Teacup

In the small town of Little Pond, everybody loves Teacup. It's easy to see why. She's a good-natured frog who gleefully skips around the forests and marshland with a smile on her face and only one thing on her mind -- finding the ingredients to make the perfect cup of tea. Young, innocent and so full of life, there's not a cynical bone in her body. And while she may not sound like the most compelling hero for an adventure game, I dare you to spend more than a few minutes with the titular hero of the new game Teacup without falling in love with her wholesome charm. But will you also fall in love with her short and simplistic quest for tea? That might depend on how much sugar and honey you have on-hand.

Teacup is a young and carefree frog who lives in Little Pond, a small, close-knit community made up of all the animals of the surrounding forest. This week marks the town's anniversary, but Teacup has other things on her mind. She has scheduled a big tea party, but discovered at the last second that she's out of the ingredients you need for such an event. This has forced the reclusive tea-lover to leave the comforts of home and explore Little Pond for the missing ingredients.

This is a non-violent journey where you talk to the townspeople and track down leads. Some of the ingredients can be found growing in the meadow or wooded areas, while the rest will require some puzzle solving and negotiating. You'll usually find a character who knows how to get their hands on something Teacup needs, but won't hand it over until you run an errand for them. A good example of this involves a rug retailer who fears that his wares are haunted. In order to snag some of his delicious Jasmine, you'll first need to find a magician, who has his own problem they want you to solve. If you can make the magicians happy, you'll be able to return to the rug store and free the merchandise from evil spirits. And with done, Teacup is one step closer to having everything she needs to throw an awesome tea party.

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This is how most of the game plays out. Somebody knows where Teacup can find an ingredient, followed by some sort of puzzle or mini-game. Sometimes you're trying to beat somebody in a swimming race, while other times you'll need to arrange stamps at the Post Office. There's a nice variety of puzzle types, most of which have something to do with the character or story. And if you end up getting stuck on one of the trickier puzzles, the game is good about offering hints and guiding the player in the right direction.

Beyond the puzzles and mini-games, most of the charm comes from talking to the townspeople and meeting all of the colorful characters. This is the kind of game where everybody is friendly and has something memorable to say. I love how we keep running into the creepy Mayor at every event and how there's a gang of sweater-knitting ruffians that hang out in the woods. And what's fun is seeing how the locals react to Little Pond as it prepares for the anniversary festivities. Everybody is especially excited to see the play being staged in the middle of town. Here's hoping they can find that missing actor before curtain call.

As adventure stories go, locating ingredients to make the perfect cup of tea is not what I would call epic. It's just enough of a premise to give our hero an excuse to interact with the townspeople and complete a bunch of puzzles. There are no major twists and everything is as straight-forward as you can get. The whole journey will take between ninety minutes and two hours, which means that most people will probably beat the game in a single sitting.

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In a lot of ways, Teacup feels like a great starting point for younger players who have never experienced a point and click adventure game. It has a lot of the trappings you would find in a Monkey Island or Sam & Max sequel, only in this game everything is extremely simple and accessible. Aside from pulling out the optional recipe book, most of the game is played using a single button, and you'll never have to worry about combining items. Hell, you don't even have an inventory. This streamlines the genre as much as it can, perhaps in hopes that fans may dive into the fun world of point and clickers after sharpening their teeth on this game.

For more seasoned gamers, Teacup's simplicity and easy difficulty may be disappointing. Sure, it's easy to be won over by the memorable characters and our hero's endless charm, but that might not be enough. I found myself wishing that there was more to the story and the game. On the other hand, the ten-dollar asking price makes the short length and easy mini-games a little easier to swallow.

It also helps that the game is absolutely gorgeous. First-time developer Smarto Club wisely opted for stylish pixel graphics, and I love how every inch of Little Pond is dripping with personality. You can't help but fall in love with Teacup and her unique neighbors, especially when everybody is so expressive. Both in the writing and visuals, there's a warmth here that you don't normally get from video games. I wish more games looked as good as Teacup.