Developer: AstralShift
Publisher: Square Enix Collective
Platform: Switch, PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
Tested on: PC
Little Goody Two Shoes – Review
Back in 2016, indie developers AstralShift released a game made in RPG Maker titled Pocket Mirror. That game received critical acclaim and put the studio on Square Enix’s radar. With Square Enix’s support, AstralShift has now brought Little Goody Two Shoes to players, a game that turned out to be quite an ambitious step up from Pocket Mirror. Little Goody Two Shoes is set in the same universe as its predecessor, but acts as a prequel, so even if you haven’t played Pocket Mirror, you should be able to jump into Little Goody Two Shoes without issue. The question is of course whether the game is worth your time in the first place. Read on to find out why that is absolutely the case.
Story
Central to the story of Little Goody Two Shoes is Elise, an arrogant young girl who is convinced that she deserves far better than the simple life she leads. As the game’s storybook opening shows, Elise was found as an infant by granny Holle, who lives just outside of the town of Kieferberg. Many years later, Holle passes away, leaving Elise to take care of herself. The townsfolk of Kieferberg look with suspicion at the young girl. On a fateful night, the mysterious girl Rozenmarine shows up in Elise’s storage shed, which kickstarts the events of Little Goody Two Shoes’ main plot. Elise guilt trips Rozenmarin into taking on a job as her maid. When Elise finds a pair of ruby red slippers -the titular shoes- supernatural events start happening in the town. Given that Elise is already being looked at strangely, this makes the townsfolk grow even more suspicious of our protagonist. Can Elise avoid suspicion as she figures out the truth behind the strange occurrences? Is Rozenmarin connected to the rumors that a witch is haunting the woods surrounding Kieferberg? And perhaps most important of all: can Elise conquer the heart of her true love?
Graphics
Without a doubt, the most stand-out feature of Little Goody Two Shoes are the ‘90s anime visuals, which the game pulls off without a hitch. This is especially true when it comes to the games’ gorgeous cutscenes, which even add the grainy low-res feel of a VHS tape to complete the feeling of authenticity. Little Goody Two Shoes makes use of different art styles, although the overall aesthetic is maintained, tying everything together neatly. The various environments are filled with lush detail and are a true joy to explore.
Sound
Just like with the visuals, Little Goody Two Shoes’ audio is an eclectic mix of different styles that somehow blend together nicely. You’ll be treated to 8-bit tunes as well as fully orchestrated and voiced songs, including honest-to-goodness anime opening credits. There is limited voice acting here as well, both in Japanese and English, and both sets of performances do a fantastic job of bringing their respective characters to life. On the other hand, the sound effects were just okay and didn’t really impress.
Gameplay
As Little Goody Two Shoes mixes and matches different gameplay elements, and sprinkles minigames on top, it’s difficult to fully explain what the game is about without experiencing it for yourself. The game is part dating sim, part visual novel, part horror game, and part RPG. Its core gameplay loop is fairly simple and involves taking on odd jobs to make small amounts of money so that Elise can buy food to survive. The game is structured around in-game days, with NPCs changing their behavior accordingly. This means that there is a lot to discover, and especially early on, Little Goody Two Shoes can feel overwhelming as you try and find your footing, finding the right balance between taking on jobs, flirting with the townsgirl of your choice, or pushing the main story forward. You’ll also need to keep an eye on the townsfolks’ suspicion level, both by keeping the pink-haired girl Muffy happy and by making the right dialogue choices during specific scenes to sway the public’s opinion of you. Failure to do so will turn the pleasant townsfolk into an angry mob with pitchforks and torches, who are more than eager to bring an end to Elise’s life.
The jobs Elise takes on are represented through those aforementioned minigames. They’re extremely simple affairs that do break up gameplay nicely, and range from menial tasks like gathering eggs from the chicken coop and chopping firewood to entertaining the town children. Successfully completing these provides your main source of income, and you’ll need to buy food from Gretel’s shop to prevent Elise from starving to death, so you’ll be spending plenty of time on the minigames. You can get Rozenmarine to help you out, but this does come with the caveat that your servant can be a bit of a blabbermouth, and she might inadvertently raise the suspicion level. It’s a careful task of balancing between getting jobs done and not drawing attention to Elise.
A completely different aspect where you DO want to draw attention to Elise, however, are the romantic elements. There are three potential candidates vying for Elise’s affection: Rozenmarine herself, childhood friend Freya, and pious nun Lebkuchen. You’ll be able to go on seven dates with each one, building up your relationship, through visual novel-esque dialogue choices. The scenes are particularly well-written and flesh out both Elise and her suitors. Initially, Elise comes across as an incredibly arrogant and annoying protagonist, but it is thanks to these segments that the girl really grew on us, as we learned about her feelings, her dreams, and her values. We should note that the game does keep things light-hearted and that you won’t get to see more than the girls sharing a kiss, so if you were hoping for fan service, this isn’t your game. Still, it’s all very, very cute. Unless you are using a guide, it’s unlikely that you’ll nail all dates on your first try. Fortunately, Little Goody Two Shoes has plenty of replay value.
The horror aspect of Little Goody Two Shoes comes in during the night hours of the game’s day cycle. Elise is suffering from nightmares, and these are seemingly caused by the monsters that inhabit the woodlands just outside of Kieferberg. Surprisingly, dealing with these nefarious critters doesn’t involve combat. Instead, you’ll need to rely on stealth and make your way around the traps and enemies that litter the woods, while keeping an eye on both Elise’s sanity and hunger. During the nighttime parts of the game, you’ll also need to solve environmental puzzles in order to push the story forward and solve the mysteries surrounding the things that plague Kiefenberg.
Clocking in at roughly 12 hours, Little Goody Two Shoes is a fairly short affair. It’s also not a very difficult game, with the biggest challenges being built around managing time, resources, and suspicion. Puzzles can get a bit obtuse, especially in the latter half, which is probably the most negative thing we can say about Little Goody Two Shoes. Still, we were more than pleasantly surprised by this interactive dark fairy tale. There is quite a bit of replay value here as well. The game offers several endings, influenced by the choices Elise makes, so we are more than happy to return to Kieferberg again to see how the story plays out in different ways.
Conclusion
An atypical game in more ways than one, Little Goody Two Shoes is one of those titles that you can’t really fully understand without having played it for yourself. The unique blend of art styles and audio really captivates and immerses the player in the dark fairy tale world that the game cooks up. Although a single playthrough won’t eat up too much of your time, the different endings provide plenty of incentive to return to the game, although some of the later puzzles can feel a bit obtuse. Still, we absolutely can recommend giving Little Goody Two Shoes a chance, as it’s likely you’ll be as pleasantly surprised as we were.
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