Sugar and cats and everything nice

If you follow me on Twitter, then you probably know that lately I'm not in my best condition, especially mentally. Pandemic, studies, some personal shit, all of that just decided to crash on my head at once. To maintain at least some bits of sanity, I try to relieve some stress in different ways. I sleep a lot. I watch my favourite youtubers (judge me as much as you want, but Brad Jones tearing bad films to shreds really soothes my nerves). And I play games. Or, rather, one game. One game that is so relaxing, it hasn't failed even once to make me feel better.

This game is "Calico".

Can a game which Steam header looks like this NOT be relaxing?

"Calico" was made by independent studio Peachy Keen Games (which consists of only two people!) and released in December 2020. According to its creators, the game is meant to make players "warm and fuzzy inside" with "a laid back, low stress creative environment to explore and play in". You're supposed to take care of a cat café situated on a magical island, furnish it and bring cute animals (despite the name, cats aren't the only option) in it. And... That's it. Really. There is no plot, no given objectives, nothing. Okay, there are quests that grand you useful rewards, like unlocking new areas on the island, and completing all of them brings some kind of an end-game ("some kind" because you can keep playing after that), but nothing is obligatory. The game isn't linear and it depends on a player what they want to do there. Prefer to collect furniture and keep redecorating the café every morning? Do it. Spend all time baking? Sure, no problem. Ride on a giant chonky cat and explore woods? Go for it. There is no wrong way to play. More, the "low stress" part of the description is true: there is nothing in this game to make you even a bit tensed. You don't need to do any resource management – the kitchen never runs out of food and as long as you have some pastries in the café to sell (which you need to make once and then the place stays stocked), someone will stop and buy something, so no need to worry about money. And you don't have to actually run the café yourself – the characters use it by themselves, you only get a notification who bought what. The time isn't an issue: while the NPCs have some routines, finding them is really easy – their position is displayed on a map! And even if the owner of the store has already left, you can still make a purchase. I haven't noticed shops being closed either (take that, "Stardew Valley" and Clint closing his business at 4PM!).

"Calico" starts with a character creator and I have to admit, it's really nice. What I like the most about it is, there is no gendering. You can give your character any body type you want (plus size options included!) with any clothes, make-up and hairstyle (or a headscarf) available. Big boobs, slim waist and hairy beard? Why not? Got bored with it? No problem – after you start the proper gameplay, the creator is accessible all the time with all its features. And while there is plenty of them, I would actually add some more, mostly chin shapes (the only one available is round one, you can only make it more protruding) and some mole options. Okay, maybe I'm saying this because I decided to turn this game into "NieR: Automata" Coffee Shop AU (like you could expect anything else from me...) and play as 2B and couldn't get her appearance right, but hey – the more customizable the player character is, the better!

But I have to admit, I nailed my waifu's butt perfectly.

Before I started playing, I was warned that the mouse and keyboard controls are quite clunky and it's much better to play with a pad. Damn, even the loading screen advises that. And while I'd love to try and tell you, if the controller is better, I can't – I simply don't own one. But please, don't revoke my gamer card for it! D: However, playing the game with keyboard and mouse turned out to not be that bad. Of course, there are some counter-intuitive moments (like choosing a colour in character creator, why can't I do it with a mouse?!), but otherwise it's quite fine. I especially like how decorating the café was projected – you move the furniture with WSAD and move the camera freely with a mouse. If you need a top view to, for example, choose where to put the dresser, then you just position the camera there. Want the dresser as close to the wall as possible? Move the camera to the side, between the dresser and the wall. Really, I've played many games with room customisation and this is one of the most comfortable ones.

 

"Calico" is not only a really relaxing game, but also very upbeat. There are no serious conflicts there and every misunderstanding between the characters can be solved with a talk (like, you know, mature people should do). All the sweetness and positivity is reflected with visuals, which are very bright and colourful. It's pleasant to look at and quite uplifting. At the same time the game doesn't take itself very seriously, so be prepared for some crazy stuff. Like bipedal cats dancing breakdance. Or getting a potion, which makes the animals big and mountable (like, you know, a horse. Except you can ride, for example, a cat. Or a dog. Or a rabbit. Or a capybara). Or a ridiculous cooking minigame, where your character gets miniaturized and needs to toss the, giant now, ingredients into the bowl. To be honest, it's one of my favourite parts of gameplay. It's silly and fun... Except when this fucking butter refuses to stay in the bowl. But it may just be my shitty aim.

YEET!

What I especially like "Calico" for, is its amazing representation. For example, there are various people of colour, lesbian couples, a non-binary NPC, a transmasculine NPC, an NPC with a headscarf... The game is also extremely queer-friendly, with already mentioned non-gendered character customisation, giving pronouns with NPC descriptions and canonical gay characters. I'll be honest: when it comes to handling representation, companies like Blizzard can (and should!) learn from "Calico".

Unfortunately, not everything is similarly perfectly done: the game has some technical problems. Of course, the devs are constantly patching it, but there is still plenty of various bugs, which range from rather amusing to mildly annoying. For example, there are notorious problems with collision detecting, so model-clipping and animals getting stuck in the walls is quite common. The interface sometimes glitches – it doesn't affect the gameplay, but is quite unsettling. Once a dog was getting launched into the sky every time he was picked up and then put down. He would later land several meters away. The other day one of my cats got invisible: 2B could interact with her, but the model wasn't showing at all (fortunately, forcing the app to close with Alt+F4 and reopening it solved the issue). A common occurrence is animals behaving weird, like rolling from place to place or running in circles... Or wait, the last one might be intentional. I mean, my family doggie used to do exactly the same (RIP Tobi, he was a good boy).

But it's easy to forget about the bugs, when you can just approach and play with every animal you wish. Polar bears included.

Basically, "Calico" can be defined as "You Can Pet The Dog: The Game". It's cute, good for mental health and really amusing too. I can't recommend it more, especially to people who love animals and sweet things. But I think everyone should check it out. Such a nice indie game deserves more attention.

PS Do you like my blog and want to be up to date with my stuff? Then don't forget to follow me on Twitter, where I share various thoughts, post art WIPs or just yell about my waifu. Thank you! 💜

Image sources:

Header: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1112890/Calico/

Screenshots were taken by me while playing.