Raising A Virtual Hero: A Yolk Heroes: A Long Tamago Review

By Manuel

Players: 1
Platforms: PC

I have a big love for digital pets, Tamagotchi in particular, and I was very excited to hear about the release of Yolk Heroes: A Long Tamago (Referred to as simply "Yolk Heroes" from now on.) nearly a year ago. For those that don't know, it's a game that mixes together gameplay elements of Tamagotchi, story and gameplay befitting a JRPG, and visuals that look like they came from a Game Boy title. After following its development ever since seeing those early screenshots, I finally got my hands on it when it dropped onto Steam recently. We're going to be taking a look at it today, and see if it was worth the wait. Training a hero takes a lot of work, so let's dive right in!

No pressure at all!

We all love those!

(Note: The size and resolution of my screenshots vary greatly throughout this review. I apologize for this in advance.)

Yolk Heroes opens with The Fairy Queen begging for your help in saving the land. It seems that a Big Bad known as The Frog Lord has recently been terrorizing the local populace, and she needs you to take on the role of her Guardian Spirit. As the Guardian Spirit, you'll be tasked with raising the next hero, a hero that's to be born from an Elf Egg. Once born, you have to train, raise, arm, and unleash your hero onto the evils of the land. Along the way you'll meet others who will need help, and maybe even a friendly rival who will join you when it's convenient. It's not all fun and games though, your egg can die before it even hatches, and your hero needs quite a lot of work before it can even think of taking out even the weakest of the Frog Lord's minions. Being that this is arguably more digital pet sim than RPG, the story isn't exactly the focus of the game. You'll get to know more about the motivations of The Fairy Queen as the game progresses, but gameplay is largely the focus. Even so, there's a surprising amount of world building given the game's simple premise. This could've very easily been reduced to something like an Elf Tamagotchi released on PC, but it's so much more than that. There's a lot to see and do, and more than a few secrets to uncover. Getting to everything may require quite a bit of time, but the rewards often feel worth it.

Looking good!

Press Z to poop faster!

If you've ever had a digital pet before, like a Tamagotchi or a Giga Pet, then you mostly know what to expect here as far as the standard activities go. Your elf needs to train, eat, sleep, shower, and poop. The care actions operate in a way that feels more akin to The Sims franchise, with most of the others resembling a mix between RPG and Tamagotchi-style gameplay. That means sleeping, eating, pooping, and bathing largely happen on their own, with combat being a bit more action focused. Your main goal is to complete a series of quests to eventually make your way to the Frog Lord (or different Big Bad later), and you're going to have to train hard to get there. Each quest is filled with random battles that you're able to take part in by hitting a meter that adds a bonus to damage or defense respectively. Winning in combat gives you experience and gold, with gold being used to purchase items and equipment, and experience eventually leveling you up. Levelling up works differently here than it does in other RPGs, as your stats don't go up directly. Instead, your stat cap goes up and you're able to train to new goals. Training also requires experience to perform, so the gameplay loop shows itself quite early on. Stats are relatively simple thankfully as you only have three to worry about. Strength affects physical attacks, Dexterity helps hit rates and dodging, and Intelligence affects magic. Raising each stat has a little minigame attached to it, but you can also just let it play out on its own if you can't be bothered with timed button pressed. Your starting character class is determined by your earliest stats, and you're able to change your class at most any time by using the Fairy's Kiss. I suggest only doing this early on as I spent hours having to get new equipment when I accidentally made my Nekomancer into a Samurai. Once you're stronger, you can take on more powerful quests until you're able to clear the chapter. Losing all your life isn't game over though, you simply are returned to your house and must rest for several real hours until you're able to go out again. All in all, it's a rather nice mix of gameplay that's easy to get lost in.

Questing is simple, honest work.

This has to be my favorite enemy.

Even though Yolk Heroes is clearly inspired by Tamagotchi and other similar raising sims, I didn't take the term "idle game" seriously at first. Every action in Yolk Heroes takes a long time to complete, with everything taking place in real time. Training sessions last ten minutes, dungeons can take thirty minutes to several hours to clear, and resting can easily stretch to three or four hours at a time. You're able to speed up all activities with either a button press or a minigame, but you're still looking at large time investments no matter what you're doing. This is definitely a game that's meant to be left running idle in the background for hours on end, and that can be a bit bothersome if you're looking for something to actively play. You don't actually have to just leave it idle though, you're able to queue up events and then turn the game off. From there it'll play itself until you're once again left idle, or at a decision. That's not all there is to it either, as you can also let the game play itself completely to whatever end it ends up going to. I didn't bother with that latter option, but its inclusion felt more than a little pointless to me. Then again there are several mobile games that offer that exact gameplay loop, so maybe I'm just behind the times as far as that's concerned. Getting back on topic, I don't know how I feel about the game being able to just go off on its own like that. Is it a positive or a negative that you can be as invested as you choose to be? I guess it really depends on the type of player you are. I personally went from being on top of each and every action, to simply letting the game do what it wanted while I went off and watched a movie or even played something else. That is pretty much the same thing I do whenever I have a Tamagotchi, so maybe this is all on brand after all. Even though I eventually grew to love the game, you have to be prepared to not always be an active participant in what's going on. If you can find a way to deal with that, you'll most likely find said enjoyment too.

One of the strangest aspects of Yolk Heroes has to be the way it handles its chapters. You may think the game centers on just defeating the Frog Lord when you start it up, but that's just the opening of the game. There are actually several chapters to clear, each of which has its own goals and Big Bads to take out. I was very confused when the game didn't just take me to the next chapter and let me keep playing after I defeated the Frog Lord, but then I realized that moving on in the game sets everything back to zero. You don't get to take your hero with you in subsequent chapters, instead you get a totally new egg to raise. That means the grind for stats, experience, and money begins all over again. I tried my best to keep going at the same pace I had with my first hero, but there got to be a point where I just didn't have it in me to grind for tens of hours over and over again. There are some ways to fast track things through min/maxing, and by using items, but this Yolk Heroes a drawn out experience by design. It is kind of cool that you basically get several different story experiences in a single package, but I would've loved for things to have been streamlined considerably after the first adventure ended. There's a lot to love about Yolk Heroes, and I came into this review intending to rave about its many great points, but it really doesn't care about your time all that much.

There's a fishing minigame.

There's dungeon crawling too.

Visually speaking, Yolk Heroes has a lot going on. I mentioned at the top of this review that my screenshots were of all sorts of sizes and resolutions, and that's due to the many display options present. Yolk Heroes goes for a style that is reminiscent of an early Game Boy game, right down to several selectable color palettes that have that Game Boy Color feel to them. Part of me wonders if this game could be de-made into an actual Game Boy Color cartridge, but I doubt it. An early in-game tutorial warns against blowing up the game screen too much for fear of making everything look chunky, but I don't think there's much to worry on that front as the graphics look amazing no matter what. The sprite work is on point, the character and monster designs are great, and the animations are smooth. There's nothing to complain about here beyond my issue with not settling on a size and resolution before I went screenshot happy. If you're a fan of retro-inspired visuals, you'll want to check this one out for its graphics alone, they're that good. Fans of more modern games might not appreciate the aesthetic, and part of me does wish there were smoothing options to make things look less blocky, but I'm personally fine with what the game delivers.

Music in idle games is arguably far more important than it is in any other genre as you're most likely going to be listening to it for several hours on end. Thankfully, I'm pleased to report that every track to be found in Yolk Heroes is not only great, but manages to tread the fine line of being simplistic enough to not draw attention to the constant loop, but also not be boring. There are several themes that I literally heard softly playing for an entire evening, but I never thought to close the game. In fact, every so often I'd hum the tune to myself whenever I noticed it. Maybe if I played the game idle for several more days I'd think differently, but that's not the case here. You of course can simply mute the game if you like too, but I grew to appreciate the music in spite of me leaving it decently loud so I could find out if it would be annoying or not. Even though I don't think I'll be running out and picking up the soundtrack any time soon, I found the music to be the single best aspect of the game.

The Paladin isn't my favorite class.

The Frog Lord is done!

Talking about Yolk Heroes replayability and longevity is a bit of a tough topic, as you have to wonder how much of one's time is spent actually "playing" the game. Seeing everything it has to offer, and by that I mean completing it 100%, will probably take well over 100 hours. You can speed that up by actually playing, or by shutting the game off and coming back to it, but we're still talking days or weeks of consistent playing. Those hours rival even the biggest JRPG, but there's obviously a discussion to be had regarding the "quality" of time spent. No matter how you cut it though, you get a lot of bang for your buck. I'm not sure how much I was expecting the game to retail for, but at just $7.99 it feels like a steal. I would definitely pay more than that, and the fact that it's under ten dollars means that just about anyone can pick this one up without it hitting their wallet too hard.

Of course there's other Big Bads!

Here we go again!

It probably seems obvious by this point, but I give Yolk Heroes: A Long Tamago the highest of recommendations. There's really something for everyone here. If you're a fan of retro games, Tamagotchi, or even life sims, you're more than likely going to fall in love with it like I did. Even if you don't fall into those categories, the game is casual-friendly enough that players of all types and skill levels will most likely find something to enjoy. Pick it up right now, and thank me later. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an egg to take care of!

Check Out Yolk Heroes: A Long Tamago on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2417850/Yolk_Heroes_A_Long_Tamago/

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Story: A
Gameplay: B
Graphics: A-
Music/Sound: A
Value: A+

Overall: A

Pros:
+ A great idle game that can be played in a variety of ways.
+ Offers gameplay that'll appeal to fans of raising sims, RPGs, and even dungeon crawlers.
+ The excellent visuals make this a beautiful game all around. There are also all sorts of graphics options to mess around with to find what suits each player best.
+ Music is amazing and manages to still sound great even though you may hear some tracks for several hours on end.
+ Though I did find it odd that each chapter requires raising a new hero, this does mean that you essentially are getting several games for the price of one.
+ Priced very well at just $7.99.

Cons:
- Every task takes hours to complete, with many of those spent either idle or with the game shut off.
- The core gameplay loop of getting experience/money, training, and then repeating can become repetitive after a while.
- It can feel daunting having to restart from scratch at the start of each chapter.
- Maybe owing to the many customization options, the game window seems to glitch out more than it should.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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...for now!