Game: Capybara Spa
Genre: Point & Click, Casual, Simulation
System: Steam (Windows)
Developer|Publisher: Cozy Bee Games
Controller Support: No
Price: UK £5.99 | US $7.99| EU € 6,99
Release Date: March 14th, 2022
No review code was used, as I purchased the game myself.
Capybara Spa is a 2022 casual simulation game developed and published by Cozy Bee Games.
Premise
In Capybara Spa, we take charge of a mountain spa that caters to capybaras, ducklings, otters, and frogs. It’s an older title I picked up on impulse during this summer’s Steam sale because I already have a capybara-in-a-bathtub-shaped aroma diffuser on my desk. As it turns out, capybara spa is a real thing that people in Japan have in zoos and biodiversity parks during the winter, when it’s too cold for capybaras, animals native to South America.
Gameplay
Controls in Capybara Spa are minimal; we use A/D or left/right arrow or hold down the left mouse button to scroll from one side of the spa to the other. For everything else, we use the left mouse button.
At the beginning of the game, we have a tutorial on how the game works. We build a bathtub, pick up a dirty capybara, drop it into the bathtub, care for it, and when it’s done enjoying the pampering, we drop it off and pick up the next capybara. As the game progresses, we unlock more options for bathtubs, snacks, flowers, towels, and even soaps.
For each pampering option, we can also get insect-helpers, butterflies for veggies and fruits (snacks), ladybugs for flowers, bees for towels, and dragonflies for soaps. At a later stage, we can have an almost fully automated spa, where we personally only need to put flowers into the soap makers and pick up and drop off capybaras.
What does the pampering entail? We have snacks: carrots, strawberries, lemons, oranges, and blueberries. We have flowers- jasmine, marigold, lavender, rose and lily. The flowers serve a dual purpose- on one hand, capybaras may put them on their heads. On the other hand, when the soap maker is unlocked, we can use it to make soap, which is also a pampering option. Another one is the towel station. Each of these can be upgraded three times, and as far as I can see- the upgrade is all about how speedily the resource is replenished.
Another pampering option is the upgrade of the bathtub itself. We have five options: orange tub, mud bath, brick shower, algae pond, and clawfoot tub. Each of these can be upgraded three times, and it’s about size- after the first upgrade, we can place smaller animals along with the bigger ones, such as baby capybaras, ducklings, turtles, frogs, and otters.
We can also decorate our spa with banners, canopies, lights, and statues.
Difficulty
Capybara Spa has no difficulty settings but also doesn’t have a fail option. Let me explain: there is no timer and no disgruntled customers. If you don’t fulfil a capybara’s request, you have no dire consequences. It will wait for a very long time before the request disappears.
You get coins and happiness after serving a capybara and dropping it off. I didn’t see any use for the happiness meter, and I also didn’t see any unhappy customers. Capybara Spa is designed to be a happy, relaxing game, so there are no timers and no pressure. It also can get repetitive if you try playing it for, say, a couple of hours, trying to get all the Steam achievements. The idea is to play it little by little.
At the beginning of the game, we have a breezy tutorial. After that, we unlock each new upgrade or animal that can come to the spa by completing a level. The level bar is on the lower part of the screen. Lower levels are achieved more quickly than later levels. Another thing to note is that clearing space on the mountain costs money, and the price is rising with each cleared area.
As a side note – if you find yourself short on coins, you can always forage for mushrooms, flowers, and stones on the lower parts of the mountain. They give you cash and can help you in a pinch.
Style
Capybara Spa is a cute and colorful 3D game. It’s unrealistic in any sense of the word, and it’s not fussy either. The models for the animals and plants are round and cute. The music is on point, appealing, and suitable enough not to want to turn it off for something else. The spa sounds are incorporated into the music like the splashes of the capybaras in the bathtubs.
Conclusion
Capybara Spa is a deceptively simple game, but it does what it promises, it gives you a sunny mountain spa to hide in for a few hours and relax.
Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up: 