It is Saturday, my friends and family… which means, The Modern Gamer has something for you today. It is, in fact me… Sumroad, writing from a dark place, I don’t really know where, I just woke up here. There is a spotlight and beneath it what appears to be some sort of seed. I am curious but I would like to wait and see, maybe something happens.
Uhm… nothing. What do you say? Should I go and see? Yeeeeeeah! I know you guys and you want me to be your guinea pig and let me tell you, I’m not that easy! Well, not that easy (…)
Alright now! I am easy! Let’s go! (Approaches slowly). If something happens to me, please tell my family I love them…
I’m entering into the light, right next to the… seed, I can see something written on the lightbulb, it says… Mitoza… Oooook! I’m inspecting the seed now, it looks like an apple seed or something, (I really hope there’s something or somewhere to eat around here, I’m starving!). What would happen if I touched it? (Curious hand touches the seed). WHOA! What’s this? A couple icons just appeared on the sides of the seed, one looks like a flowerpot and the other one is a bird. I think this thing wants me to choose: Let’s pick… the flowerpot!
Uh… ok guys! I think I got it, this is Mitoza, and it is somehow weird, but somehow fun. Let me explain this to you.
The seed reacts to your choices, the first time I chose the flowerpot, right? after that a flowerpot showed up out of nowhere just for the seed to jump into it and buried into the soil, then a couple more options showed up.
So, I kept choosing, the first time, I got my seed burnt to ashes and magically appeared a new one. My curiosity was triggered hard. I was determined to get some food out of it, but guess what… no food, only weird reactions, vampires, giant flies, and… a new seed every single time. I fell asleep, and woke up in my bedroom, confused but you know me, I had to get to the bottom of this!
I opened my laptop and start googling… Mi… to… za. What had I found? Mitoza defines itself as a toy, instead of a game, and I think that description suits it. Like when you think you’re about to get into an adventure with a seed, gearing up and grinding to the sweet taste of justice and glory! But no… this game is about making choices and grow your seed for multiple, odd and funny results.
The UI is really minimal, there’s the seed, your grow options and the menu in the top left corner. Which is basically an overview of whatever you’ve used on your seed. There are also three buttons on the bottom left corner, the first one is a Lightbulb which shows you a couple shortcuts: double tap to fast forward the animation and use three fingers to undo. Next up is a Star: the overview, and then there is an info button, this will show you the developer and publisher links to their social media, as well as a “Special thanks” link and a “Leave a review” button. Pretty minimal but you don’t really need anything else.
Onto the graphics and sound. There is no music, only well executed SFX, I mean, you can’t (or must not) fail to use a birdie SFX, right? So, let’s say the sound department is well done. I think a soft BGM wouldn’t hurt, making this my only complaint. Graphic wise, the “toy” isn’t terrible, in fact, it uses some cut out animation too, but it is well done, not jaggy or rough. To be honest, it doesn’t need Unreal Engine quality graphics to be fun.
The game is a little short, and you will notice after looking to the overview I mentioned before. You just have to take the right choices to get the full library and that’s all, you can still have fun, but you won’t get anything past that. Up to this point, you must be wondering if Mitoza is worth playing… or not. The short answer is, yes, it is a weird game and that’s good. There are a lot of ARPGs, MMOs and so on, but weird games are refreshing too, so if you want something casual to have a little fun with, go get it, if you feel like you need a challenging game, you should skip it, there’s no real challenge here. Mitoza is that odd toy a distant relative gifts you on a Sunday for no reason. It is fun to see the seed morphs into unrelated and unexpected things, but that’s all. Maybe a more customizable experience would add to the experience, maybe a few more options and a wider spectrum of choices as well as rewards and such would drive users into another level so let’s just hope for the developer to keep making this toy a more enjoyable one.
Oh… (tummy roars), I was so entertained with my writing that I forgot I was hungry, I think I should go get something to eat now and avoid any sleeping, I don’t feel like being stuck again with a non-edible-seed till I fall asleep again (lol). That would be it from me this week on The Modern Gamer. I really hope y’all have a great gaming weekend and remember, my friends and family… if you have plants, be gentle to them and be suspicious about any mysterious seed you find in your way! Stop by the comments down below and let me know your thoughts, okay!? This is Sumroad, signing out, till the next one!