Review - Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge

Developer: Humble Reeds

Publisher: Armor Games Studios

Available on: Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PC, macOS, Linux

Review console: Xbox Series X

It's probably hard to believe but I love frogs. They're such silly little creatures with an amazing variety of adaptations and variations. As amphibians, they're typically found where there is fresh water, usually puddles, marshy areas, and the like, but they've been found living in trees, underground, and some have even adapted to desert conditions. They're wildly adaptable and well, ridiculously cute. Kamaeru takes that cuteness and adaptability and puts them into a cozy wildlife refuge management sim.

Ribbit!

Now, before we get into the gameplay, I have to note that Kamaeru is not meant to be an accurate representation of managing a wildlife refuge. The frogs themselves are just cutesy versions of frogs with different patterns and colors. The point of the game is more about collecting different frog patterns and colors through arranging furniture, taking photos, and gaining their appreciation by feeding them their favorite bugs.

Much of the gameplay revolves around putting down ponds, collecting bugs, and gathering berries, reeds, honey, and an assortment of other produced goods to manufacture organically made items like paper cups and journals all for the sake of selling them to fund your project. Expanding the refuge is an option, but as the game goes on, there's more than 1 refuge to help out managing with more options for producing goods and finding more patterns and colors of frog to collect.

Pretty colors!

The game's overall aesthetic is very watercolor-painted. The color palette is light and feels almost airy, and gives the game an overall wholesome feel. The frogs that appear pop in and out around furniture and there are so many to find and collect. Thankfully, the game offers up an option to help find other colors and patterns of frog: lab-making hybrids is possible. There's a bit of a mini-game to this mechanic and it runs like a game of tic-tac-toe mixed with Punnett squaring. Get the right combo of colors and you could make a whole new one!

Verdict

Overall, Kamaeru is a pretty simple game. It ran well on my console, though, I do have to admit that at times, the controls for the game are a bit wonky. There were times when I meant to hit certain parts of the menu and after hitting the correct button, a different menu would open. Outside of that however, much of my focus was on the simplicity of it. It's very easily one of those games you can open up when you want to mindlessly do tasks while looking at something aesthetically pleasing and listening to soothing music. It's not an overly impressive game and does not add anything particularly mind-blowing to the cozy-creature-collector-simulation genres, but it is wholesome and enjoyable nonetheless.