Creatures of Ava Review (Bonemeat)
As much as I was delighted at the start of this game (the animation art in the intro is GORGEOUS, the unique designs of the creatures, the mechanic of the flute to rescue the adorable lil guys), my experience was tainted by the fact you cannot return to an area once you've played through that section of the story. Whilst it allows you to tick the area off and put it to the back of your mind, it makes it incredibly frustrating when you realise there are incredibly missable things that are now locked behind a second playthrough.
Honestly, I could only recommend this game if you wanted to play it as a stress-free, casual playthrough. Unless you go in with knowledge beforehand of the 100% requirements, you'll find yourself most likely having to completely restart if you don't enter with a guide. The Secret Hall requirement was completely missed for me since I didn't know about it until I was in the final area :(
With minimal spoilers, you can use creatures to overcome obstacles like bridges or plant barriers, however once you rescue the creatures in that area there is no way to get to optional areas that are locked behind these obstacles. I also found that I was unable to meet the requirement for using certain creatures abilities (mostly the last area - apparently said creature can dig which I thought I could use to get my final 2 "ability" uses, however I couldn't find any locations and no longer had walls/columns to knock down), OR missing an image of an infected creature which are no longer able to be accessed because I had already rescued them all. At the beginning, and whilst playing through the second area, I was really enjoying myself and wanted to 100% a game which is rare, but after a while I realised I would have to replay the ENTIRE game just because I missed 3 things - 1 infected image, 2 wind chimes & 1 creature ability requirement. For the missed wind chime, there were 2 in the grasslands that were inaccessible due to the withering, one by the Jungle Gate and one by the Weeping Rock.
HOWEVER: I have seen a recent post by a developer discussing updates in order to bring back creatures once you've rescued them all (unsure of whether they'll be infected or not), but unless there is some sort of sandbox mode where we can return to these creatures, it won't help the sour taste left in my mouth.
I do genuinely adore this game, and would have probably liked my experience so much more if I stuck to my initial casual approach to playing it <3 That being said, I will stalk updates and posts in hopes that I can fix my review soon!!