Eastward

Eastward is one of my favorite games. I loved the characters so much and loved that there were a lot of areas to explore and items to collect. Art style and soundtrack are soooo beautiful and really remind me of a Studio Ghibli movie aesthetic. Story is very interesting (and kinda sad :( ) and combat is just the right amount of challenging at times. This game made a quite impression on me so I highly recommend it to everyone who is into charming adventure games!<3

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☑ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☑ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☑ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☑ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☑ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

great story animations pictures characters designs background art so good!!!!!!!!!

This was a very fun game. I loved the characters, and the combat was not too difficult for me as a disabled person. There were so many places to explore and new things to see. There were so many little secrets in the game that I really enjoyed finding. The story was very sad though.

Only a few hours in, and WOW. Honestly felt like playing undertale for the first time again (minus the rpg aspect), except I had no spoilers to the story. Concept feels like something for a studio ghibli movie, and the pixel graphics are amazing. Dialogue can be a tad bit dragged out, but there's an option to fast forward through it. Highly recommend getting the dlc bundle, which is a farming game, similar to stardew. (If I remember right, it's a different universe?) Would double thumbs-up if I could.

Must play for people who enjoy indie games!

The atmosphere is great and the pixel art is very charming and fitting. I was impressed how much atmosphere they could do with so little. I appreciated that there weren't many pointless things to collect, it was pretty simple and basic there, so you don't lose unnecessary time. 1 or 2 chapters were a bit annoying, but most of them were really fun. I didn't expect to have so much fun with such a game.

Firstly, this game is visual eye candy. By far my favorite element is the artwork. Secondly, the story is intriguing and the action is amazing. I really enjoyed the game play of the game itself. Thirdly, the music perfectly matches the games aesthetic, I listen to the soundtrack daily now after finishing the game. I really loved playing this game and I highly recommend it.

The music and the story of this game are beautiful. However, the game play is a little challenging to get through. The fast-forward button is your friend because there is a lot of sequences that are just painfully slow and you can easily fast-forward without losing ANY context.

I don't think I can recommend this to others though. I completed the game but I really did need to put effort into just seeing how the story unfolded. The pacing really took away from the engagement.

Storytelling is confusing and overwhelming, otherwise the pixel art, characters, and simple mechanic is charming.

I just finished the main game and let me tell you. This is a wonderful game through and through with the setting, characters, and so much more. I was sobbing by the end of it with how emotional I got. If you want a game with a solid story, world building, and with great atmosphere, please try this game.

Couldn't get into this game because it is just too clunky.
It's not even about support of KB+M vs Controller, it's everything.

Also I came here for a post-apocalyptic fun adventure, but instead had to play some retro videogame-within-videogame and deal with crafting food. Nope.

Overall: probably 7.5/10
If I could give it a neutral rating I would, parts of it are excellent and other parts feel unnecessary and pointless, Game overstays its welcome.

pros:
- sam gives me baby fever
- the art!!!
- some of the characters :)
- boss fights

cons:
- too much combat for such a weak combat system
- too much dialogue for such weak writing
- seriously oh brother we got ourselves some yappers

As of writing this review I am in the middle of chapter 3 and despite desperately wanting to further explore the visually stunning world of Eastward, I just cant bring myself to sit through the infuriating plot and dull characterisation required to get there. My main gripes with the game are as follows: the characters are flat and shallow with weak motivations, the dialog (of which there is a lot) is almost always pointless, containing no subtext, characterisation nor world building and, the plot often refuses to acknowledge that there is an adult in the room.

NOTE: there are some light spoilers below but in my opinion its worth understanding what you are getting into with this one.

To start fleshing out those gripes I want to talk about John. The decision was made to make John completely mouth-sewn-shut silent. Everyone else in this game will talk you ear off but John will just stand there like the pile of bricks that he is. Sometimes characters will talk to John and they will neither acknowledge that he hasn't said anything nor act as is he has given a response. It is especially infuriating when characters will pull a fast one one on Sam, who is eight years old, and John will not intervene. John almost never takes any agency at all thus far in the story. If John did take some agency he probably could have figured out that when he went into a facility and heard a countdown for 6 hours, that it was probably related to the bad thing that happened 6 hours later. We do not get to see any of Johns thoughts, words nor, feelings giving us as players very little to latch onto. All of this makes it incredibly funny when another NPC professes her love to John, who just stands there as the least interesting and least talkative man in the world.

The other characters are generally better than John but not by much. Sam is overly enthusiastic about everything (including gambling) which, although much more endearing than Johns stoicism, hardly make her more interesting at this point in the story. The other NPC's are pretty good but most didn't really get enough time in the sun for me to grow attached.

I was still on board will all of this until I had to face one of the stupidest designed quests I've ever seen. Sam (once again, the eight year old) was gambling in the casino until she one won too much money, got called up by the owner, then made a deal with him that she and John would have 3 chances to make a dish to blow him away. There were also no stakes made for this deal and Sam didn't get to keep her gambling winnings. The first dish they tried to make required a special fruit which required them to fight through some monsters and convince a curmudgeonly old man to give it to them. Right before they got back to the kitchen to cook another unscrupulous NPC comes up to them and tells them that his friend is dying and the only thing that can same him is the fruit. So they give it it him, fail their first dish and make the whole outing pointless. I should also mention that this NPC was clearly lying through his grill. It was at this point that I realized I didn't like this game enough to put up with it.

I have been rather harsh in this review but I don't know If I've played a game with this much disconnect between the visual artistry and the narrative quality. Unless you are especially susceptible to visual flair and cute characters I wouldn't go for this game.

I think it's the best pixel art game i have ever played. The animation, the effects, the changes in the conversations depending on the stage of the trama, Octopia is very fun and Earth Born is one of the best adds on any game of it's style. The game it's large and have a deep trama, different scenarios and enemies plus good mechanics and puzzles which make it more interesting.

I am reviewing this game for my indie game review series "Grave Reviews" where I review games from my perspective as a game developer since 2009!
This is the score with reasons given for each point, thank you for having the motivation and passion for making games!

Final Score - 9/10
Gameplay - .8 there are a couple of novel additions to the otherwise classic zelda-like combat style that keep the format fresh and enjoyable, and the mini games are fun to interact with and provide a fulfilling and interesting break from the story in unique ways. The character controls are fluid on both controller and keyboard.
Art - 1 there are maybe a handful of games with pixel art that is this intricately detailed and vibrant, with incredible detailed and fluid animation this is far and away one of the most visually stunning games I have ever experienced. Aside from the pixel art we are treated to beautiful hand detailed animations that are beyond stunning. If I could award higher than a 1 on art alone, I would, and this cannot be understated.
Score - 1 the music does an incredible job of setting each
Story - 1 the world Eastward presents is complex and intriguing, and shows an incredible variety of characterization for the main cast as well as a WIDE variety of quirky and memorable side characters and even unnamed NPCs.
Accessibility - .9 the game has fully remappable options for both the mouse and keyboard and the controller play methods as well as a variety of different options that allow for the widest set of accesibility option for differently abled persons to enjoy. The only thing missing from the suite of options is a colour blind mode.
Presentation - .9 the pacing and themes of the game are solid, with something new and interesting slowly building up until you reach the next area and event, and the gameplay is well paced and difficulty curves nicely as you progress. This game also has one of my favourite details in any game: objects you can fiddle with that have absolutely no point whatsoever! I gleefully put the toilet seat up and down repeatedly and turned fossits on and off to my heart's content. My only criticism is that the payoff for exploration is perhaps a little lacking and that the treasure radar item, while useful for players that struggle at exploring and finding hidden items, would be better if it could be turned off and on after it was purchased.
Innovation - .8 the gameplay package is refreshing and simple, with a few small innovations like swapping characters that will keep things fresh, however it is still a simple action adventure rpg that doesn't do much to push the formula. Where it DOES innovate is in the story-telling and characterization, as well as the sheer artistry present in the animatics, animations, pixel art, and general design.
Replayability - .8 the art and story are worthy of a yearly replay alone, scratching the same itch that playing an older zelda title might bring, and I will likely be replaying it around the same time I replay Link's Awakening each year just to extend my enjoyment of this type of game. The quirky characters and intricate and beautiful world add more than enough to want to experience the game over again!
Value - .8 at $24.99 USD at time of writing, the price is perhaps a little steep for an indie title, however each penny is worth it especially if you can nab it during a steam sale; there are roughly 20-25 hours of gameplay if you skip out on a lot of dialogue with npcs and/or dont engage with the minigames, but if you account for those then you will likely get 30-40 hours out of the game which more than justifies the price tag.
Discretionary - 1 this experience has genuinely blown me away, as a game lover and developer I can feel the artistry love for the craft here in ways that I feel get overlooked in a lot of modern indie titles miss out on. It has easily joined the ranks of Undertale, Baba is You, Animal Well, Owl Boy, Sea of Stars, Rain World, and a handful of others as my personal favourite indie games of all time, and I would go so far as to say it is now one of may favourite games altogether.

I rarely leave negative reviews or straight up don't recommend a game because I usually have the mentality of even if I do not enjoy a game someone else might love it and I do not want to rob them of an experience they might enjoy. But ever since I've finished this game I have felt more and more negatively about it despite the good moments this game has. I've struggled to put my dissatisfaction into words because for a while I couldn't quite put my finger on it. But I feel like I have the words now. I will say first and foremost that this game is probably not the worst game I've played, but I am leaving this review because it was a big disappointment to me. I cannot recommend this game in good faith despite the fact that it has some interesting characters and plotlines, great animations, a nice soundtrack, and beautiful characters and environments.
Because so much of this story squanders of its potential on pointless filler plotlines, brushes over some really important plot points, and adds way to many shallow and half baked characters. I particularly dislike how this game handles character death. It has so many underdeveloped characters die off screen that it slowly starts to mean nothing. When you consistently kill off side characters and ignore the important deaths, the audience will stop caring when most characters die because it feels like you are manipulating your audience. And when you kill off a character the story focuses on and spends time with only to completely ignore it for the sake of padding, it ruins the audience's investment. The only plot line I became interested in was the plot line with Mother and her connection to Sam. It's the only plotline that I felt was properly developed because it's interesting to see Mother take advantage of Sam's life, likeness and unawareness to the situation unfolding to slaughter innocents. Because death is meaningless to Mother. She can just clone and preserve people until they fit her vision while feeling no shame. That's interesting stuff, but the journey I took felt like it could have been cut in half and been far more impactful. This game spends so much time on shenanigans with pretty uninteresting gameplay that it kills any momentum and tension that it builds up. It often brushes over important moments and arcs and makes characters go through unseen developments that only serve the plot. I loved the prologue and chapter 1, had an okay time with chapter 2, really enjoyed chapters 3-5, HATED chapters 6-7, and loved chapter 8. I could go on about my issues with chapter 6 & 7 in particular but for the sake of brevity I'll stop my thoughts here.
Eastward has its moments, the beginning and ending are legitimately really good, I did not let some of the padding from chapters 2-5 bother me because I figured this game was building up to something. And it did in places, but only did so with some plotlines by the 2nd half of chapter 8. As this game went on I felt like the developers made this game with the mentality that more gameplay = a better game. While a game with a lot of content can be enjoyable, that content needs to mean something in a narrative game or at least introduce new and interesting mechanics. I prefer a narrative game that is short and meaningful over a game that has potential but meaninglessly bloats itself to the point it kills its story for the sake of runtime. Because doing that feels like it's waste of my time. Maybe I could have looked past some of these issues if this was a co-op game or had more interesting gameplay in places, but the number of issues slowly built up to the point that it killed my enjoyment.
If the developers happen to be reading this, I'd like to say you should be proud of how much you accomplished and I did enjoy a lot about your game. I think you should keep making games and honing your skills, but you need to learn to kill your darlings in order to make a story/game reach its maximum potential and allow room for your dramatic/mature moments to linger before contrasting it with goofy moments. I don't want to deter anyone who worked on this from making games, because a lot of the mechanics were finely tuned, but I also hope my constructive criticism does not fall on deaf ears. I believe you can do amazing things based on the highs of this game, but stay focused on what's necessary and what isn't.

Beautiful game, nice music, relaxing experience.

pretty lovely. graphics are wonderful, and overall, just a fun game. no point in spoilering any of it, just trust 100 and play

lovely little game! ~20 hours for my full playthrough. cute story, lovely art, and writing/design that is pleasantly reminiscent of the newer Mother titles. There isn't any part of this game that'd i'd call groundbreaking or "must-see", but its definitely worth playing! I'd reccomend it!

Honestly this game gives me a lot of mixed feelings. But the main feelings I get are that I'm not really sure what happened story wise, the middle part of the game is a slog, you really don't use the other weapons essentially after their introduction dungeon, and the ending was not very satisfying.

If it's on sale and you're bored, go for it. You'll kill like 20-40 hours on some decently fun puzzles even if the gameplay is a little annoying. Otherwise, skip it.

this has become one of my favorite games of all time. it has all the mechanics i love from other games, it tells a great story, the art is beautiful, the characters are endearing. please please give it a try!!!

The combat is alright. The art is fantastic. The characters are mostly interesting and the story is serviceable.

Here's the problem: go to A for nonsense dialogue, now go to B for nonsense dialogue. Now go back to A for story dialogue that you skipped because X hours in you got sick of the game confusing words for the sake of hitting a word count with "world building" with telling a story.

So. Many. Forced. Dialogue. Boxes. So many cutscene interruptions. So many little playable "walk slowly from A to B" to get interrupted.

This game would have been so much better if it understood less is more. The "more" here, adds nothing except an ever present sense of "why am I doing this when 90% of what I just did could have been cut out for a slightly longer cutscene".

Eventually I just began skipping all the dialogue, checking my current task, and doing A B, C cuz it was the rote thing to do.

Many word don't make "story rich".

How this games doesn't have Overwhelmingly positive reviews is hard to understand.

Eastward is an absolute gem and piece of art. From an in-house engine of a small team to an RPG that makes Zelda and the likes blush.

Can't spoil anything about the story but it's mysterious, gloomy and the characters are extremely likeable. Just like the soundtrack and the art style.

I'm so glad I picked this up during the sale as it flew under my radar for years.

A MUST-play indie title that feels right at home on a Steam Deck.

Loved the art style, music and the fight mechanics but the majority of the game is force dialogue boxes which do not necessarily contain information about the story. There is so much non-story dialogue the player is forced to wait through to progress that you actually risk missing important mission details.

I love a good story and dialogue is fine but this handled it in a way that seemed more like an interactive comic rather that a game you play through.

Could not get past the god awful settings.

The dialogue on fastest speed is still slow as molasses. What kind of allergy do you have against just showing all of the text instantly?

The windowed mode traps the mouse just like the full screen mode.

I like pixel graphics and all but you shouldn't keep your QOL options in the past as well. Maybe it's a good game but I can't play it with those annoyances.

I finished it and it was okay. But the controls and mechanics are really frustrating at times. I wish a little more effort had gone into smoothing those aspects out to make a better game.

Though the amount of plot details left unresolved felt like a huge let-down, the game was overall very enjoyable, both gameplay-wise and story-wise.

Love love love the art style, the music, story, and everything else! This game is great on PC but I love having it on my Steam Deck for my lunch breaks. This game blesses my Steam library.

This game it's fantastic. I am not an expert when it comes to JRPG's, but I have enjoyed every scenario on this game. The art is magnificent and the story is super entertaining and interesting, which motivates you to keep playing the game. The gameplay mechanics are very good too, and I really enjoyed the different mechanics the boss fights had. The characters are also extremely good.

Overall, I recommend this game to anybody who wants to play a visually satisfying RPG.

Love this game, very cute and touching travel story, overall a fan of this genre and pixel style. I hope the second part will come out someday if this game needs it at all (つ✧ω✧)つ♥
<3

I haven't enjoyed a JRPG this much since Earth Born...
I mean Earthbound.

The music is fantastic, too.

While it is not perfect, its enchanting visuals are nice to look at and certain plot ideas are nice.
Reminded me of "Secret of Evermore" and "Soma". Also nice minigames.

The sad part is, while there is a neverending line of NPCs to talk to, 99% of them will tell you nothing of any worth. Gives the world some life but feels like a wasted opportunity.
Not perfect. 7/10

got this game for the beautiful pixel art, stayed for the amazing story, combat and puzzles! i love eastward :)

I've played this and found this game is good. Even though I have some glitch in clicking multiple time to hit the pan is not allowed for me to hit the monsters. Good story telling but sometimes boring a bit. Great pixel game

"You're a cobweb stretched across time. And memories get caught in you, just like little bugs. But every once and a while, one silently slips through... And that, my friend, is why you forget things." "Save game? -Yes -No

this game is so cute and yet full of metaphor and essential questions about our own humanity. Such fun so far!

Short version of the review:

-eccellentgrafic and artistic direction

-lovable and well written characters

-good level design

-great music

-confusing plotline

9- overall.


Long version of the review ahead.


Grafic:

easly still one of the best if not the best pixel art in the market, even after 3 years from the release of the game.

the colours are ALWAYS vibrant, there are a lot of details in EVERY location of the game and the design of the places you visit is ALWAYS phenomenal.

the character have all expressive designes and there are a lot of unique sprites you can see during the development of the plot.

the only (picky) complaint i have is that there are no diagonal sprites for characters, which can lead to some mechaninc poses in game,

but again its a very small and picky problem i have.

10/10


Characters:

the characters are just so lovable and well written.

the character design is great and the writing for them easly holds up.

there is not single character who doesnt have at least 2 layer to their personality and

the games goes as far as giving even more characterization to people you will see once or twice in the game:

the costruction company leader and the 2 brothers were a pain in the ass to have to deal with but at the end you appriciate how much the boss cares about the 2 dumbasses.

at first glance you see Lee as an arrogant mafia boss but then you will recognize how much he does love his city,

malva at first glance can be seen as the light headed princess of the city and just by progressing you get to know her anxiety and struggle given by having her responsability.

those were just a few examples.

the only exception is solomon who has a very confusing and kinda childinsh arc.

8.5


Music:

nothing much to say really, give it a try yourselves,

the cooking giggle is contagious tho, be aware.

9


level design:

even if the dungeons and places you visit are all beautifull, the challenges you have to face and the enigmas are not that hard at all.

the only instances were i would die is were i got stuck in the miasma.

the levels are very creative tho, there is always some new mechanincs you have to come around and some new weapons you can exploit, which are all a lot of fun to use except for the flamethrower.

one of the main complain i have with the level design is the lack of significant non compulsory areas that rewards you significatly.

yeah there are some but they usually are preatty short and they reward you with salt or gear parts.

the game is kinda linear in this sense unfortunatly.

8


Combat:

not excellent but not bad by any means.

i personally played with mouse and keyboard and i had fun.

the enemies are all well designed and have specific counters.

weapons are all fun to use and they all have a proper niche (except the flamethrower as i said).

there are some issues tho:

the way to switch bombs and weapon is very clonky,

there is the possibilty that i didnt fin the key in order to do it but i was honestly quite a pain.

you have to press esc and stop time in order to select the weapon you want, which takes a way the adrenaline of tbe fight.

sam is also pretty useless aswell, there are very few creatures worth blocking and i found way easier to brute-force your way out with john.

as i said, not excellent but not bad

7.5


plot and pacing:
(major spoilers ahead)

the plot is by far the weakest point of the game.

the beginning and setup is incredible and the visually stunning as always.

you really want to know whats this lab you find in the middle of the forest , whats the "harvest", whats the miasma and why was it created.

who is mother? why is the miasma destroying the world? whats eastward?

unfortunatly everyone of those question will get vaguely answered.

for the amount of "useless" dialogue this game has, there is no excuse to have a plot so vague and confusing.

from solomo's quiz we learn that the miasma is was invented to destroy umanity so they cound build a better species, which is very clichè and brought up at 80% of the game completed.

the finale brings more questions than answers and it ends up even contradicting itself in some points.

the pacing was great tho,

it changed from chilled and relaxed to frenetic and anxious multiple times and it never leaves you bored.

the only major issue I have is the monkeywood arc;

i cant express how stupid this arc was, easly the lowest point of the game.

it litterally comes from nowhere and breaks up a very misteryous and full of stake situation we had going on, with isabel nowhere to be found and uncertain of the state of malva.

the level design was also very borign and it being solomon's hideout was so random.

6


even tough the final grade i gave doesnt mathematically add up to the scores i gave in each section i still stand my ground.

i wanted to give this game some extra points because it defently deserves it.

i didnt play this game for the plot in the first place and i had a lot of fun+ the pixel art was too good.

9-


scemo chi legge

a very original yet refreshing take on 90's classic jrpg's. Major Made in Abyss or any other fantastically imaginative insane dark animes.

h

Game has been enjoyable, its a good chill game

I really REALLY wanted to like this game, I've been planning on getting it for over a year, but I just couldn't enjoy it no matter how much I tried. It feels like it takes all the wrong lessons from the SNES era of video games, combining admittedly fresh and exciting new ideas with some of the most tired and boring tropes. Most painful is the insistence on a silent protagonist in a game and narrative that just doesn't support that choice, your main action seems to be ignoring and refusing to talk to a curious and eager child which feels like actual neglect in the worst way if you think about it too much. Maybe I'm over reactive to this but it made me so uncomfortable and bored. I couldn't get invested at all.

Incredible world design and art. Cute story full of mystery and discovery. Combat is not too challenging. The logic puzzles are fun and engaging, especially once you unlock the ability to control both characters at the same time.

Every inch of this game was touched by an artist. I often leave glowing reviews of games I only every play for an hour or two. Just long enough to know it's a good game. Very rarely do I actually play-play a game. This is one of those games. It's just too good to not finish. The characters are awesome, the art and backgrounds and monsters are awesome...this is the kind of game that actually makes me want to dig out the sketch book and draw out of sheer love.

If I woke up next week to a knock on my door, and I opened it and some really serious japanese guys in black suits asked me what the best dev team to remake Secret of Mana or an equally epic RPG legend from my childhood, I would select the team that made this game. It really really is flawless.

You know a game is good when finishing it leaves you questioning your entire existence. It really does touch your heartstrings, in a good and bad way. It was immersive, fascinating, creative, and everything I could possibly ask for in a game. I was so unwilling to part with the game I bought the DLC as well, I hope I can see more games like this in the future! <3

Love the game, everything about it. The style, the story, the characters, everything. Definitely play if you haven't already and I can't wait to start my next play through to get the rest of the achievements. Super fun and story rich post apocalyptic family story with tons of hack and slash killing monsters and figuring out puzzles to continue in the story.

Great art, dialog, characters and story. What more could you ask for?

This game is a masterclass in poor design. There are so many moments late in the game - some of the timed puzzles, the Izzy fight, that are tedious and unlike anything that came before. Really stupid late game, left such a sour taste in my mouth. Would not recommend anyone waste time on this.

Overall a beautiful game.
Beautiful art, lovable characters, nice music, and well built.
The story is written really well, even thought Chapter 6 feels a bit out of place, like it was written to make the game just a tiny bit longer.
However, I think that - if the game is played as it is structured (ie: taking a break before starting new chapters) - this won't be very much noticeable, if at all.
Another thing is achievement tracking, especially for those that revolve around doing all of a certain thing, like discovering recipes, obtaining ingredients, and so on.
Those may become unobtainable in game, and it can become frustrating when trying to find the last few chests you forgot (but you really didn't).
This is the biggest issue I had.
Other than that, I loved the game and I think you'll love it too.

The most beautiful game ever made.

nice art style, good music, fun gameplay, intriguing story and works great on steam deck

yeah.