Video Game Blog 056: SoraRabbit's Review Corner #3
And we’re already back with another Review Corner! These are fun little posts where I cover four games I’ve recently played (and sometimes finished!) and give them scores from 1 to 7 Gamer Bunnies. The previous installments are listed below:
As referenced last time, I recently got a Steam Deck, which is an item I have been eyeing for some time now. I have accumulated a lot of PC and Steam games over the years, but I don’t like sitting at my laptop to play games. I spend all day at my day job in front of a computer and a lot of my free time working on this blog and other projects. So gaming on a computer is not to my taste. The Steam Deck fixes that. So far I love it, but it is a steep learning curve to try and get things to run properly and customize everything to the way I want it. It’s been honestly a bit frustrating, but when it works, it works great. I’m sticking with it and learning, so I’ll get there.
Making everything better, this was kind of a group gift from my family. My brothers, mom, and Cocoa all kicked in money towards the Steam Deck. So far I’ve used it to play some of my Steam games, a bunch of puzzle games, and some Sims. Next year, time permitting, I will be diving into Final Fantasy XI, which I never thought I’d play. (But since I’ve gotten so far on FF14, I don’t see the point in resisting anymore.)
Anyway, two of the Steam games I’ve played so far are the first two games to review on this post. As before, some plot will be spoiled, but I won’t give away the endings. Let’s get going!
Title (Credit: Snoozy Kazoo, Graffiti Games)
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion was released in 2021 by Snoozy Kazoo. It has been on various platforms, but I played the Steam version for this review. I won this game on a game giveaway during one of my brother’s annual charity streams. The title caught my eye, so I chose this one. I didn’t get around to trying it until I got my Steam Deck.
Oooooh. (Credit: Snoozy Kazoo, Graffiti Games)
This is a colorful and amusing game in the style of 16-bit action RPGs. (Especially A Link to the Past.) You control the main character, Turnip Boy, as he wanders his strange world helping out the veggie and fruit people and running errands for a corrupt mayor who is charging him with tax evasion.
Yay, swords. (Credit: Snoozy Kazoo, Graffiti Games)
This game uses a Metroidvania-style progression system. You have to advance the plot and get items before accessing later areas. There are main quests and side quests to complete, hearts to earn, hats to collect, and documents to tear up. (Turnip Boy loves tearing up paper.) Every area has new enemies to fight and a dungeon to complete. You get new items to vary the gameplay as you go such as a way to create a move blocks, a portal generator, and more.
Fighting the bunny. (Credit: Snoozy Kazoo, Graffiti Games)
There was actually a lot more story to this than I expected, with plot twists and a lot of world building as you progress. As with all the games in these two posts, it was very short, but I still had a lot of fun with it. There is also some post game content to keep you playing, and achievements to earn.
Score: Four Gamer Bunnies
I gave this one a solid 4 out of 7 Gamer Bunnies, but that’s mostly due to the score for the next game. This was a cute, quirky game with nice mechanics. I really liked the story and characters. I love the old-school retro style and the humor. This game won me over right away and I had to start the next one immediately after finishing this. I still need to go back and get 100% on it.
Title (Credit: Snoozy Kazoo, Graffiti Games)
Turnip Boy Robs a Bank was released in 2024 by Snoozy Kazoo. It was released for Switch, XBox, and PC. I played the Steam version for this review. This one I didn’t buy until after I got my Steam Deck. I bought it before I even played the first game, feeling that I was going to like it, and needing one more short game to round out this post.
MONEYS! (Credit: Snoozy Kazoo, Graffiti Games)
This game changes the gameplay to make it a rogue-lite game. You venture into a bank and you have a limited amount of time to gather money. This is done by shaking down customers, breaking things, cutting open vaults, and more. (Yes, if you didn’t gather already, Turnip Boy is a criminal.) When your time runs out, you have to run to your van to make a getaway. As you do this, you have a star level (like in Grand Theft Auto) showing how wanted you are by the cops.
After the run, you keep your money and weapons and you can prep for the next run by trading in your weapons and buying upgrades or other items. Some aspects of the bank are randomly generated— there are elevators that lead to different floors— but the main portion of the map remains the same. As you proceed, you gain access to more wings of the bank.
He’s got a chainsaw now. (Credit: Snoozy Kazoo, Graffiti Games)
Just like in the first game, you can unlock new hats to wear. (I wore the bunny ears for almost the entire game. Then I got the mafia hat and switched to that.) You can also earn music tracks, research new weapons, upgrade various aspects of the game to make runs better, and buy things off the dark web. There are tons of side quests and four boss battles. Many characters from the first game make appearances here and it is a direct sequel, continuing the story of Turnip Boy and advancing our understanding of his world.
Score: Five Gamer Bunnies
As alluded to before, I was going to give Part 1 a score of 5 Bunnies, but I dropped it by one after playing this one. Turnip Boy 2 gets an excellent 5 Bunnies out of 7 for elevating the series, adding a lot more collectibles and things to do. Instead of doing another game in the same style, they revamped it completely, giving a whole new experience with the same quirky, funny qualities as the first game. It can get a bit repetitive, especially when saving up for a big upgrade, but the runs are short and it does become easier to make money in the late game. The sense of advancement and exploration kept me firing up run after run.
The amount of collectibles, upgrades, and exploration make this one stand out. I finished the story but I’m not at 100% yet… I still have a few quests and achievements to finish, but I plan to get back to it soon. I had a blast with this one.
Title (Credit: Flavourworks, Sony)
Erica was released by Flavourworks in 2019 for the PlayStation 4, later ported to Windows and iOS. This was one of those games that Cocoashade heard about somewhere and wanted to try. There is an accompanying phone app that lets you control the game, but I used the controller. I don’t need another app, especially a one-use-only app.
So many choices. (Credit: Flavourworks, Sony)
Erica is a live-action game that serves as a interactive story with branching paths. There are various choices in the game that effect your outcome and send you along different routes. It tells a strange story about a young woman haunted by the memories of her father’s murder and being hunted by a stalker while delving into a conspiracy at the hospital her father co-founded.
Gimmicky. (Credit: Flavourworks, Sony)
The game aspect of this feels a little forced. Some of the controls are a bit awkward, and feel needless. (Like flipping open the lighter and activating it.) Using the controller as I did, much of it is done using the center pad of the Dualshock 4 as though it were a mouse.
Art. (Credit: Flavourworks, Sony)
For positives, the game had decent acting and good direction. It was a stylish game. It reminded me a lot of the Telltale games like the Walking Dead of Batman… choices you make effect your relationship with characters and impact your ultimate ending. The loading had no lag when making choices, which was surprising to me… there was always a bit of a lag in the Telltale Games as it accessed the dialogue tree, but this game was smooth. It was really more of a visual novel than a regular game.
Score: Three Gamer Bunnies
I could only give Erica 3 out of 7 Gamer Bunnies. (A score I didn’t think I’d use!) It feels like this was a low budget movie that was forced into a game format. It was a weird hybrid of cutscenes interspersed with needless game mechanics and vague choices. Telltale Games did it better. The plot was a bit confusing. I did enjoy it, but I feel no need to play it again, even though there are multiple endings and trophies to earn. It feels like it would be a slog to sit through all the cut scenes just to get a different ending. It’s not necessarily a bad game, just not my thing.
One thing I can say is that, even after finishing the game, I’m not entirely clear on what’s going on in the plot. I suppose more pieces are given to you with each ending path, but like I said, I’m not really interested enough to replay it. I can say I made different choices than Cocoa did. I see from my trophy list that she ended up burning down the hospital. I didn’t even realize that was an option, so in my run, Chekov’s lighter went unused.
Title (Credit: Happy Broccoli Games)
Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping was released in 2025 by Happy Broccoli Games for various platforms. I played the Switch version for this review. We’ve come full circle! In my first review post I covered the first game in this series and here we are with the sequel.
There’s a bunny in this one too. (Credit: Happy Broccoli Games)
This game feels like an extension of the first Duck Detective game. It has the same mechanics, the same feel, and two of the same characters. They’re just put into a new setting to solve a new case that involves a possibly haunted camp site, a self-obsessed bunny streamer, and multiple secrets to uncover. Just like with the first game, the mysteries that are really going on are far deeper than what you set out to solve. In the first game the Detective was hired to find out who was stealing lunches in an office and uncovered a love triangle and a secret international smuggling ring. Here you just want to find out who stole some lawn chairs and end up finding intrigue involving military secrets, a spy, a secret affair, the truth behind a ghost story, and reunite a father and son.
Investigating. (Credit: Happy Broccoli Games)
If you recall my review for the first game, I stated that there were a couple of points in the game where I found myself stuck and had to resort to leaps of logic to solve some of the deduc(k)tions. I didn’t really have that here, but there were times when I had to wander a bit to see what dialogue had changed or if new paths were open. In a good example, a trailer was locked at the beginning of the game and without warning near the end was suddenly unlocked. Nothing in the game alerted me to this. I just happened to try the door and it opened.
Giggle. (Credit: Happy Broccoli Games)
This game has the same tone and humor as the first one, but feels a bit more compact. There are less characters and the overall game feels shorter. I won’t give away the ending, but it does end on a jarring cliffhanger, so we’re sure to get more Duck Detective in the future.
Score: Four Gamer Bunnies
Just like with the previous installment in the Duck Detective series, I gave this one 4 out of 7 Gamer Bunnies. The story and gameplay were just a bit more fun, but it felt even shorter than the last one. The easier and more intuitive deduc(k)tions made it a little better. While I didn’t get stuck for as long as I did in the first game, there were times when you have to wander around, keeping an eye out for minor changes to be able to advance. So this, along with the short length reduced it from a possible score of 5. I wish it had been a bit longer, but the game was fun for what it is. I look forward to the inevitable third game in the trilogy.
Turnip with a shotgun. (Credit: Snoozy Kazoo, Graffiti Games)
So last time I ended up with all sad games. This time I gravitated towards more cheerful, colorful games. (With the exception of Erica… that one was the odd one out.) I loved the Turnip Boy games and plan to check out future games from this developer. A Turnip Boy prequel and an unrelated game are coming out soon. The Duck Detective games continue to be solid, and the ending of this one ensures there will at least be a Part 3 at some point. Erica was okay, but felt more like watching a movie than playing a game. It didn’t grab me like the other ones.
It also wrecked the tone of this post since it involves a secret cult, murder, stalking, and mysterious experiments on hospital patients. I played that nestled in between a cartoony criminal turnip and an oblivious crime-solving duck. But that’s how life goes sometimes.
STARE. (Credit: Happy Broccoli Games)
Thank you for reading! With this, we now have three installments of Review Corner and I’ve already won eight games this year! (Well, nine really, but I already talked about Piczle Colors in a different post.) Anyway, this was a fun experiment and I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot. Getting through eight games in four days and two posts shortly after made me feel like I’m getting somewhere. I started the year off right! I appreciate you all for reading and I’ll be back soon with something else!
Night night. (Credit: Snoozy Kazoo, Graffiti Games)
