Game Thoughts - Cave Story's Secret Santa by Nicalis

Note: This is a repost from our Tumblr.

This one has a bit of a history with us… Well, particularly me.

We got this around Christmas time the year before I got to finish playing it, and I started to make gameplay videos of it then. This was before we started streaming, so there was no audio commentary, and they were pretty short compared to our streams nowadays.

Anyway, I didn’t finish the playthrough then since we got busy. Got into writing jobs that I eventually hated and all.

But soon after we got to do the whole streaming thing, I got to play and finish it. - Kochi

What’s It All About?

In this game set in the Cave Story universe, you play as Santa (the Mimiga) who needs to put back all the Mimigas’ stolen presents to their rightful places. And that means sneaking into their homes through the chimney, avoiding detection, and finding their Christmas trees, then going all the way back to the starting point.

And maybe eating their cookies as well.

Writing

To be honest, none of us are truly familiar with the world of Cave Story. We vaguely know about the game’s existence, and the Mimigas, but that’s it.

The premise and the story itself is simple, and there's not much to say about it except that at least it's plausible. Although my opinion on it might change if ever I play the original Cave Story.

I think I did... but I forget what happened and I am certain I didn't finish that, so yeah, it doesn't really count.

Art

As you would expect from something from the original Cave Story, the art is a cute pixel style. As far as I know, the Mimigas look pretty much the same as the OG game.

I don’t really have much to comment about it, to be honest. It’s nice, and all the different objects are easily distinguishable. There's also a few possibly recognizable objects in the game that were used in the original?

Music

Since it’s a short game, there are only a few tracks used in it, and one of them is a chiptune Carol of the Bells. They’re nice, but the volume can’t be changed in-game, and the default volume is loud, so you would have to adjust it from the computer’s volume mixer.

It does get you into the gameplay, though.

Gameplay

As described earlier, you need to help Santa navigate through various houses/levels and find their Christmas trees, where he will put back the missing presents. But it’s not as easy as it sounds, as he doesn’t like being seen by people, so aside from any environmental hazards, you would also need to avoid detection.

Thankfully, you can see where they are looking, and you can use certain objects to help you get through the levels, including gift boxes, blocks, and treasure chests with items. There’s also no scoring of any sort, just the time that you took clearing the level.

There’s also the optional goal of eating cookies that (I think) were put out just for you, which serves as an additional challenge.

I just find it a little inconvenient that they don’t explain some mechanics, like the gift boxes, which apparently let you stay in a spot where you would otherwise be detected, and will not be destroyed when you pick up items such as cookies or prybars. Also, there were times when I thought I would be detected, but it’s apparently out of the enemy’s hitbox.

Then again, you could always experiment with unfamiliar elements and retry if you get caught. How long you play the game is partly based on a mix of skill and timing, and partly depending on your patience.

Overall

If you liked Cave Story, or if you're into stealth games, or both, then you might like this one. If you speedrun, you might like it too.

Then again, even if you're not into those, I think it's okay, too, considering the levels are short and there's no permanent game over. It seems that with enough patience, one can finish it eventually.

However, be prepared to experiment some, since the game doesn't give explicit tutorials for certain elements of the game. Also, unfortunately, it's a limited-time game and now, from what I know, it's not available anymore.