5 Cute Games Available on itch.io Right Now
Here are five of itch.io’s most adorable games that we’ve found and played so you don’t have to(but we totally recommend that you do)!
For the last few entries in this series I’ve focused on the bizarre and disturbing corners of itch.io, focusing on the dark places the human mind can go. But while these sorts of games do take a sizable chunk of itch.io’s one hundred thousand games, it’s not all the site has to offer. That’s why this week I’d like to focus on some of itch.io’s more colourful creations.
These are some of itch.io’s more adorable and cutesy games, created to warm the soul and make you giggle. That’s what I assume anyway, it’s perfectly possible that the creators wanted world enslavement, they just choose to express themselves in a less conventional manner.
So here are five cute games that can be found on itch.io. As per usual I will be focusing on free or Name Your Own Price Games.
5.) Giraffes Volleyball Championship – Sandwich Puissant
Going by the things the giraffes say to one another, along with the creator describing them as “ruthless”, I’m not sure if the creator intended for this to be adorable. But it is adorable! Of course, it is, it’s giraffes playing volleyball! Judging by some of the comments, others have found it adorable too.
The title of the game is fairly self-explanatory. It’s giraffes, who are cute anyway, playing volleyball against each other. Playing either single or two players, two giraffes’ hit the ball to one another using the arrow keys to determine who is the best at volleyball.
The cute music, birdsong and the spider like movements of the giraffes, along with the way they extend their necks to hit the ball, make this a wonderfully cute experience.
4.) Puzzle With Cute Cats/Cat o Puzzle – Ggamez
While I do tend to avoid using games with the theme word in the title, Puzzle With Cute Cats, is just a perfect entry for this list. Because of the cute cats!
Puzzle With Cute Cats or Cat o Puzzle, is an android game where you basically just complete puzzles of cute cats. The game contains three puzzles to complete. There is a timer to show you how long you spent on each puzzle, so after completing one puzzle, you can do it again to see if you can beat your time.
There isn’t anything else to it and not much more I can say. It’s just a cute game with cute cats.
3.) Twin Sprouts – J Janer
Not only is this entry one of the cuter itch.io games, but it’s also absolutely gorgeous!
Twin Sprouts is a two-player gardening simulator game set on some islands, with seeds scattered about. You take control of two adorable bouncy woodland fantasy creatures, who can fly with the wings on their heads. They fly about collecting seeds and planting them, hoping to plant more than their opponent. The game lasts ten minutes, during which you just have to achieve more than the other player.
Everything about this game is cutesy. The twinkle, sparkle style music and the sweet little gasps your character gives out as they jump or land. The 3D artwork is gorgeous and the gameworld is very pretty.
Unfortunately, it is a big buggy. A couple times my character sped off into the distance for no reason or fell into the water and couldn’t get out. While the controls are easy, they sometimes stopped working, at least for me. I hope that the Twin Sprouts creators can do more work on their game to iron out these bugs. It’s a shame, because otherwise it would be a great experience!
2.) Super Weekend Mode – Pixelteriyaki
The story for this action/shooter game is simple: some guy took your stuff and you have to get it back!
In this arcade style game, you play as an adorable dancing princess, and control two (buckets?) at the bottom of the screen. You have to catch hearts, avoid skulls and stop bunnies from hitting the floor. The boss is dancing above you and you have to shoot it, as well as collecting hearts.
The art style of hearts combined with skulls kind of reminded me of Ruby Gloom. There is something a little gothic about it’s style, probably due to the skulls, but the hearts, rainbows and bunnies add to the cute factor. The music is rather annoying, but then again so is all arcade style music and it does kind of add to the atmosphere.
I will say that Super Weekend Mode is super hard! There is a lot of multitasking and the first time I went through the tutorial I didn’t understand a word. But at the end of the day if you make a game with rainbow hearts, dancing princesses and bunnies, it’s going to make a cute games list.
1.) Happy World – Jimi Masuraki
What better way to end this list, then with a game that is just about making people happy. With all the negative energy on the internet today and every comment section spiralling out of control, it’s nice to find something with the solid aim of making people happy.
Happy World is a colourful adventure game where the player is asked to travel to three different worlds where negative energy has been detected, in order to restore happiness. (One thing I loved was at the beginning of the game you’re asked if you’ll help and can reply yes or no. If you reply no the game will end. I’d love to see that in more games! “Link, will you take up the quest and save Hyrule?” “No.” “Oh… Well f*** off then!”)
The player then has to travel through the worlds and perform tasks or fetch quests for the citizens in order to make them happy again. The game could be improved if your character wasn’t just a 2D shocked face that tumbles off the edge every now and again for no apparent reason, but in terms of cute games it’s certainly up there. The world is happy and colourful, with cutesy background music to guide you. Each zone is different and it’s a fun world to explore.
With more games being added to itch.io almost everyday, I’m pretty sure there are some cute ones that I’ve missed. Please don’t hesitate to share any cute itch.io games that you like in the comments, and I’ll be sure to check them out.