Over the years we have seen a myriad of social simulators in the world of video games. Some try to faithfully replicate every aspect of life to create a realistic, deep and immersive experience, and others opt for simplicity and humor. In the second category comes Minabo – A walk through life, a cute game that shows the cycle of life and personal relationships with a cartoon style full of charisma. However, does it do enough to be a proposition that will hold up beyond the opening minutes? Next, I share my verdict.
Make your turnip grow and have a full life
Minabo – A walk through life presents an ingenious and, to some extent, original idea. At first glance, it looks like a typical platformer or adventure side scroller; Nothing is further from reality. It’s a social sim that cleverly uses side-scrolling to portray a terrifying and universal concept: the passage of time. Every step I took brought me closer to death and I could never go back in a game because the game prevents it.
Our mission is to make sure our turnip grows and thrives. To achieve this we have to establish and strengthen ties with family, friends, pets and, of course, partners. This sounds complicated, but the reality is that relationships are very superficial. Still, I liked that the systems are intuitive and easy to understand.
We start each game with a small turnip that sprouts from the ground. From here, we will see how it develops and goes through each of the stages of life, that is, childhood, puberty, adolescence, adulthood and old age. To prevent life expectancy from decreasing, we have to fill in 3 bars that represent basic needs: physical contact, intimacy, and a sense of belonging.
This is where the social aspect comes in. To prevent our turnip from falling into depression and premature death, we have to interact with the characters we meet along the way, create a social circle and strengthen relationships.
Much of the charm of the experience comes from the uncertainty of whether our interactions will succeed, as the system works on possibilities. When we fail and a turnip rejects us, the bars decrease and relationships deteriorate. Also, our family members, friends, and pets can die if we ignore them for too long.
Despite her innocent and cute appearance, minabo it can be very hard. A streak of negative interactions can mean death, which is particularly painful when it happens in long games. However, the real difficulty is in the special challenges.
Undoubtedly, the strength of minabo are the 25 missions that present unique objectives. There are very simple challenges like living more than a certain number of years or getting a certain number of friends, but others are more complicated and force us to be cautious and strategic. To some degree, each level feels like a puzzle, something that I liked and took by surprise.
For example, in one of the levels that I liked the most, I had to find a romance, a friend, and die at exactly 27 years of age; a nice and cruel reference to the Club of 27. These goals seem easy, but it happened to me on many occasions that I lived longer or, on the contrary, died earlier. This kind of situation is repeated constantly in the rest of the levels.
Another element that adds variety to the games are the special threats that appear in certain levels. For example, there is a giant mole that eats our turnips in one bite if we move too slowly, lightning that pulverizes anyone who crosses its path, and moths that reduce life expectancy. They are welcome obstacles, as their mere presence forces us to change our playstyle a bit and be more cautious.
We can also wear hats that offer effects that help or harm. I loved that they are very varied in design and qualities, so they became one of my motivations to complete missions and advance in free roam. It is always rewarding to unlock a new one.
There are hats with traditional effects such as increasing the chances of succeeding in interactions or reducing the negative effects when we fail, and there are also others that have more “unique” qualities. For example, there is a crown that allows you to have romances and children with your brothers. As shady and weird as it sounds, it is very useful and helped me through the most difficult missions. Without a doubt, the developers were very creative in this section.
Finally, minabo looks great in motion. The visual section is beautiful, charming and reminds of a happy and pleasant children’s story. Undoubtedly, the settings are the stars of the show, as they change as we move forward and portray the seasons of the year; They not only look beautiful, they also contribute to the gameplay because there are hats that activate their effects in certain seasons; it is always helpful to have a visual reference.
Something similar happens with the animations, which are functional despite their simplicity. We can tell if a turnip is down or angry by the way it walks or reacts to interactions.
A very shallow small turnip
Turnips are very cute and charismatic thanks to their cartoonish animations and designs, but it is true that they are also very similar to each other. This affects the gameplay, as it becomes difficult to find an acquaintance or friend in the crowd. Sure, we can tell them apart by small details like hair color and shape, but we have to go the extra mile to identify those subtle elements. The fact that the characters change over time doesn’t help either. Certainly, the game could use a little more variety in this section.
The above is a minor problem that is easy to ignore. Unfortunately, minabo it falls short of its aspirations and presents a number of more serious drawbacks that affect the overall experience and make it exhausting and boring after a couple of hours.
In the first place, the social sections are wasted. When we start a new game, our little turnip is born into a family. As he progresses in his life, he will meet unknown turnips that can become friends and mates. The problem is that the differences between the types of relationships are minimal and inconsequential.
At the end of the day, you stop looking at the turnips by their relationship level and focus solely on the chances of success of their interactions. They quickly stop being acquaintances or best friends, becoming mere opportunities to fill the bars associated with physical contact, intimacy, and a sense of belonging.
This is a problem, since it matters little if your brother, friend or son dies in the game. As long as you have someone to interact with and meet your needs, you will manage to have a fulfilling life. Of course, there are objectives that force you to, for example, die in the company of a friend or a partner. These are the only times where relationship levels matter and you will be concerned with keeping the turnips around you alive.
On the other hand, I found that some hats are more useful than others, and they even break the balance. In my experience, the Water Lily is very useful to live for many years, as it automatically satisfies your needs every time it rains, which happens very often.
Perhaps Minabo’s gravest sin is being a one-note game. Although the missions are interesting and offer objectives that are intended to keep the experience fresh, we always do the same thing: interact with turnips endlessly. Matches become monotonous after a couple of hours, and even special threats like moles and moths lose their charm quickly. Free mode is the best place to unlock hats, but also the most repetitive and simple due to the lack of special goals.
This feeling is also palpable in the audiovisual section. minabo it is very pretty and charming, but also very monotonous in its presentation. As I said, the turnips are very similar and their sound effects are constantly repeated.
Minabo falls short
Definitely, minabo he has great ideas and exudes charm thanks to his colorful, cheerful and charismatic art style. Simple, straight to the point mechanics make the experience easy to steer and understand, while the missions offer a real challenge thanks to the objectives.
Unfortunately, the game gets repetitive and boring very quickly. A couple of games were enough for me to start to feel the fatigue of the concept and get tired of seeing turnips. Mission objectives and special threats like the mole are interesting, but also unable to take away the feeling of monotony.
The superficiality of the social aspects of the sim prevents the games from feeling different, which comes to the fore in free mode. Having said all this, we are facing a very charming experience that becomes fun if you connect with the concept.
Yes indeed, minabo it is much more enjoyable in short sessions.
Minabo – A walk through life It is already available for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Click here to read more news related to it.
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