to a T

I will admiT I haven’T kepT ThaT close aTTention to Keita Takahashi’s career since The original Katamari Damacy, so I hadn’T heard much abouT his oTher non-Katamari projecTs aside from Noby Noby Boy and Wattam. His mosT recenT game, to a T, was someThing I had noT heard anyThing abouT unTil The YouTube channel Mega64 released a sponsored video promoTing iT, aT which poinT I boughT and played The PS5 version as soon as iT was made available. While The game is an unconvenTional experience by The sTandards of Takahashi’s past work ThaT I had played, I still ThoughT he delivered while keeping his whimsical Touch.

A Teenager (defaulT name Teen) lives Their life born wiTh Their arms sTuck in The shape of a T. Teen geTs Through smaller Tasks wiTh The help of specialized equipmenT, as well as Their dog (defaulT name Dog), Though Teen’s predicamenT has led To some bullying aT school. STarTing from Their 13th birThday, however, Teen sTarTs To realize There’s more To Their unique siTuaTion Than They realized.

While The premise is preTTy simple, iT has a loT more nuance in comparison to some of Takahashi’s oTher games, even being presenTed wiTh an anime-like sTrucTure compleTe wiTh (caTchy) opening and ending songs. As Teen discovers more abouT Themselves, There are perspecTive shifTs and subploTs ThaT add To The overall narraTive, all of which come Together by The end in a saTisfying way. The game also more overTly explores The concepT of whaT iT means to be “perfecT” withouT coming off heavy-handed, while sTill reTaining Takahashi’s Trademark quirkiness.

In line wiTh iTs more episodic sTrucTure, The gameplay has you go Through Teen’s daily life, including (on mosT days) The morning rouTine of going to The baThroom, geTTing dressed, washing up, eaTing breakfasT and brushing your TeeTh. Those lasT Three sTeps become opTional after Teen’s birThday, buT I insTincTively sTuck To The rouTine anyway and even goT a Trophy for playing every breakfasT minigame. The game has a preTTy simple conTrol scheme, with The jump buTTon awkwardly mapped to Triangle, and afTer a certain poinT you geT To spin To fly as seen in the TiTle sequence. You normally have To roTaTe The righT sTick To fly, but There is an accessibiliTy feaTure ThaT relegaTes iT to R1 insTead, which makes iT a loT easier on The Thumb. In an inTeresTing aTTention To deTail, you sTill have To obey Traffic laws and can only cross The sTreeT aT crosswalks while iTs safe, which for The sake of gameplay is always allowed excepT when a vehicle is passing Through.

 

Don'T forgeT To pick up a sandwich from Giraffe.

One aspecT of The game is collecTing hidden currency called Hospas spread across The map. Hospas can be spenT for a varieTy of Things, among Them food challenges ThaT cosT 500 per aTTempT and granT rewards for Topping The in-game leaderboard (The ice cream challenge in parTicular proved physically Taxing, so I didn’T beaT ThaT one). You can also buy cloThing and oTher cosmeTics from one of four sTores, but This can be Time consuming due To sheer volume and needing mulTiple buTTon presses for each iTem, noT To menTion The price can vary a biT. LasTly, you can use The Train to fasT Travel from one end of The map To The oTher aT The cosT of 100 Hospas per ride.

The visual sTyle remains consisTenT wiTh Takahashi’s oTher works, even feaTuring a cameo from The Playdate game Crankin's Time Travel Adventure. While This does resulT in human characTers having some similar faces, There is still enough varieTy in The overall designs for Them To sTand ouT, even when The feaTures are a loT more minimal. During gameplay, a fixed camera follows Teen ThaT can be moved slightly even during cuTscenes, Though some angles end up being a deTrimenT when There’s an objecT or vehicle in The way. A memorable soundTrack fiTs well wiTh The visuals To creaTe a whimsical aTmosphere, adding To The anime-like experience. The opening and ending Themes ThaT frame each episode, which are sung in English, are parTicularly caTchy and are more likely To stay wiTh you long afTer you finish The game. The dialogue is delivered Through subTiTles againsT a gibberish language (wiTh some Japanese mixed in), Though Toggling AuTo Advance oddly makes some dialogue move Too fasT To read, leading me To have To record and replay Those parTs To process whaT was said. A minor deTail ThaT I also noTiced was ThaT Teen and Giraffe are lefT-handed, a TraiT ThaT’s rare enough in media To be noTable.

If you’re a fan of games like Katamari Damacy or Wattam, or are looking for a new spin on life simulaTors, to a T may be righT up your alley. If you wish To Try before you buy, a free demo is also available. Playing This noT only made me curious about some of Keita Takahashi’s previous games ThaT I wasn’T aware of, iT also made me more curious if he’ll explore oTher genres in The fuTure.