Game Thoughts - The Doll Shop by Atelier Sento

Note: This is a repost from our WordPress, which we don't update anymore.

Our experience with this game is just funny, since the first time I played it, I didn't realize that we had the audio muted. So I had to play it again and also go for all endings.

Thankfully, we got to do it. - Kochi

What's It All About?

So, in this Japanese-inspired, part-horror, part-romance, combination visual novel and point-and-click game (man, that's a mouthful), you play as the owner of a doll shop, who lives in a nearly abandoned village. He is a bit of a recluse, and seems to favor the company of dolls a little more than the company of people...

Things change a bit when a neighbor's granddaughter, a childhood acquaintance of his, comes back to the village for a while because of work problems. They get to reconnect, and he likes it, but, well, um... he has a secret that might just ruin things.

Writing

Being a short game, there's a small cast of characters. I like that you can tell who the main characters are from the side characters, because of how they're illustrated (main characters are fully drawn, while side characters are silhouettes). But at the same time, everyone has at least some personality to them and sound like they would be people you could meet in real life.

The story... I would say that it's simple, but the execution is great. Every other element comes together in telling it, and I like that the backstory to it is not told to you outright, but it's shown in all the little details, like the stuff you can look at and the narration that goes with it, the dialogue, even the expressions by the characters themselves.

And while there's quite a bit of foreshadowing, and I've been like, making theories in our head as I went, there's still quite a bit of surprise as to what the conclusion is. And I like that you can somehow change it in the form of different endings.

Art

The art is nice, but then again, I'm a sucker for this style of watercolor.

It's really easy on the eyes and lends well to both genres that this game chose to take (slice of life/romance and horror). I also like that it's pretty detailed to a degree, but not cluttered in the sense that you would have to pixel hunt in the point-and-click parts.

Audio

The music is fitting, and sets the mood for the scenes. At the very least, if the sound is nice, the scene actually is, and when it gets scary, it gets scary. And I like that it's not all just BGM, but also some sound effects, like the blowing wind, or that... weird static.

My only warning is that it can get a little loud, and could jumpscare you, especially with the indicator for the days/chapters, especially the first one.

Gameplay

Gameplay is the usual for both the visual novel part and the point-and-click part. And I would say that it's pretty straightforward. The devs didn't put in any unnecessary details, like additional narration for random things that don't have anything to do with the story or the characters.

The exploration in the game is free enough that you can technically go anywhere within the village, but the path is restricted enough so you don't get lost. And when you're in places other than your own home, you get choices as to what to do instead of just clicking everywhere (although you can still look around and look for something to click). Also, your destinations/objectives are pretty clear, and you don't spend too much time getting lost if you pay attention to the dialogue.

It has multiple endings, as well as some additional content that's unlocked after you get all of them plus the posters, so there is some replay value to it. And they've made it such that it won't be too frustrating, since you can choose chapters after you've cleared the game once.

Overall

All in all, it's a nice, relatively short game with a good atmosphere that can get pretty creepy at times. The art is charming and music are decent and help bring the story to life, and it's not a frustrating game at all, considering it's a point-and-click.

By the way, if you guys wanna play it, you can get it from Itch.io. It's really nice how they made their games as something of a culminating activity for the art workshops they hold.