Games worth discovering

Deliver mail to cats and other creatures in a relaxing cottagecore world - Mail Time Quick Review

7K View2023-04-28

PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Play it if you’re a fan of cozy and relaxing games. Mail Time is a sweet and occasionally hilarious game that’s all about delivering mail. While the game started me off with a simple quest—deliver a letter to some guy named Greg—I soon found myself taking on all kinds of odd jobs. Whether I was playing matchmaker, finding a new hat for a capybara, or helping characters pull off a heist, I was thoroughly charmed by Mail Time’s adorable world.

TIME SPENT

I spent around seven hours with Mail Time, which was more than enough time to finish its story. Most players should be able to get through Mail Time in around four to five hours, but since I was free to play the game at my own pace, I spent more time exploring its tiny world. I would have loved to visit more areas and meet a wider cast of characters, but it’s still a satisfying experience overall.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Awesome traversal options. Whether I was gliding through the air, bouncing off a mushroom, or jumping from one lily pad to the next, I loved moving around in Mail Time. Sometimes I’d jump off a mountain just so I could soar to the ground below. There’s no precision platforming, but certain objects and areas are tricky to reach, so I occasionally had to find creative ways to get from one location to the next.

• Lots of collectibles. Delivering mail is the key objective in Mail Time, but I spent a lot of time searching for different types of collectibles, like mushroom samples or missing coins. Sometimes, I’d spot a collectible I couldn’t get to, and figuring out how to access them felt a little like a puzzle. Mail Time is filled with beautiful environments, and the collectibles gave me a reason to explore every last nook and cranny.

• Fun characters and dialogue. As I made deliveries, I spent a lot of time chatting with various characters. Every one of the fifteen characters I met had a distinct personality and way of speaking. Not only is the dialogue incredibly charming, but it’s occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. It has a light, zippy tone that makes it easy to read through long conversations.

• Character customization. Mail Time’s character creator isn’t overly complex, but it still offers lots of options and even let me manually adjust my character’s hair color and skin tone. While I couldn’t change my character’s look after I started a playthrough, I could unlock new mushroom hats for them to wear. If you’re not big on character creation, Mail Time also has a quick play mode that lets you start a game with a ready-to-go character.

WHAT SUCKS

• Buggy gameplay. I didn’t encounter a ton of bugs during my Mail Time playthrough, but the bugs I did run into were pretty frustrating. No matter what hair color I selected during character creation, my character would almost always load in with red hair. This even happened in quick play files. More upsettingly, I encountered a bug that removed a key item from my inventory, making it impossible for me to complete an in-game quest. This didn’t keep me from finishing the game, but it was disappointing. Hopefully, these bugs will be patched out quickly so that players can have a relaxing experience.

• No maps. Mail Time doesn’t have any sort of in-game map, which made it slightly difficult to keep track of where I was or where I was supposed to be going. The world isn’t massive, so I eventually learned my way around, but there were a few times when I wound up wandering in circles. I have a pretty poor sense of direction, so I always prefer to have an in-game map to guide me.

💬 Do you plan on delivering letters in Mail Time, or will you be avoiding this mail delivery gig? Let us know in the comments.