Genre: Point-and- Click
Release date: December 13, 2016

The Little Acre is a new game from executive producer Charles Cecil. Charles is most famous as being the guy behind the Broken Sword series, and I was excited to check out the new offering in which he’s involved.

The hero of the story is Aiden, a poor farmer. Aiden reminds me of Torin from Torin’s Passage, and the whole art style has a sense of whimsy. Aiden lives on a family farm with his father and daughter Lily. Unfortunately, Aiden’s father is missing, and Aiden decides to mount a search for him. After looking through his father’s inventions, Aiden stumbles onto a gateway to another world and has no way to get home.

The story switches to Lily who wakes up, makes herself breakfast and discovers that her father is missing. She starts her own search and discovers the same gateway. Lily often works with her dog, Dougal, and I was reminded of Buttons and Mindy from the Animaniacs TV show. Lily would venture forth, ignorant of Danger, and her companion would try to prevent a disaster. It’s entertaining to guide the interaction of these two. The story switches back and forth between Aiden and Lily, each progressing through the world.

The art in this game is pretty to look at. I’ve heard it compared to a Disney cartoon movie from the 80s and can see the resemblance. The color scheme is full of light colors which are pleasing on the eyes and make for beautiful environments.

The sound is well-recorded, but I feel the voice actor for Lily is the weak point of the game. The voices are a bit low in the default setting but thankfully, I was able to boost the volume of the voice track without affecting music or sound effects.

The puzzles are well done and really give the feel of playing an old school point-and-click. However, any experienced point-and-clicker will go through this game quickly. I was never stuck — the game may have been designed for children.

This game feels as though it took a lot of outside inspiration and put it together in a unique package. The journey you take with Lily and Aiden is a fun, light-hearted adventure. The game goes by quickly, though. I completed it in less than two hours. But, the game made me smile and can make you smile, too.

+ Whimsical Graphics + Straightforward Puzzles   – Short