Teacup is adorable and wholesome. It also reminds me of my childhood innocence and the silly adventures I’d go on. Whilst its short, its most definitely sweet and gives you a smile throughout its couple of hours.
Teacup is a young frog who loves tea. She’s ran out of it though and has a tea party in 2 days for her friends. This means she’ll have to leave her house and travel to village locales in search of more. As she’s shy, this is a bit of a big deal for her but as she skips and sways from place to place, she remembers that family, friends and neighbours can be nice to visit more often. The locales are cute and varied and I love the sponge painting effect that the environments have. Initially I found them busy and awkward but over the course of the game I really grew fond of the style.
Characters you meet have things for you to fetch or a mini game to complete before they give you their tea or cookies. The mini games are very simple and there is no fail state to them at all. They are varied though. One is a diner-dash style game, another a rhythm game, another a memory one and another placing cogs in a machine. They occur every 5 or 10 minutes so it keeps Teacup a varied experience and nothing is repeated twice.
Thankfully the fetch quests and dialogue are straightforward too. You can just talk to everyone and you’ll eventually clear the game without trying but characters are called out in chats to signpost you for ease. The story and conversations felt fun because its viewed through Teacups eyes. Adult issues are boring and a lot of the environmental extras have cute descriptions. It is fun to see the world as a child with wonder again. To dive into the specifics will spoil the fun of it but there’s a little bit of Rosie and Jim magic to everything.
Whilst I had no major issues with Teacup whatsoever, it is quite short, clocking in at 2 hours. There’s little reason to explore much outside speaking to everyone and enjoying the collectathon so replayability will be down to your own childhood nostalgia. I also found that some of the locations – specifically the pond and east forest – have really precise scene exit areas that you have to wander around to hit and leave. Those issues are minor though.
Teacup is a charming game that breezes by with ease. Yes its simple. Yes its a bit short. Teacup largely makes up for that with its wholesome approach to child wonder and having an old spirit in a young body. Cute.
Review copy provided by publisher.
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