Recently, I had the opportunity to play through the first three chapters of Apopia: Sugar Coated Tale. At first glance, Apopia is a simple adventure game. However, upon taking a deeper look, I uncovered a more personal journey. Each chapter got me more invested in the world, and when I finally reached the end of the third chapter, I was excited to see what’s next. It’s a fantastic experience so far, suffering from only a few small issues very rarely.
Apopia begins with the protagonist, Mai, falling into the world of Yogurt while exploring a mountain with her mother, with the ultimate goal of getting home. The land of Yogurt is a puzzle-filled dreamland, as Mai and a mysterious cat named Nico tackle a variety of challenges and meet numerous colorful characters in hopes of finding an escape and eventually getting home.
The gameplay of Apopia involves solving puzzles or fetching items to advance the story. Each drastically differs from the other, with the scenario in Chapter 3 being one of my favorites. Scattered in between are smaller bite-sized trials, which keep Apopia fresh and creative. One minute, I was roaming the world learning clues about a singer, and the next, the game turned into a dating sim where I tried to gain her favor so I could advance the plot.
One aspect teased early on, and granted to you soon after, is the ability to enter Dark Worlds. Dark Worlds are where Apopia’s developers showcase their creativity. Each world is a representation of a character’s overall consciousness and being. Once inside, you’re able to find clues important to the plot or their memories. Certain memories are buried deep within the world, such as those depicting tragedies within the subject’s life. It’s amazing to see the change in artstyle between worlds. While little exploration is done during these sections, I found myself wanting to explore as many worlds as I could and learn more about what makes each so unique.
What caught me off guard was the emotional core hidden beneath the surface of Apopia. Mai sees her mother as a kind and caring person; however, hidden in her Dark World are the aspects she forced herself to forget. Apopia pulls you between the two aspects of Mai’s mother, with one wanting to protect her and the other wanting to hurt her. The struggle in Mai’s mind between both sides of her mother paints a complex picture. I am looking forward to seeing how this develops throughout the rest of the game.
For the most part, Apopia ran very well. However, there were some small segments with stuttering near the end of Chapter 2. There were also some problems with the controls in one specific section. At one point, while using Nico’s tail, I had to swing from hooks to chase a robot. On my first attempt, I did it with ease, but upon my second run, the controls felt slippery. This led me to fail the sequence over and over again. Thankfully, these control and frame rate issues were few and far-between.
That said, there is one major concern I have that became apparent during Chapter 3. I entered an important NPC’s dark world, and once inside, I had to pause to do some errands. I made sure the game had auto-saved while inside the dark world, then I closed it. Later, after reopening it, I found myself enveloped in darkness.
I walked around for a few minutes and quickly realized I was sent out of bounds. I tried to escape a few more times, but soon, I had no other option but to restart the entire game from the beginning. This threw a fork in my enjoyment of Apopia thus far. While I was able return to where I left off after a few hours of gameplay, the fact that I had to replay the entire game at all was quite frustrating.
Even still, I really enjoyed my time spent with Apopia. It’s filled with charming characters, fun gameplay, and a story I cannot wait to see unfold. While some notable concerns lowered my overall enjoyment, the moments I had fun far outweighed the bad.
Apopia: Sugar Coated Tale releases on March 3rd on PC via Steam. If you can’t wait that long, be sure to play the demo for yourself!
