Played on: Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PC
Continuing on the 'cozy game' train, the same special someone that recommended Unpacking to me also enlisted me to help her with a playthrough of another game; Hoa, on her Nintendo Switch. A recommendation from TikTok, or so I was told, Hoa is an indie game that's heavily inspired by the movies of Studio Ghibli, operating as a simplistic platformer that's purely based around exploration and light puzzles, while not containing any combat.
Developed by Singapore-based Skrollcat Studio, Hoa places you in control of the eponymous character, a fairy sapling that awakes from a leaf floating down a lake. Setting forward and reuniting with creatures big and small, all of which seem to know her, Hoa comes to learn of the circumstances behind her unlikely awakening, with players gradually discovering the nature of where Hoa came from as they play.
It doesn't seem like much, and indeed, the entire game mostly consists of running and jumping through simple nature environments. As you meet various forest creatures, you'll learn new mechanics such as a double jump, a hover glide, and the ability to push heavy blocks, among other functions. Again, if you're familiar with virtually any platformer to speak of, you'll pick up the mechanics of Hoa very quickly.
A main draw in Hoa's case however is its graphics, which, even on the lesser-powered Nintendo Switch, are extremely impressive! The game does an excellent job of emulating the colourful, cozy feel of Studio Ghibli, with its hand-painted environments and characters positively leaping off the screen as you play! Ghibli fans will find all sorts of cool nods to movies like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky and more, and even if Hoa's story is very wholesome and simple, it will nonetheless suck you in for its modest runtime.
Hoa's simplicity is ultimately both its greatest strength and its most stubborn weakness. You can finish the entire game, and earn every achievement/trophy, in just less than two hours, if you know the solutions to every puzzle, and where every secret is hidden. Even if you don't, your playthrough likely won't exceed four hours at most, which is quite short, even by the standards of an indie platformer.
Still, there is something to be said when it comes to quality over quantity, and Hoa's modest price does feel right in the end, especially if you can grab it on sale. The game utilizes its short duration well in order to maximize the appeal of its presentation and simple gameplay, and while it feels like a noticeable starter effort for Skrollcat Studio, barely hovering above the feel of a student project, Hoa is nonetheless a superb indication that its developer is quite talented, and will likely put together even more exciting and memorable game projects in the future.
I got to play through Hoa on several platforms as well, initially assisting with a Nintendo Switch playthrough, as I mentioned, before I bought the PC version for myself shortly afterward. It turns out that I also have access to the Xbox One version of Hoa to boot, since I received it as a free Games with Gold reward some years ago. I also grabbed the PS5 version for cheap, to see the upgraded console build of Hoa in action, and possibly squeeze even more out of its lovely visuals. As with Unpacking, Hoa offers a PS5 version, but not a native Xbox Series X|S version, instead simply presenting its Xbox One version more or less unaltered on current-gen Xbox models. Also, for some bizarre reason, Hoa's PS5 and PS4 versions aren't cross-buy, contrary to 90% of the cross-gen PlayStation games available on the PlayStation Store. I have no idea why this is.
Regardless, Hoa is a satisfying, if overly brief feel-good indie game on any platform, even if some platforms definitely have a small advantage over others, in my experience. The Nintendo Switch version of Hoa is generally pretty solid to start, and its easy portability is a natural fit for Hoa's bite-sized scope. That said though, Hoa's Switch version suffers from some performance hiccups, and I did find its controls a little looser and more floaty compared to the other platforms, even when playing with a Pro Controller. These hiccups aren't enough to ruin the experience on Nintendo's hardware by any means, but the occasional slowdown and longer load times, not to mention the lack of achievements/trophies, do make the Switch version a little less appealing than some of its competitors.
In my experience, the PC and Xbox One versions of Hoa performed the best of the lot, with the PC version also playing excellently on the Steam Deck, which is where I did pretty much my entire playthrough of it. Anyone who owns a Steam Deck definitely shouldn't bother with the Switch version, since Hoa's PC version generally runs perfectly there, and gives you the same portability on a pocket PC. The only issue I encountered with the PC version of Hoa is that some of its cutscenes were weirdly glitched and didn't animate properly for me, though I can't say if this is an issue specific to the Steam Deck or not.
Hoa's Xbox One version, by contrast, had no such glitches, perfectly stable performance, and especially tight controls. Surprisingly, even with its lack of bonus technical features compared to other versions, the Xbox One version of Hoa might actually be the best of them overall, especially when it packs in an amusing extra achievement (albeit one worth 0 Gamerpoints) that tasks you with completing the game without getting kicked by any of the 'enemy' robots. For some reason, this achievement is not present in the PC and PlayStation versions of Hoa.
You would think that the PS5 version would have the natural edge here, but astonishingly, Hoa's PS5 version is not that good compared to its siblings. The game's PS5 performance is generally fine during gameplay, but it awkwardly stutters and loads EVERY TIME you move between a gameplay section, which is completely baffling on a souped-up, current-gen console. This persistent issue appears to indicate that Hoa is really not well-optimized for PlayStation hardware.
Even the PS5 version's DualSense features are lacklustre and disappointing in Hoa, with most of them surrounding making the rotors in the shoulder buttons go nuts while you're hovering. This doesn't feel intuitive or accurate, and even with a slight response from jumping or pushing, the DualSense implementation is barely present. On the bright side, Hoa at least offers a very easy Platinum Trophy for trophy hunters to earn, though this makes it more annoying that the game is inexplicably not cross-buy, forcing you to purchase the PS5 and PS4 versions individually. Unless you're restricted to PlayStation, or are dead set on adding more easy Platinums to your collection, I would not bother with Hoa's PlayStation builds if you have any other choice. The game's Xbox One version in particular is a much better optimized experience, and that's the one I recommend most highly, so hopefully you also grabbed Hoa while it was free via Games with Gold.
I do wish that there was a little more to Hoa, since the game is so short and simple that it may leave your appetite a tad unsatisfied. For just under $20 CAN base price though, Hoa is a high-quality cozy game that expertly excels from its visuals and charm alone, especially for Studio Ghibli fans. The Xbox One build was the only one that presented me with a technically flawless experience, with the PC build in a close second, but even with some technical compromises on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation, Hoa is a beautiful game that teases even more exciting efforts to come from its developer. The fact that I wish there was more of it stands as the highest testament to how enjoyable it is to play, however fleeting the experience can feel.
IF I HAD TO SCORE IT: 8/10
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