Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows
Initial release date: 2024
Developers: Lazy Bear Games, Different Sense Games
Genres: Role-playing video game, Indie game, Adventure game, Adventure
Publisher: Twin Sails Interactive
Engine: Unity
Is there anything worse than having your parents send you to a relative’s place for the summer? Maybe if that relative is your grumpy old grandpa who lives in, ugh, the suburbs. Of course, he’ll make you do chores around the house, tend to his garden, and prepare your own meals. Bloomtown: A Different Story is set in Bloomtown, a Chicago suburb, and stars brother and sister Emily and Chester. Their working mother sends them away during a parental quarrel at home, leaving them in the care of their grandfather Cooper, who does not appear to like them very much. Things appear to be getting worse until the first night, when Emily strikes a pact with Lucifer.
After a while of playing Bloomtown: A Different Story, I was surprised to see how brazenly it wore its influences. Another world slumber beneath Bloomtown, known only as the Underside, and Emily has found her way within. Emily and her friends can control, capture, and merge demons as a result of their literal agreement with the Devil. Fusion just raises the demon’s level, but each player has their own primary demon and can carry an ancillary demon to augment their abilities. Navigating the Underside features tiny dungeon riddles, battles, and safe chambers where you can use a public phone to escape. After the mascot character teaches you how to build lockpicks, you’ll get access to a workshop in your bedroom.
Bloomtown: A Different Story depicts a suburban summer with a sinister twist.
After signing the contract, you are tasked with seeking and defeating three demons that have taken over significant characters in town. Along with your major objective, you have a number of minor auxiliary tasks that include making friends around town and assisting Bloomtown residents. Emily also befriends Ramona, a girl whose father is an alcoholic cop, and Hugo, an intellectual Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Hugo is a charming little boy who has the potential to be the prettiest, fuzziest, nicest little bean known to man. He also has a good sense of smell, and his battle sprite depicts him standing bipedal with large muscles, which I find amusing.
Emily can now descend into the Underside and deal with those awful demons, or she can go about her summery suburban existence. Bloomtown has a lot to offer, even if you are a jaded child who would rather be somewhere else. Bloomtown offers job opportunities, shopping, fishing, mysteries, people in need, gardening, and record collecting. Bloomtown, set in the 1960s, appears to be a great place to visit with plenty of activities. More importantly, I like how, despite having a day/night cycle with duties taking up time during the day, there is no deadline for completing dungeons or the main story.
Once within the dungeon, shadows creep through the halls of whatever portion of the Underside you’re exploring. They will chase you, but if they are looking away and you approach them, you can press a button to engage in combat with them. Unfortunately, there is no advantage or drawback to making the jump in the overworld. Emily’s crew seemed to consistently lead the charge in battle. As a result, conflicts can become more of a bother later in the game. While I felt like I was struggling to get my footing in larger skirmishes, where we had four and the opponent had four, combat became increasingly easy as the game progressed. The weak/strong system, which is based on other combat systems, works well, but I have some concerns about how some of the spells function.
Initially, the majority of the spells available to your team simply apply status effects. Which, to be honest, is very bad. I believe that using status effects more regularly and giving them weight is a good thing, but I didn’t feel like it was happening here. Primarily, you can only have one status effect on yourself at a time. Some status effects interact with other status effects, which is quite cool. However, any prior status impact is removed when you apply a new one. So, if I spent time getting burn on all of the adversaries so I could combo them with an all-ice strike, and someone does a standard attack that stuns them, the combination is off. Some status effects only last one turn, so if you’re attempting to set up a combo and Emily has the second spell, you’re out of luck. She always goes first. Many of these little details detracted from what should have been the game’s highlight.
As you build relationships with people in town, you can spend time with them to improve your battle skills. These additions significantly boosted the triviality of battles by giving Ramona a large chance to cleanse herself of negative status ailments on her turn or giving Chester the ability to one-shot adversaries with a standard attack. Others felt they were better suited to the fighting system, such as Ramona’s ability to totally save SP on spell usage and Hugo’s counterattack if the adversary attacked and missed. It seemed that for every positive aspect of the conflict, there was another that was negative.
Despite my reservations about the battle system, developing relationships throughout town was enjoyable. However, if Bloomtown’s influences were deemed overly wordy, Bloomtown itself may not be enough wordy. I enjoyed the seriousness with which they tackled topics like dealing with loss, yet it all felt a little hollow. Ramona’s father’s inability to cope with the loss of his wife led to him fighting a demon version of himself. While this is conceptual, it was like flipping on a light switch, and it muddies the reality that most of us face. Yes, this is a dream universe, but now that it has been launched, it has entered our cultural awareness. The notion that someone is acting strangely toward their child because they have a demon in their palm ignores the actual effort required to escape that predicament. Instead of dealing with the emotional aftermath of his wife’s death, Ramona’s father simply invites Emily and Ramona out for milkshakes.
Overall, the ties formed in Bloomtown may be superficial, but they serve as a wonderful complement to the seriousness of what is going on in town. The librarian’s possible involvement in kidnapping children adds a sense of gravity to the situation. However, it’s easier to swallow when you’re assisting Ruth in her attempt to contact aliens. Not all of the side stories were lighthearted, but when they were, I appreciated it because the main subject was quite serious. And don’t forget, they gave you the finest little Corgi to accompany you on your adventures, and he has such an adorable fuzzy face that I just want to cuddle him.
I adored the pixel imagery of Bloomtown: A Different Story. The art was fairly outstanding, but some of the animations really stood out. During combat, you can only attack foes immediately in front of your group; enemies behind you must be shot at with a gun. Some of the animations for switching to the gun are just fantastic. Chester, who wields two daggers, stabs them into the earth to retrieve his rifle or shotgun, I’m not sure which. Hugo’s animation is also quite good, although that’s mostly because he’s a bipedal dog with a rocket launcher. Along with the art, the combat soundtrack is a major standout. I couldn’t find it, but I believe there are four distinct combat tracks that are all toe-tappingly good. Bloomtown is short enough that the beats will stick in my mind for weeks, but I won’t know any of the lyrics, unfortunately.
Finally, I’d like to highlight the opponent design in Bloomtown: A Different Story. This game’s adversaries are among the most imaginative I’ve seen in a long time. One of my faves, Business Shark, depicts a fat shark wearing a suit and holding a briefcase with papers pouring out. The type of adversary you’re battling is simple, yet it’s done with unparalleled flare. The Bee is a support adversary, therefore instead of attacking the group with his stinger or being big and beefy to tank attacks, he uses a pair of hands on a walker to support himself. After being defeated, the Owlbear transforms into a terrified human who flees. One of Bloomtown: A Different Story’s strongest points is its adversary design.
Review Overview
Gameplay: 76%
Controls: 74%
Aesthetics: 82%
Content: 70%
Accessibility: 78%
Value: 75%
Overall: 75%
GOOD
Summary: “Bloomtown: A Different Story” immerses players in a colorful environment full of exploration and narrative-driven gameplay. While the game’s charming graphics and simple controls make for a fun experience, it occasionally lacks in content depth and intricacy. The vivid art style and simple controls add to its appeal, making it an appropriate choice for fans of lighter narratives. Despite certain flaws, “Bloomtown” remains a fun adventure that provides a welcome escape into its unique plot.