Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories

The writing had me smiling widely and laughing out loud several times, and on top of that, the story unfolds at a nice pace.

If you're colour-blind check the trailer to see if the art style is clear enough for you.

the exploration is generally made nicer by the soundtrack - most of the tracks are quite pleasant and fun, and some made me stop playing to take them in more fully, which is a good sign. some songs are just oddly grating though, or have parts that sound weird and unpleasant, i guess they just turned out that way?

the gameplay makes the story feel like even more of a slog. i think the premise would've worked better as a VN. there are moments where the player does have agency over the order of events, and can go out of their way to do some extra stuff, but in general its all pretty linear. i completed 3 quests throughout my playthrough, but they didnt feel like accomplishments, in part because i felt little attachment towards the characters, and in part because some of them boiled down to seeing a conversation between characters and not doing a whole lot myself. you enter an area, exhaust the flavor text and dialogue, and there's usually little more past that. an object might play a little animation when you interact with it, on rare occasions you might actually get an item thats useful for a sideplot or something, but often there just isnt anything special to find, and the items you acquire are usually available only when they're needed for the plot, its fun being able to check the items in your possession in a menu, but rarely does it feel like youre actually Using what youve found to accomplish a goal. it just feels like walking from A to B to set flags allowing the story to progress because the plot demands it.