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The atmosphere is on-point, the gameplay is another story | Review - Laid-Back Camp All -in -one

2K View2023-06-16

Laid-Back Camp All -in -one

9.1

RPGAnimeEditors' ChoiceSimulationLifestyle simulation

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Laid-Back Camp All -in -one combines elements of The Sims with its slice-of-life or life simulation elements, survival games with its crafting and building system, and gacha gaming for its live service elements.

🟩Pros

+Faith adaptation when it comes to the story chapters and atmosphere

+Beautiful campsite sceneries

🟥Cons

-Annoyingly slow-paced tutorial

-Heavy micromanagement for the camping segments

-Feels somewhat disconnected from the zen-like camping experience of the Anime series

-Low translation quality

While the game occasionally shifts to 2D anime graphics during story segments, its main gameplay predominantly utilizes chibi-style graphics, which deviates slightly from the visuals of the anime series. However, despite this departure, the game manages to capture the essence of the anime – with a relaxing atmosphere and beautiful 3D sceneries.

The story chapter sequences are faithfully recreated, scene by scene, ensuring a familiar experience for fans. The intro successfully captures the same vibes as the anime, featuring the identical intro music and voices. It feels as though the exact dialogue from the anime has been seamlessly integrated into the game's scenes. In terms of recreating the atmosphere of the anime series, this game nails it.

The game aligns with the laid-back and relaxed camping nature of the anime series, resulting in a slow-paced experience. Unfortunately, this slow pacing also extends to the tutorial, which can be more frustrating than helpful. Players may feel disheartened by the lack of control they have over the game during the initial hour or two. The way the tutorial is structured can be irritating, as it restricts players' control and fails to provide a smooth and engaging introduction to the game.

The gameplay revolves around players assembling a party of characters, customizing their costumes, and curating a selection of camping gear for their adventures. They can undertake missions that focus on camping-oriented objectives, such as cooking specific meals, capturing photos, organizing barbecues, or participating in firewood chopping competitions.

Players can also craft camping gear, cook food, and perform maintenance of their tools; as well as decorate their camp and customize the placement of objects like the tent, table, and lamps.

Players are allotted a fixed number of turns to prepare for these tasks. During these turns, they have the opportunity to perform actions to enhance their stats, build relationships with fellow campers, and the overall state of the camp all while balancing stamina with rest so they will be better prepared when the task comes.

Every aspect of the camping involves meticulous micromanagement. Engaging in conversations with campers, taking rests, and performing various actions are all done with the players' commands and have corresponding stat effects, similar to RPG mechanics. For example, any action undertaken expends stamina. Another example, characters experiencing a sudden surge of nostalgia may contribute to an increased "coziness" rating within the camp.

Based on the side activities players engage in to prepare for tasks, the outcomes of those tasks can either be successful or unsuccessful. At the end of the turns and tasks, the group's performance is rated, which impacts their team rank. Progressing through the ranks unlocks additional campsites.

These micromanagement aspects of the gameplay might feel disconnected from the relaxing camping experience the game seeks to capture from the anime series. This particular gameplay adaptation may not resonate with everyone. Personally, it feels like a more appropriate approach would be to create a proper chill camping simulation game, similar to relaxing titles like Stardew Valley or the zen-focused game Unpacking.

Additionally, as a live service game, Laid-Back Camp All-in-One incorporates familiar features like login bonuses, in-game purchases, and the gacha system mentioned earlier, offering different costumes for the characters. These elements contribute to the ongoing engagement and progression within the game, especially those who would like to immerse themselves in the camping-inspired gameplay.

While Laid-Back Camp All -in -one does feature English localization, it's worth noting that the translation quality may not be up to par. Some buttons are weirdly and incorrectly labelled, however, it remains mostly serviceable, allowing a significant portion of players worldwide to enjoy the game.

I’ve also encountered various technical issues such as encounters with infinite loading screens requiring a restart to proceed further. Fortunately, no progress is lost when doing these restarts. On the gameplay side, there are recurring sound bites of dialogue that can become annoying as they repeat incessantly.

Conclusion:

Laid-Back Camp All-in-One is a video game adaptation of the Laid-Back Camp anime series that aims to capture the relaxing camping nature of the show. While it successfully recreates the atmosphere and faithfully adapts the story chapter sequences, its heavy micromanagement aspects, annoyingly slow-paced tutorial, and gacha mechanics hinder the overall experience and don't really capture the zen-like feeling of the series with its gameplay.

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Laid-Back Camp All -in -one

9.1

RPGAnimeEditors' ChoiceSimulationLifestyle simulation

Get

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