Hokko Life is a life sim game where you unexpectedly stop over in the town of
Hokko and find yourself helping the townsfolks restore their once lively town
by promoting their tourism. The game is still on its Early Access on Steam,
but there are many activities now live which are also similar to Animal
Crossing. Most notably would be meeting and making friends with your animal
neighbors so that the story of Hokko can unfold.
Here is my computer system:
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700k CPU @ 4.20GHz
RAM: 16 GB DDR4
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070x2 8GB GDDR5
Display: 27" MSI Optix AG32C 165Hz
PROS
CONS
Takes an obvious nod to Animal Crossing. (top)
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He says it with a smile too.
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Hokko Life is a laid back life sim game. There is bug hunting, fishing,
crafting on Hokko Life. The most recent update has added farming on the menu
as well. Other things include completing villager requests, beautifying the
town center, and gathering materials for item crafting. Completing villager
requests increases your relationship to each resident too. Although I still can't see if I could gift villagers.
Players can create items using blueprints. (top)
The biggest surprise that I found on Hokko Life is that you can create new items
using "blueprints". The ability to create new items remind me of how you
design objects (and even buildings) in MySims. You would need to design new
items in order to progress in Hokko Life's storyline.
The fishing is fun. (top)
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| No puns thrown eh? |
The fishing in Hokko Life is different from Animal Crossing despite that bug
hunting is simply swinging your net at the bug. In Hokko Life, of course you
need to cast your line first, but you only need to cast it near the silhouette
of the fish and it will actually approach the bobber. Once the fish has
grabbed the line, there's a minigame where you need to reel and pull your
fishing rod; reel too hard and the line may snap; pulling the line in the
wrong direction means the fish may escape. It's pretty simple, but since I
thought the fishing mechanic would be similar to Animal Crossing, I had to ask
Derris, the Bear, how to fish.
Calming soundtrack. (top)
Albeit that Hokko Life still has a limited soundtrack for its early access, the soundtrack
complements the game well. It's relaxing. The ambient music subtly changes in the morning, afternoon, and evening when exploring outside.
The intro feels surreal rather than comedic. (top)
The premise of Hokko Life is that the player accidentally falls asleep on the
train and somehow ends up at the train stop to Hokko when it's a cold and rainy night. Falling asleep and missing your stop is funny, but
somehow I feel like there's something more: perhaps something else had
happened to the player instead and that they crossed to the after-life or to another dimension. After all the train was running during a stormy night.
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It's dark outside, fam.
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There's your dose of reality. Maybe Ben had crossed the after life
as well from overworking?
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Of course this speculation is only due to my wild imagination. Rosa, the real
estate agent, comes back to Hokko and builds an office. It's also mentioned that folks moved out for the city life.
Some noticeable bugs. (top)
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I don't know if Sally means drowning in pieces or drawing in pieces
since I just learned creating blueprints.
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And now for those cons. The games still have its quirks (if they're not bugs):
- Selling early quest related items may render the game unplayable (or you're unable to progress through the game).
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You can push residents when they're moving. But when they're standing still,
they will block your way.
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I'm not sure if it has to do with the screen resolution, but the progress
bar does not fill up completely when it reaches 100% even though the
crafting is finished.
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Whenever I complete a quest, catch a new fish, or break the record on the
size of my latest catch, I get a reward -- but I don't get a message on how
much I received. It's usually 10 coins per reward, so I'll just notice that
I earned coins somehow.
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While talking to an NPC, another resident can approach and "talk" to the
said NPC too. The other resident will show animation of interacting with the
NPC despite that I'm who has its attention.
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It's only a matter of adjusting the progress bar.
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Derris IS talking to ME about bait. |
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Some placed items will move from their original position when loading the
game back.
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While placing items, the grid will say that the object can be placed on the
tile but it won't.
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When you talk to a villager in a certain position, the camera will zoom in
where the view is obstructed (such as a tree).
Shameless plug: this is a similar problem that I anticipated if I added a
camera angle change when the player talks to the NPC on the game I'm
working.
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The bench and the planter fused as one mighty decoration.
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There's a tree in front of us.
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A few things break the immersion. (top)
The player is a new comer to Hokko, a complete stranger.
I'm a little confused how I'm able to tamper on someone else's home or touch
things which don't belong to me.
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I'm not sure how I can customize someone else's home as a stranger.
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How come I'm able to move and even grab other folks' things and put them in my
bag? For example, in Moss' shop I can move his trash bin around and place it
somewhere else. I can take Nico's skateboard and put it in my bag -- everything
inside his home in fact. I can also sleep on someone else's bed. I can enter
their house even if they're not home and far away. For me, this breaks the
immersion and the idea of a life sim game.
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Ah yes, the inn is open from 11 to 14 o'clock, and then 17 to 21
o'clock.
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There's also the small detail of time. Hokko Life is not synced to the system
clock. You can sleep for 2, 6 hours on the futon and progress time; or you can
sleep until the next day. However, since the game is still on its early phase,
I don't sense anything special about having time in the game yet. Given that
the shop is closed after 8pm (or 20:00), each day seems like any other day
without restrictions. There's nothing new happening on the weekends and they
feel the same as the weekdays. I don't get tired after hours, so I might as
well sleep or not sleep.
I don't know what else to do. (top)
This doesn't mean that the game gets boring fast. It would probably bore some folks, but I meant that despite the to-do list present on the
game (a list of quests per se), I find a lack of direction stumping on what to do at
least on the early segment of the game. For example, Sally needed flower
petals for building planters, I had to plant flowers and wait for them to
grow after three days. I didn't know exactly what to do while waiting for them
to grow. So I slept.
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| So... what's next? |
Another example would be when Rosa's office is being built. There's nothing
new nor do I have any other quest to do until it's built, so I can proceed on
building the bridge. Rosa also didn't mention how long it will take for the
office to finish -- she only said work will commence tomorrow.
Should I fish more? Despite that fishing is fun, the payout for each fish is
little. There's a good chunk of time involved to fishing, but Moss is only
buying the fish for a few coins. Should I catch more bugs in the mean time?
What would that accomplish after selling them and saving money? How much
should I save for the house? I thought Rosa's office would be done in 3 days
when it's not. I thought that trees grow after 3 days (when the conifers
did), but they're supposed to grow for 6 days. Welp, I guess I'm just going
to sleep for 6 days.
Conclusion
Hokko Life is still on its Early Access and more content is coming based on
the latest farming update. There are many activities in the game, but
players may find themselves lost early on (or even bored). It's a cute game.
Players can create items, can farm and fish, and also design their town
community. Being provided a much clearer direction on what should be
achieved will help players gain an idea on what to do next. I cannot fully
recommend Hokko Life yet, but expect that it will grow even more; I give it
a 3 out of 5.
THE HARVEST GAMER
Sam1, a portmanteau for someone, is an aspiring novelist in the romance,
comedy, and horror genre. He is a university graduate with a degree in Business Administration and Applied Computer
Science. He is an indie game-developer on itch.io and also an avid gamer. He
currently works as an Exams and Adaptive Technology Coordinator.
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