Recent reviews by a cosmic cat

as someone who has been playing the original MSM nearly since its release, i could hardly be more disappointed with MSM playground. the graphics and soundtrack are decent enough that i was momentarily tricked into thinking this could be a soulful game, but sadly it is just a thin mask atop bare bones. my hopes were squandered painfully fast given that i have waited 3 years for this to be affordable enough to experience. as others have said, you can see 100% of the content (other than unlocking cosmetics) within 3 hours, which after tax is almost like paying $15 an hour at the $40 pricepoint... perhaps in development there were better intentions, but the end result of this beta-esque release is nothing short of shameless greed. $40 is the perfect price where parents will be like "𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘫𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘪 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵" and i am certain this was BBB's exact line of thinking when plotting playground's perfectly predatory price.

there are a few aspects of the game where i'm like aw that's cute, such as cold island music playing for snow levels, air island music for sky levels, etc. being able to "dry fire" the prize machine with grey thumpies butterflies coming out was a nice touch. and while many of the mini-games are very typical and uninspired, there are a handful that are pretty fun such as hazardous hurdle where the quirky AI of the hurdle makes up for the simplicity of the objective. however, the overall egregious lack of content, lack of ability for online players to reconnect to a game, and our precious monsters mostly not being voiced by their original actors (𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘒𝘦𝘳𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘔𝘦𝘪𝘬𝘭𝘦) stand out far more than whatever brings a brief smile to my face.

a few specific missed opportunities that come to immediate mind:
-having absolutely NO activity inbetween mini-games like mario party's board; 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶-𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲-𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲'𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹. i would be ecstatic for 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 like this to come in an update. just think of the maps and NPCs they could have...
-having so few monster cameos. seeing phangler swimming was fun, this game would be a great medium to show monsters doing more than singing!!
-making the points system so boring. MSM has so many currencies; where are coins, where are treats??? there are so many ways they could have worked so many of them in. "bonus stars" just being more diamonds is so lame
-not being able to use emotes in mini-games. why would they go out of their way to straight up subtract fun???

anyway i could probably keep crying for hours, i'll cut it here and i'll cut it dry:

-if you don't love MSM, don't bother with this game in its current state at any price.
-if you love MSM, still don't because it will just break your heart. despite my naive self really hoping playground gets a solid update at some point down the line, the reality is most likely that because BBB's profits are clearly predicated on selling the concept instead of the actual game, they probably won't see enough reason to put anything else into it.

just stick to actual MSM for your monster fix, bust out literally any mario party instead of this, and thank me later

I wish I could recommend this game but unfortunately it is clear that it has very little to offer at the moment. I really like the style and characters, but there really isn't depth at all. Also, it is pretty buggy at the moment. Maybe one day this could be a cool game, but thus far it seems the devs may have abandoned the project. RIP Starcats, I love you RealCat.

(7 minutes because mainly played via family sharing)

This was a fun and pretty unique ride. The trailer doesn't do the game justice I think. If you like outsmarting the enemy, this is probably for you. As long as you are observant and always keep in mind what you can use to your advantage, you'll have a great time. Don't be afraid to die when you first start a mission, just jump into it and see what happens. Then you can plan your route. Who knows, you might get farther than you think by just jumping in.

I love Deadbolt's aesthetic too. I'm a sucker for pixel art and the graphics are wonderful despite the low amount of pixels used. While the music isn't insanely memorable, it's still got some nice tunes. Especially if you can get it for 5 dollars, this is very worth the price.

A really cute game with really cute girls! I can't walk around my house at night without thinking a doki is there to hurt me