Review: Teacup
Embark on a teacup-sized quest to find ingredients for a tea party that you are hosting! You are a cute, introverted frog who ventures throughout a beautiful hand-drawn two-dimensional world, interacting with friendly animals who help you gather leaves and sweeteners to make the most delicious tea for your esteemed guests. Teacup is a wholesome and creative short game that will leave you all warm and cozy inside!
Developed by Smarto Club and published by Whitethorn Digital, the people behind Calico and Lake, Teacup shares a similar soothing atmosphere and serene gameplay as its predecessors, designed to calm your nerves as you play through the narrative, and it succeeds at that perfectly. I found myself engrossed in the slow yet enticing world of Teacup, but I only wish there was a little more.
Serving Aesthetics, 10’s Across the Board
Teacup understood the assignment when it comes to aesthetics. Both the visuals and the soundtracks will welcome you into the fantastical world where all characters are animals and where everyone co-exists peacefully. Every area of the game features gorgeous hand-drawn backgrounds and characters and comes to life as you walk through it. The slow pace and soft aesthetics will soothe your soul and calm your nerves.
If you have a nostalgic heart like I do, you will be so pleased by how reminiscent this game is of retro Nintendo side-scrollers and old-school animated Disney movies. In other words, visually-speaking, Teacup is the lovechild of Cuphead and Spiritfarer. If the fairy-tale narrative is not your cup of tea (pun intended), the warm and vibrant colours will make you want to keep exploring, to savour every page of this beautiful book turned into a video game.
Make Tea and Friends
The narrative is simple and straightforward: you’re hosting a tea party tomorrow but need to find ingredients, which are found by interacting with the numerous animals scattered in the area. Progress is somewhat non-linear, letting you explore more or less freely, reinforcing the calm nature of the game – you don’t need to strive for precise objectives in order, only gather ingredients as you explore (and re-explore) organically. I quite enjoyed this aspect of the game, which is difficult to achieve for a two-dimensional side-scroller, where you typically go from point A to point B, from left to right.
The various characters you encounter are all very attaching, I found myself wanting to befriend them, wanting to know them more. The game succeeds at infusing animals with personality in a way that does not feel flat and forced. The dialogues are mostly well-written and interesting. However, I would have preferred fewer characters with more depth, more lore. Only a fraction of them is significant to the narrative and to getting you ingredients; the ones who don’t, feel inconsequential, even vapid at times, slowing down the pace of the game even further – which was perhaps the intention, but on occasion it feels like it’s dragging a tiny bit, despite the short length of the game. Does the game deserve the “story rich” tag that it displays on its Steam store page? Probably not. The story is simple and cute, not rich – which is not a bad thing per se.
A Wholesome Fairy Tale Turned into a Game
The simple narrative boasts simple controls: arrows to move, spacebar to interact, shift to sprint (a very slow sprint) and z to consult your book which shows you all the ingredients you need and have collected thus far. You’ll spend most of your gameplay time walking forward and pressing the spacebar as soon as you see an icon pop up, and then reading the flavour text. It’s cute and sweet.
Serving as punctuation between moments of exquisite exploration and wholesome dialogues are mini-games, usually as the final step to get an ingredient. They’re not difficult but not as easy as they seem! I found them thoroughly enjoyable and would have gladly taken more of them.
I personally enjoy visual novels, and this game very much has that feel. The fun mini-games and the non-linearity of the exploration do add a level of player interaction and are a wind of fresh air. That being said, the game is very short – in one hour, you’ll be done with everything that the game has to offer, with little to no replayability.
A Warm Cup of Tea
Despite its short length, (too) slow pace, and lack of depth, I cannot help but be left with a good feeling after playing this game. I cannot overstate how gorgeous the visuals are, and the soundtrack complement the aesthetics very nicely. While it does not feel like a game in typical sense, Teacup is a creative treasure that is sure to calm you down and soothe your soul, especially if you have a retro heart like I do. This game is nostalgic in the best way possible, without being childish whatsoever. Teacup is like a freshly brewed cup of your favourite tea in a chilly winter evening: it will comfort you, bring back heartwarming memories, and leave you with a cozy feeling.
