keyboard. I wish this was more obvious on the HUD, but you can disregard that part of the review! My point still stands though that the game does not tell you much. I still have no clue how to use the camera I unlocked, move houses, and apply the exterior walls that I bought, so if you have tips for that please let me know! Thanks!

[@booberry7555]

to unlock fishing go pick up the trash by the pond.

[@sammythehamster9093]

You have explore second area accessed by steps on the first turning to left but need to build flat bridge to cross.

[@widaygames9329]

Hello Josh, i agree the game dont tell you much but. Think D key will let you use the camera. Agree with download is a shame. Also at the beginning of the game you can steal storage from town people. I did on day 2 lol. Also got fishing rod on day 6. I can visit a tiny isilnd for treasure hunting. Seems you have to keep visiting the hotel at the beginning to keep seeing new people. You will unlock changing the exterior by completing task and new areas. Im still missing the forest and mine level 3

[@Tiffany_aka_CeissaDesiste]

Moving houses and applying exteriors is unlocked through the mayor merits. Once unlocked you use those features at the sign outside of the houses.

[@widaygames9329]

@@Tiffany_aka_CeissaDesiste what i notice is that there are really no festivals… thats kind of lame.

[@caquita402]

Have you seen how the villagers looked before? theres a trailer from 2 years ago, the game looked less dreary and more cute, the developer said that he doesnt want to change the new creepy villagers because "we already changed them once". A ridiculous statement when the complaints for the first models where mostly directed at them needing some polishing, not looking like animatronic ghouls

[@JoshGamingGarden]

I forgot about that! Yeah I just looked back at the announcement trailer, and the villagers were much cuter with their big heads!

[@Toastcat890]

I don't blame him though that would take a LOT of time and at some point you have to work on other parts of the game and officially get it out.

[@caquita402]

@@Toastcat890 its such a key element tho, they should go back to the bobble heads since those are already done and are cute

[@piperbird7193]

@@caquita402 Honestly, yeah. If a large draw of your game is the villagers you live with, and people don't like the villagers, then I don't see how the game could succeed.

[@caquita402]

Tbf its not the only thing that got lost, but it is the main. For example, they added a desaturation layer over the whole game. The houses where more bubbly, the windows for the villager houses showed sky colours and natural lights comming in, the new houses have an abandoned look and the windows are grey with no light. Its just a shell of what it was, in my eyes

[@SugaMot]

This game looked like something I'd enjoy, but the thing that kept me away was the design of the villagers. There's just someting about them that's unsettling. They look less like animals and more like people in animal costumes.

[@taylor576]

Exactly, don’t think I can get past that unfortunately :( otherwise it intrigued me a lot so it’s a shame

[@neonkuromi]

yea they are kinda creepy. i wish the art style was different

[@gayfield420]

the character design is ugly as hell and i hate the way the main character walks. thats whats keeping me from getting it.

[@queenzelda]

Yes! I agree! The game does remind me of Animal Crossing but after playing after a while I can't seem to get past the villagers looking like people in Animal costumes: so creepy. I decided not to get any further then I did cause them villagers be creepers 😬

[@christopher32074]

The villagers look like if someone took Calico Critters and redesign them to be in the game. Also worse is the player itself. The pupils are too big, and there’s not enough variety on the hairstyles.

[@fretboy07]

I really appreciate how honest you are about these types of games. The market is kind of flooded with cozy games right now and I appreciate knowing which are worth my time!

[@litchtheshinigami8936]

Same

[@brandonsclips7741]

Gosh the way the villagers move creep me out more than some horror games I've played

[@Veil-of-Dust]

It would help a lot if they moved in arcs (more natural) instead of like they're on a swivel.

[@samu-chan]

🤣😭

[@youtubewontletme]

Its like the graphic representation of an animal crossing creepy pasta if you found them at night in the forest

[@destiny811]

THE WAH THEY WERE CREEPING UP ON HIM IN THE BEGINNING

[@ash.613]

I couldn’t buy this game bc of the villagers solely. They give me the biggest uncanny valley vibes lmao

[@amandawoodward5596]

The world design looks great. The character design looks absolutely atrocious and borderline terrifying. I love the freedom to place and move objects (something that is very limited in animal crossing). I would play this if a mod is made to fix character models and perhaps make them look like animal crossings variants.

[@EtherealMemory]

I hate how creepy the villagers look. They all look like people in giant animal suits.

[@salthesalmonshark6849]

You know, if the game actually had an horror twist it could have worked well

[@piperbird7193]

The furniture was the biggest turn off for me. I spent FOR EV ER trying to make a simple table, trying to get the legs in the right place and the right length, but I couldn't get it right. You couldn't rotate the table so you literally couldn't tell if the back legs were in the right place or not. I hit finish, and it turns out I had a floating leg behind the table. It was too frustrating and I never went back to play again during early access.

[@JoshGamingGarden]

I think the furniture building is a bit better now. You can rotate & snap, but... yeah it's still not the smoothest experience.

[@Keishabarnett69]

The same thing happened to me! I couldn't figure out why I couldn't complete it. I quit.

[@sammythehamster9093]

I find the controls are worse on Switch so clunky and awkward. I was making table from bamboo the game wouldn't save because too many part there was bar with 12/10. I don't what it means.

[@ivanamendez478]

​@@sammythehamster9093 you can resize items

[@booberry7555]

@@sammythehamster9093 it means you can only use 10 parts to build the item. There's size limits.

[@Shinarock]

the watermelon helmet is sooooo obiously misaligned (if that's how its spelled...) with the pigs head

[@grey3414]

3:07 I couldn't help but laugh by how stupid the villagers look while they were bumping with each other, walking like zombies while following behind you (trying to get your brains). 🤣🤣🤣 Edit: why are they following you anyway? It's so weird lol

[@ivanamendez478]

you can set them to follow you, but I haven't figured out why you want to do that.

[@thicoh]

its for photos, only that.

[@grey3414]

@@ivanamendez478 ohh. I thought it was some bug catching event 😅

[@Deadaccountant]

I felt this would be the only outcome for Hokko Life, a failed attempt to capture the magic of Animal Crossing. It could be fixed with updates, but I feel that the developer wouldn't put in the effort.

[@wyredaftsquall]

They aren't.. I talked with the people of the Discord and people defend this crap

[@PowerpuffSpiceGirl]

@@wyredaftsquall because those are consumers not customers.. - litereal people that like bad, bad "games" just stuff that shouldnt be praised at all as something good when its objectively not. seriously those folks need to wake up.

[@wyredaftsquall]

@@PowerpuffSpiceGirl here's the real kicker.. Since then. One of the people working on the game messaged me and told me that I couldn't say anything negative about the game on the Discord. He deleted my messages and told me he was giving me a warning. I told him that I could state my opinion on something if I wanted and he responded "Not in our server." so they fully support silencing people that say anything negative about the game. Bunch of scumbags. I got my money back thankfully. I won't be buying from these fools again. They even snuck their own political views into the game. It's disgusting

[@Vaguer_Weevil]

@@wyredaftsquall I knew something was up with these people, I saw their blatant pride flag patterned sweater in the clothes store and it felt gross. I caught a whiff of politically bullshit just looking at the box art but I thought I'd look past that in case it's nothing. Then I saw the pride sweater and just dropped the game. What else did you find?

[@Sofisasam]

@@Vaguer_Weevil "omG thE LGBT RaInbOw, sO HorRiBLe!!" geez people like you confuse me till this day

[@tinahoefs1455]

I've unlocked the fishing rod. You have to have completed your first house and moved someone in. Once you have the incline design you can access the forest. Go left down the almost hidden path right after the entrance. You will get a narrow bridge design to use there. That's where you find the pond. Make sure you have several spaces in your bag to clean the trash. You will meet the fishing person when you exit. Then go back to the pond to talk to them and get the rod blueprint.

[@merlefi6162]

The animals look kinda creepy. For me the issue is with the eye designs. The animal characters' eyes look human-like, especially if you compare it to the human character's eye design in the game. In other games that have both animal characters and human characters, the animal character's face tends to have more exaggerated designs compared to the human character. Like, say, if you compare Lolly and Marshal and the player's design from Animal Crossing, Lolly and Marshal's eyes aren't similar to the human character's eye design. Lolly has simplified comma-like eyes, while Marshall has very big eyes that make their eyes distinct from the player's eyes. Hokko Life's animal characters' design could have been better if the eye design was less human-like...

[@Shadowthevampire]

1. They change the cute original art of the charakters to look less cute. 2. The made the game frudtrateing and confusing without any propper guide on what to do next 3. They made the charakter headbob up and down when waking. 4. They made traversing the enviorment feeling clumpsy...like you always bump into things. 5. Not enough fun stuff to do in the beginning only grind pickong up Woods stone and flower on repeat. 6.they never tell you when to unlock the stuff you care about like the customizable furniture makeing or the draw on shirt makeing. 7. The bugs like screen randomly shakeing probobly more. 8. And to small enviorments that need unlocking to get to next small enviorment. 9. Not funktion good on order displays. 10. Some weird blurry effects that covers 75% of the screen. Atleast on mine. Wich the discord team said was suppose to be there even tho it smudges out the npcs. It was a dream game but They didnt make quality of life a priority. I tried telling them multipla times but They don't change anything so it feels like They don't listen to player feedback.

[@Whats-a-Chidi]

Really wish I'd seen this video earlier (tho Josh really hurried to make it, so props to him!) Sadly, I already bought it. I will check it out nonetheless. But this doesn't sound very good...

[@stefyroxanne7567]

The weird blurry effect might be the bloom. You can turn it off and see if that helps with that issue, if you haven't tried that already.

[@wyredaftsquall]

Trust me they don't care. This game is going to stay low tier garbage

[@ThaliaCampos]

forever disappointed that they changed the way the characters look!

[@qtacontessenu]

The human character is so cute and the villagers so creepy, at that point I'd rather them all be humans :c

[@Vaguer_Weevil]

They already look like humans, humans in fursuits that is

[@christopher32074]

To me though it’s the other way round. The human character is really creepy with those big eyes and there’s not much hairstyles.

[@ApotheosizD]

the not having a toolbar thing is a huge issue for me :( that seems like something that definitely should have been added before the full release

[@JoshGamingGarden]

Someone told me there is a toolbar actually, it's just somewhat hidden! You need to press ''R'' (if you play with a keyboard) for it to show up.

[@ApotheosizD]

@@JoshGamingGarden oh thank goodness 😭

[@booberry7555]

push up on the Dpad on switch. This game is so frustrating.

[@Vaguer_Weevil]

@@booberry7555 Even then you have to scroll through the list for the item you want, and it switches the items in the toolbar so switching between shovel and seeds are a nightmare unless you dig all the holes first. You can't even access items on the far right side by going left, you gotta scroll through them all. Might as well just go through the inventory at that point.

[@bozzydawg-boris1115]

Another tip if you're struggling with storage. Go to the inn nip upstairs and pinch the bedside unit and pop it in your own house 👍🏻😁

[@sammythehamster9093]

This is what I did on the beginning.😄

[@bozzydawg-boris1115]

@@sammythehamster9093 lol yeah it really helps. Tempted to rob the neighbors 🤣🤣

[@rebornbabylovely]

I did that 😂

[@Karannia]

I appreciate the honest assessment. I had watched the previews and a few of the test plays of the videos. Unfortunately, I had decided it wasn't for me due to the janky gameplay and agree that those villagers look terrifying.

[@sammythehamster9093]

A lot of people had high expectations comparing the game to Animal Crossing. I agree the game is tedious and disappointing. It's a pain going back and forth to build furniture for villagers or decor for the town. On bigger house there's dead area boundary for item placement. I'm playing on the Switch on design area, the controls are clunky and awkward. Took me a while to figure on item rotation, resize etc. Some quests require item creation while most are fetch. I made a stone lamp for Hector he told me to spend more time on it. I added extra piece and he was satisfied. It takes ages to make something from scratch I don't mind modifying existing design. The game saves them but doesn't keep record of stuff you build. I found out you build from original provided have enough materials. The games doesn't tell a lot of things like how to unlock other NPC stores

[@sammythehamster9093]

The main city looks empty with only 2 stores open. First store showcases designs from their competition. I wish there was a option to browse other people 's design. On Steam's discussion board there's topic of creator codes.

[@awastedcow]

This game looked off initially, and to be honest, I'm not surprised it fell short. Thanks for the honest review Josh!

[@tikusblue]

Great thoughtful feedback, I hope the creators get the chance to see your video. I love the idea about the people who created the furniture get a bit of in-game currency or some kind of perks when someone downloads their furniture.

[@buttarain27]

I was thinking the same thing, like it takes a hella long time just to make something basic and when I checked other players designs (especially, the challenge winners) their designs are phenomonal, like, wow. I think they should get some currency or something in return, for instance, if their design was downloaded like 100 times, they could get 500 coins.

[@PowerpuffSpiceGirl]

Sadly the developers dont like critiscim at all, they made some of the people on their own discord - customers to be exact feel like the bad guys for pointing stuff out about the game to a point that they acused another person of "body shaming" a fictional animal...- which is concerning... So yeah i highly doubt they are gonna listen to us, and i just found this out today from a person on here on the comment section of josh video.. - i am glad steam reviews were brutal on the reciews for this bad game..it needed it, - now the developers wont be able to make you out to be the problem or possibly(note; would not surprise me if they actually did this, since they showed signs of just out right insulting people for making opinions on the discord chat for the game) kick you out of their discord chat for pointing out some issues the game has or wanting the villagers to go back to being cute, yeah originally the villagers to games saturation looked 100% much better then this, if you look up hokko life trailer from over 2 years ago, i believe, you should be able to see a major difference to the "final product" that we got.

[@petitepoupette]

I was on the fence about getting this game. You just saved me some money, so thank you for that! Appreciate your honest review.

[@abbray]

The villagers look like they've just walked out of the 1973 Wicker Man movie and I'm struggling to look past that..

[@ivanamendez478]

I have been playing heavily since it launched on Switch and I personally don't think it's disappointing. to each their own, I guess.

[@Ladystatic]

Me too. I love this game

[@Possumpalz]

Same. I love this game. I bought last week on steam and just today on switch. I prefer on switch that’s why I bought a second time. I love how creepy the villagers are. They remind me of the sofie the giraffe characters, which I read to my son all the time. I love not being hand held on a game. Several items he mentions in the video he doesn’t like has been fixed.

[@kaydwessie296]

Everyone's saying the animals are creepy and the human is cute. No the human is creepy too, why are his arms down to his freaking ankles!?

[@ashwynter6538]

I honestly really like this game, however, I do see where the problems are. I wish the villagers were faster among other things but I don't think its all that bad.

[@ivanamendez478]

same, I actually really like this game. sad to see these comments.

[@Tiffany_aka_CeissaDesiste]

Thanks for your honest opinion. I myself am enjoying the game. Yes the characters are a bit creepy, but I can look past that as the fishing is fun, the artefact finding is enjoyable, and I like the furniture customization.

[@wizard-lizard]

Honestly the player character is more unnerving to me than the villagers (the big black eyes I think). And the following mechanic was certainly interesting. It's a shame since furniture building was something I really liked in the MySims series and have missed since those games.

[@PyrenZero]

Looks like discount Animal Crossing that falls a bit short in many aspects.

[@Toastcat890]

I think people forget that this game is made by ONE PERSON so it's gonna take time to it get working well also you can't stay in EA forever because a lot of people avoid games till they're officially released so coming out of EA might get you more money to put towards your game.

[@brittanyjoson3630]

That really doesn't excuse releasing a janky game, when solo devs like ConcernedApe have proven you can release a fully fleshed out game despite the lack of people working on it. I surely won't harass the dev for it but I think some accountability is needed when you want people to spend money on something you made. In this case some constructive criticism surely won't hurt as long as it's not too harsh. Also I don't like the normalisation of incomplete games on release. The fact that AAA games also get away with this means it's a worrying trend that should stop being excused.

[@Toastcat890]

@@brittanyjoson3630 You can't compare this game to Stardew Valley though that was 2D this is 3D it takes more time to rig characters and get them moving right along with textures and the furniture creation system so I'd expect some issue now if this was a team of people I'd agree with you.

[@naeshelle]

@@Toastcat890 Dinkum is an example of a 3D game with a solo dev & solid release.

[@brittanyjoson3630]

@@Toastcat890 Of course it takes time. But Stardew Valley took 5 years before it was released. It's not like SV was a rushed job. I wouldn't mind if Hokko Life needed more time but yes you are right the dev needed money. But like I said, there should be accountability. One thing devs should consider is the scope of their project. If something isn't sustainable for example a full 3d project, then they should consider minimizing the scope. I worked in game dev too, but as an artist. I do hope things get improved for Hokko Life in the long run.

[@grey3414]

Dude. That's not an excuse though. Dinkum is made by one dev and have you played or seen gameplay of that game? It's amazing! This one though...not worth the money

[@rainbow_lorelei]

It's hideous, I could look past that It's buggy, I could look past that But it's also dull lifeless and BORING, and that for a game in unforgivable

[@rileyksgaming]

I have been doing a play through on my channel since Mid May while it was in early access on Steam. I'm sorry you had so many issues with your game crashing and things like that. I never experienced that issue. As you progress you unlock Mayor Merits which allows you to do more things, like move houses, apply the exterior changes, etc... I used a controller so I can't speak about the keyboard keys but the controller is fully supported and works very well. Once you meet Derris in the pond area, you get the fishing rod and it's so easy to fish! I've heard mostly great reviews from people on my channel about the game and I, of course, love it.

[@TheRN2001]

I'm with you!

[@Bluntman124ever]

You can grab the dresser from the inn and put it in your home. No need to wait that long.

[@Tehmora]

That slow zoom into the pig though... xD

[@marmelaota1703]

I loved MySims so much! I really want it back for the Switch 😔 Only downside was, the further I got in the game the more my brother's Wii was fighting for it's life😅 typical EA game.

[@soapberries]

im so sad this game ended up being a bust. the villagers specifically are just disconcerting. the game seems like it’s trying to have a cute vibe but the villagers freak me out. I miss the old bobble head design :( the whole game feels like it’s missing too many things people have come to expect from their games like decent tutorials, compelling characters, and animations.

[@ivanamendez478]

just because of this video you think it's a bust??? hahaha ok

[@soapberries]

@@ivanamendez478 lol i own the game and made an opinion for myself but thanks!

[@TraceguyRune]

It does things Animal Crossing got wrong right. But it gets wrong everything Animal Crossing got right.

[@bjelln]

Started this game on my Switch last night, and it hasn't been overly enjoyable. Dialogue buttons that explain what to do don't go away, hiding what the villager is saying. The design tool...can't figure it out for the life of me. Again, dialogue box stays in the way...

[@jmeramos]

Same here... and now I can't place a bridge near the waterfall and its frustrating. 🤷‍♀️

[@grumpygramps]

Thanks for the review… such a shame it didn’t hit all the points we want in game. And limited storage for a while?! Oh dear…

[@malvikvran3737]

Looks like a game that had a kickstarter, got hundreds of thousands for the kickstarter, developers proceeded to do bare minimum to polish a little bit and released the game as complete, and they run a away with more money than the game is ultimately worth. It looks like it would be fun, but it does not look like a complete product.

[@booberry7555]

To unlock fishing go put all the trash by the pond into your bag. when you leave the area a villager will teach you the fishing rod plan.

[@airsarihabi2010]

the villagers are to creepy! i can’t! actually instead of an “animals villagers” it would be better for hokko like having a “TOYS VILLAGERS” (inspired by noddy, doc mcstuffins, and toy story) so it will less animal crossing and more unique in design (stuffed animal, robot, dinosaur, mini barbie doll, etc)

[@princesstutusweet]

Okay, that's genius tbh!

[@maddysmith7166]

Kinda wish I saw this before buying the game a couple days ago! Was absolutely drawn in by the design your own furniture feature that I remembered so fondly from the MySims game I loved as a kid, and wasn't as bothered by the creepy villagers as everyone else is. But I just have so many gripes with the gameplay and it just isn't.... fun. - The tutorial is a mess. I had to go into game settings multiple times to find the buttons for features cus the game never tells you how to do them. It focuses on the wrong aspects over important, game-progressing mechanics. I also found that during the tutorial I'd be told to go to my place and sleep till the next day, would only sleep till 2 hours later cus I wasn't done doing what I wanted to that day yet and leaving my house would trigger the next day's sequence for the tutorial, which I feel is a huge oversight. - The controls, on switch at least, feel pretty terrible. Designing feels awful, the camera is janky, trying to move around and see if things are lined up is janky, and I had the exact same issue with the duplication screen not going away during that tutorial. - Fishing feels terrible. Trying to fish in the river behind/around the workshop is almost entirely impossible, because a) the land behind the workshop is inaccessible and b) the land on the other side of the river REGISTERS AS BEING PART OF THE RIVER. It literally registers as water, I will throw my fishing pole and it will land at my feet no matter how far from the edge of the water I am. Even in other parts of the water, the bobber will often be thrown at the opposite edge of the river, still outside the water, and it doesn't matter how far back you stand to avoid this, because the line just goes however long or short it wants with no consistency. - I HATE the follower system. There is no point to getting villagers to follow you, I have never come across a reason to have a villager be in a certain place, be taken to a certain area, be helpful to have around or anything at all. And now that it's unlocked, every time I talk to a villager it's an option, and when, on switch, your option to go through text is A, and the general interact button is also A, there's many a time when you're asking them to follow without wanting them to. It's just a stupid mechanic that has no purpose. I have more complaints but in general the game has so many empty features and in turn it just makes the game feel empty, but also very broken. Definitely disappointed.

[@christopher32074]

In conclusion, if you just got burnt out of Animal Crossing, this alternative will burn you out real quickly. Edit: What it means is that if you are tired of playing Animal Crossing and decided to play Hokko Life, you’ll likely stop playing it in a few moments.

[@mooshk9717]

The animals look kinda creepy, yet I am laughing out loud at them following you around like that XD

[@nicoleg6284]

I'm happy you reviewed this I've been on the fence especially since it's on sale rn. The villagers reminds me of Zipper such empty eyes....

[@Spilly_co]

My favorite thing about ACNH was the villagers and terraforming. I don’t see myself getting into Hokko life after watching a couple of fair reviews, including this one. Thanks for your honesty! Is it worth it for the low price? Probably, yes! But will I spend hours enjoying this? Definitely a big no, for me, personally. Even the home decoration aspect, as exciting as it is, cannot replace the perfection that is the happy home paradise DLC. I don’t see the point in forcing myself to play this just because it fits the genre I go for in general. But I do have respect for this developer and hope they will release more games in the future.

[@thicoh]

this game is very good, i got surprised by ur review, seriously, since i have 2k+ on acnh, i am getting lots but lots of fun on hokko and i dont want play acnh cause i want spend my time on hokko (sorry for my english)

[@ivanamendez478]

I agree!!! I have plenty to do on this game and I'm really loving it. I think these bad reviews just haven't given it enough time. it's been out for only 2 days!!

[@AmyStylinson]

@@ivanamendez478 it’s so easy to be negative when you’re comparing it to huge company game. And I don’t really like the designs of the characters but I think it is so unfair to make that the main issue for why you don’t like it 😂

[@christopher32074]

@@ivanamendez478 The reason why some given up on it are because of these reasons: The game lags and sometimes glitches. The design of the characters had sent several players running. There is very small storage space.

[@ivanamendez478]

@johannbuboy yep, I have also given up on it at this point. I was enjoying it until the storage issues basically halted my progress. I can't paint new designs for that mayor merit,, I can't download new items from the city, I can't build new items....it just sucks. I'm disappointed that I defended this game and the dev focuses on the PC version more. They managed to get a patch through(which is not easy for non Nintendo games on the Switch), and they wasted that patch on "changing the wording of error messages to make them more understandable". Like why not fix the errors!

[@thatguynar]

This is like a lighthearted FNAF game lmao

[@tinahoefs1455]

I bought a dresser from Moss early for 250. It acts as a chest but sadly crafting materials have to be in your backpack.

[@tinahoefs1455]

You can also steal anything you can move and put it in your backpack.

[@MissFushi]

Thank you for the honest review! ❤ You covered it very well.

[@Everdawn_]

😱 omg who designed this?! The villagers are horrifying! 🤣

[@ashyypaws]

You dont have to be so rude. It's one dev working really hard

[@christopher32074]

@@ashyypaws Why were the villagers like that?

[@kinasakuraba]

Guess I'm still waiting for a game with villagers as interesting as AC1's villagers. Idk why even Animal Crossing forgot that much of the draw was the actual villagers 🫤

[@theflowerbunny]

Hokko Life has a tool bar. You need to press the R key to open it, on your keyboard! ❤

[@AlexDayz]

Feel like this game focuses more so on creating items than the village/relationship aspects. Great for those who like that but not so great for those who like life sims aspects more. Also the villagers look very creepy. That one Bunny character that appeared a lot here only blinked and moved their mouth making them look like an animatronic or something.

[@TheYdyp]

One point is in there already a toolbar, just press R. I think I saw it on a tooltip or dialog when I got the axe. But yeah the game feels pretty lifeless, so I didn't get to far in it before I quit and uninstalled.

[@JoshGamingGarden]

Oh, that's good to know, thanks! I think they could have easily fixed that by showing it on the HUD somehow. 😅

[@buttarain27]

@@JoshGamingGarden I'm using an old PS controller and I just press down on the d-pad to get my previous tool to come back up and up on the d-pad to pull up the toolbar.

[@blakewashburn8463]

yeah the animations and models really need some touch ups

[@rozettemori]

I played this game today for 3 hours on my stream for the first time ever (I have not played it in early acces) and all I can say: this game is BORING af... I had to rush through days like crazy because single day offer NOTHING to do there :/ I was like "damn, good this game is not synhronized with real time because you would get only 15 minutes of gameplay per day" so... Not very fun to play IMHO

[@ivanamendez478]

there's plenty to do. gather resources, fish, catch bugs, and as you unlock more stuff there's even more to do. I just unlocked a separate island where I was given a metal detector to go find artifacts, plus there's the mine. I'm also about to unlock the farm and there's another locked area that I haven't accessed yet plus the train to the city. the game has been out on consoles for 2 days, that isn't enough time to give an accurate assessment. the guy in the video didn't even unlock fishing yet. sheesh

[@Shan7642-c3l]

Josh there is a tool wheel h. Well at least on the switch. You can access the tool wheel by pressing the up button on the D-pad.

[@JoshGamingGarden]

Thanks! I've been told it's the "R" key on a keyboard! I wish I had known this earlier.

[@baalfgames5318]

The villagers don't bother me so much as the players character does. Why can't we get a good Animal Crossing clone where you actually play as an animal? *Paraiso Island exists* Me: I said a GOOD one! *...*

[@liloconjetudo9045]

Finally someone telling the truth about this game !!!

[@ChromaSoul]

Big ooof. That's a bummer. I really hope they keep polishing this game because I was keeping an eye on it for a while now... but this does look a little lack luster unfortunately.

[@natsukifan8736]

I don't think so someone commented that one of the Devs basically warned them to not say anything negative about the game and deleted their comment from the official discord

[@ashyypaws]

That was false

[@lofvee]

the villagers, they are TERRIBLE and creepy!! they look flat and have soulless eyes, not a kids game :S :x

[@Bluntman124ever]

Push up on the D pad to bring up your tools and seeds. Left on the D pad brings up the camera

[@V.U.4six]

The villagers look like people in costumes or animatronics 😬

[@Krankhafter]

It's nice to see a fair review, I feel like with the PR packages that the Hokko Life devs sent, the review waters have been somewhat muddied. This game has a few interesting things going for it but I think it ultimately falls flat with its pacing and the way it implements its basic features. I think the animal villagers could have worked if their animations weren't so static and had a bit more personality. There are creepy and uncanny villagers in games like Animal Crossing or Enchanted Folk, but we're still endeared to them because their personalities and animations help 'humanize' them and make them cute.

[@friskybiscuit1624]

I've been wanting to like this game since I saw it in early access but I never got it since it didn't hook me.. I'm disappointed, but maybe this will be a stepping stone for them since they have a decent framework

[@netdollbrasil]

about the storage, I got mine on first day from the hotel I slept and put that storage in front of my house LOL

[@zillo1600]

what annoys me the most is how laggy and buggy the game is. I can't even place the bridge at the waterfall because it is somehow bugged.

[@thicoh]

lol, i play on switch and didn’t got lag or anything.

[@zillo1600]

@@thicoh maybe it is only in handheld but when i run around the world it always have this little hiccups where it needs to reload something or in some dialogs the outfit from the shop guy flickers weirdly and yeah the stuff with the bridge.

[@thicoh]

@@zillo1600 maybe u need change thermal on ur switch ? cause i am at winter and never got that lag ur talking about.

[@sazzlesazzington3599]

I actually like the game, making furniture is decent, not perfect but decent...the one thing I absolutely hate is the clothing designing..I mean it's terrible, look at AC and then look at Hokko, Idk what they were thinking when they decided to make PC users draw with a mouse x( they should of gone with pixel art just like AC, that's the best way for a mouse or any console, it's impossible to make anything of quality, can't even draw a straight line, no symmetry, brushes way too big so no finer detail..All you can rely on is stamps which will get boring quickly...it's fine if you want a crappy little logo ..I've voiced my opinion multiple times on the discord, all they said was they will look into it but no promises and you know what that means,,eh....They said it took a long time to get the drawing system is as it is now but there isn't even anything there lol just a few brushes that are useless, plus some of the brushes have this horrible artifacting around the edges... Edit: Found out with some digging through the files and decompiling that the painting system was never even built from scratch, it was bought from the unity asset store and it's called paintin3d..so I guess that means the dev will never change it, seems like he dosn't know how to seeing as he had to buy it already built from store...so we could be stuck with that way of painting forever lol what a cop out...

[@missmikad0]

I played a few hours already. I like the game, but I'm not sure if I can really love it. I really like the idea, but the controls and animations are just not for me. The character always runs the same speed. You can't walk slow. Also the villagers..I can't really enjoy their presence. I'm not sure if I think they are cute or really ugly. That counts for the whole game. The idea of the game is cute, but it's implementation is kind of poor. What a pity.

[@gxthicky]

I wish I saw this five hours ago before buying this game lmaooo

[@AuntTassid]

Same!!

[@vanyadolly]

So this is basically MySims with animal villagers. I wish they'd just remake MySims instead.

[@christopher32074]

Well now that came true. There is My Sims on the Switch.

[@PiplupUnion]

The furniture creation is very similar to my sims. I remember playing that game a lot when I was a kid and I think that game would be a better investment then this one unfortunately. I was looking forward to playing Hokko Life once it came out of early access, but after seeing your review and looking at the steam reviews I think I'll pass on this one.

[@ArmyOfAngels2024]

I'm struggling to get into this game. I love animal crossing but I need something new. The animals are super creepy but what kills me in this game is the lack of storage. They did a lot of things right, such as being able to craft multiples at once but the storage and ease of dropping items is a pain in the butt.

[@takke9830]

I've only played for a few minutes but I'd say the biggest issue really is a lack of personality in the writing. It could have been a bit more interesting for example just having the beginning convo maybe be an argument about town infrastructure and having to rebuild maybe after some kind of disaster setting up a plot like villiagers being untrusting of the villiage leader and u as the player having to work with Oma to rebuild and regain villiager trust. Maybe even making the story slowly build up into interpersonal drama throughout the rebuilding of some kind. If the story was more creative, I doubt ppl would give it such a hard time. It just needs some kind of flavour to it. Even with older animal crossing, having tom nook being a greedy capitalist and having villiagers take a while to warm up to you, is what made the game so charming from the start. You aren't just popped into some rundown town randomly and instantly being tutorialified so obviously by an npc. And Hokko would really benefit from some dialogue update to fix that. Cause it clearly is a really nice game mechanics and creativity wise.

[@FullMetalB]

"Animal people arent attractive enough 2/10"

[@zigaudrey]

What lack about the animal villagers is the expression, on their face and movement. They look static. This isn't AC, it's MySims. You create stuff for them and adding more value on creation, they have interested (and dislike). Where is social life?

[@tiger_844]

Ok the green pig with a nose ring is actually adorable. I love them

[@fiveythefox3318]

The villagers look like an AI art challange, you know the one? where an artist picks random words to use the design in their style as a new OC. It gives off uncanny vibes at points since all designs don't follow the same base like animal crossing whom usues the same models but different paint color to keep the style. This game is a fighting battle to try and be like other games while doing WAY to much to make it different. Overall I like the creators but they should take this and learn from their mistakes to make comback with a better game tbh. I have faith in them to wait for their next game

[@Sylphinator]

I was so disappointed with this game Shame is that I didnt wait to get it.. -.- having seen your review I find its the experience I had as well... Game is very confusing, limited and underwhelming. To say the least...

[@DeviBuster]

My biggest issue with the villagers is that their heads look a little too much like bootleg animojis or whatever they're called

[@thirdboot]

I've never played Animal Crossing and I was hoping this would be a nice replacement for someone without a switch. Sadly, that's not the case, but thanks for another great review!

[@KryaDiere]

Woah! What the hell happened to this game LOL I played/tried it a long time ago during one of the Steam Fests. Thought it was kinda meh but had potential to improve after a year or two. I look at this now, and instead of getting better it looks worse.... (the bookshelf/no storage was already that way back then, and I remember it put me off the game LOL)

[@hufflewoof325]

I had this game on my wish list. i saw the villagers and instantly removed it... very uncanny and creepy

[@Bluntman124ever]

If you go up past the trees north you will find a Bear that will give you the fishing rod. You just have to keep talking to him. Not 8 hours to get a fishing rod.

[@2am_cinderella]

I wish I had waited until more reviews came out before buying it. The tutorial doesn't explain much and the creation system is awful on switch. I hate most villagers design, they feel unsettling and the muted colors don't help their case. It's a lot of grind from the beginning to get basic ressources for crafting and you get confused easily when villagers requests things you know nothing about because there's no info or you haven't unlocked stuff yet. The loading times is very long between areas and unfortunately there's a lot of small areas so a lot of waiting. I really hope they'll listen to player's feedback and improve things. I do like that you can steal every furniture, including your neighbor's and the trash cans on the street haha. The fishing and bug catching is easy too, compared to games like SV.

[@plumblossomed]

after about four hours of game play, I'm mad I spent money on this game.

[@ashyypaws]

Stfu its a good game, and the dev is working really hard

[@christopher32074]

@@ashyypaws How is it good when the design of the villagers are scaring gamers away?

[@msmellowmood84]

Yeaaahhh. This revelation doesn’t surprise me. Glad I didn’t get it. Thank you for the review.

[@stinky59]

the furniture editor looks very fun to mess with. i might buy this if it goes on sale, literally just to design some furniture with it. that’s about the only good thing i can say though the gameplay and progression does seem pretty confusing and unbalanced tbh. it still looks like an early access game. the actual experience of the game seems very unpolished and not well thought out, like they seriously didn’t feel the need to teach the player how to get the fishing rod but there’s a bunch of long tutorials for everything else??? 10/10 excellent game design lol. disappointing, it has some fun ideas but they aren’t implemented very well. the environment and buildings all look rather pleasant, but they dropped the ball on the characters tbh i agree with everyone saying they look weird. the player character looks cute i guess but the villagers don’t match the style of the player character- like they don’t look like they’re from the same game. tbh it almost looks like the devs just bought a bunch of stock 3d models of generic cartoon animals and put them in the game. except they probably did model them by themselves so i feel bad for saying that lol. the inconsistent character design style might be fine if the characters themselves were well-written but it seems like they don’t have enough personality to make them interesting lol. kind of sad that this turned out so mediocre i was hoping it might be a new fun experience to invest some time into: again i might pick it up if it’s on sale because the furniture design looks fun but i wouldn’t pay full price for this half-baked game

[@pelontrix]

the main issue i initially had was that i could click outside of the window while the game would still be continuing. now, if i could tab out, that'd be nice.

[@evilmacie]

Thank you for the honest review, was hoping for more from this one.

[@Yo_Vonny]

I'm glad the designs of the villagers weren't just disturbing to me

[@TraceguyRune]

DO NOT REMOVE STUMPS. Trees regrow. You should only remove stumps if you want to move the tree. Also, click up on the d-pad to change tools.

[@IAmBuddythedecibwave]

There is a certain aesthetic I've found attached to garbage and scam games. Everything from Club penguin to candy crush has it -- a sickly sweet, overly bright and cartoony art style that is, as far as I can tell, a copy-paste art style. It is present in soo many soulless games. It's an indicator to me there really isn't any passion in the game's creation. It's very easy to replicate, ovearly simplified, and devoid of any true aspect of individuality. I don't like these games for a reason.

[@Jexxa.]

I was excited for this one but it seems more of like "hey we attempted to make a game!" Versus an actual polished, finished game. I'll pass on this sadly, maybe their next game will be better if they make one.

[@charlottesantos4199]

I like the looks of the character. I usually don’t buy games off of one review, I tend to watch many gameplays. For this game I have watched a few recent gameplays and saw some old ones a while back. I noticed a few changes but I still liked the game. There is enough in this game that will satisfy me. I like the freedom that this game will allow me decorate and explore. Because this game is on sale, I bought it. To me it’s worth the $16 sale price. I might not have bought it for the original price because it needs a little bit of polishing like the characters turning their backs to you, but I can ignore that. Thanks for the review.

[@calamaria9221]

The main requests being the tutorial is honestly a mess. Based on a walkthrough guide of the main requests, it seemed I jumped forward with getting the pickaxe fixed before unlocking that trashed pond to get that cleanup quest from Oma and I didn't unlock furniture customization through a villager request (which I'm assuming is because I'm locked out of it until I get iron ore). Ugg. It's not at all enjoyable.

[@danandtab7463]

the main strength of Animal Crossing are the villagers. Those animals look too freakin cute and in NH there is something about the way they're programmed that makes them feel real, even when the dialogue repeats. They have some uggo villagers, too, and I blame that usually on the eyes not being quite right.

[@Drachenbauer]

for the fishing rod you now have to go into the northern forest area and build a bridge over a canion at the first path to the left. collect all the garbage at the pond, that you reach through the bridge and leave the pond area. The fishing npc will talk to you and thank you for cleaning the fishing site. go back to the pond area and talk to him there to get a diy for the fishing rod.