Game: Cirrus Business
Genre: Simulation, Adventure, Puzzle
System: Nintendo Switch (Also available on Steam (Windows), PS and Xbox)
Developers|Publishers: Oofin Sprouts | Oofin Sprouts
Age Rating: US Everyone | EU 3+
Price: US $6.99| UK £6.00 | EU €6,99
Release Date: April 11th, 2024 (eShop UK March 28th)
A review code was used, with many thanks to Oofin Sprouts
Lately, we have seen a lot of games that focus their gameplay on the environment, and Cirrus Business is one of them. Let’s see what we have to do to save this game world!
In this story-driven farming adventure, you are a newly formed cloud. Together with your friends, you work on healing the environment. And there’s a lot to do to restore the energy for each biome by sowing seeds and fighting the slobsters. They are responsible for the mess this world is in! And when you stopped reading at the farming adventure bit, then read on. Fighting the slobsters is a big part of Cirrus Business.
Pour Yourself into the Form of a Cloud
You are the cloud in Cirrus Business, named Cloudi. And though that might sound soft and fluffy, Cloudi is not defenceless. It can create lighting, create a tornado, and use rain. The perfect candidate to help sorcerer Iris get rid of the nasty slobsters, who have polluted the world. The basis for this is the plants Cloudi can grow by using lighting to till a patch of ground, rain to water the seeds and the tornado to harvest the plants when they are ready. Cloudi needs to gobble up either bananas (yellow for the lightning, cherries (red=tornado) or blueberries (blue=rain) as they float in the river. Iris can then turn the flowers into potions that can be used for all kinds of cool stuff.
The few patches of ground to sow in are under the tree for the area called Treeffany. Every area, or biome, has a specific kind of tree to be saved and specific plants that can be grown. To grow plants, you need seeds, and to get these, you need Windsprinkles that fly around. Iris reminds us, totally in theme, that they are not allergies. If you have enough sprinkles of a specific colour, Hopscotch can make them into seeds. First, you’ll have to save Hopscotch, as the Slobsters have locked him in a gooey mass at the entrance of his home. The gooey mass is red, and Iris needs to make a red potion to dissolve it. For which she needs red flowers. You get the idea, right?
A Lot is Going on in Cirrus Business
At first, you might think Cirrus Business is a simple game, but I soon found that a lot is going on under the surface. The basic farming mechanic is nice, as it can influence the quality of the seed. You can play with how pure a seed is, how many seeds you want to make and how much magic the seed produces. Of course, having Hopscotch make higher quality seeds will cost you more Windsprinkles.
Once you unlock Bruce, you have more options for the seeds, like multiplying them. Or use Windsprinkles to create magic, with which Iris can influence other things in your game. Like increasing rain and blueberry efficiency. There is so much to tweak and adjust that it makes this simple-looking game deeper than I imagined.
Beat by the Slobsters
That being said, it’s also where I had the most trouble. Catching the Windsprinkles is doable, as is vanquishing the slobsters that keep popping up by raining on them. But they shoot projectiles at you, often more than one at a time, making dodging constantly a must. And each time you are hit, you lose one Windsprinkle. Collecting these things turned into a constant battle. Chasing after them meant being in the line of fire, and my rain power ran out very quickly, while the blueberries in the river to replenish it were scarce.
I feel that Cirrus Business has tried to put too much into the game and that the balance isn’t right yet. Too much effort to catch Windsprinklers, you need too many to get seeds, and too many plants harvested to get the rewards. It interfered with my wholesome experience, though the little puzzle mini-games further on in the game added a nice touch.
Windsprinkles, Slobsters and Leporine Friend
Looking at the visuals of the game, the anthropomorphic animals that play the main part, and the names used for things in the world make Cirrus Business feel like it is aimed towards a younger audience. But after playing a bit, I wasn’t as sure anymore. Slobsters, Windsprinkles, Hopscotch, and the animals needing Emergency Huggies are examples that will resonate with youngsters. Cirrus Business also tries to teach things, for example, that you need to rescue that neighbour who is a huge bully as well. But then, Iris says things like ” An auspicious omen of hope”, “Let’s see where our instinctually challenged friend is”, and “leporine friend”. A huge contrast.
It feels a bit confusing, but I can see how you sit with your youngster next to you, with your child playing the game, and you help along, doing funny voices, reading out the text, and maybe omitting a few lines!
The music of Cirrus Business in the background is nice, as are the sounds of nature. The controls on Switch, however, really need work. They are not intuitive, especially when selecting the seeds you want to sow. Even after spending some time in the game, I kept fumbling about to get it right.
Conclusion for Cirrus Business
Cirrus Business has the framework to be a cute, wholesome game, with growing plants, restoring the energy for the biomes and lovely graphics.
I feel the balance of Cirrus Business Economy, as the game calls it, isn’t right. But, if you are more nimble-fingered than I am, you might have no trouble beating the Slobsters and gathering all the Windsprinkles you need.
Final Verdict: I Like It
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