A white dog with a bomber hat and glasses sitting next to a window, logo - Sunset Hills

Sunset Hills Review

Game: Sunset Hills
Genre: Adventure, RPG, Indie
System: Steam (Windows, macOS)
Developers | Publishers: Cotton Game | Cotton Game, Asmik Ace, Inc.
Controller Support: Yes
Price: US $17.99 | UK £14.99 | EU € 17,49
Release Date: August 21th, 2024

A review code was provided; many thanks to The Sunset Hills Team.

Sunset Hills is a 2024 adventure game developed by Cotton Game and released by Cotton Game and Asmik Ace, Inc.

The Premise of Sunset Hills

In Sunset Hills, we play Nico, a writer and an ex-soldier who one day gets on the train for a journey around the world, meeting people and experiencing life. Nico’s true purpose for the trip emerges through his encounters with the people around him and his comrades from the war.

Sunset Hills a white dog with a hat and glasses reading a letter
Our first look at Nico.

Gameplay

Sunset Hills is a beautifully crafted point-and-click adventure game in the vein of classics such as the Broken Sword and Monkey Island series. Controls are intuitive and simplified – movement with WASD on the keyboard and everything else – such as looking at objects, picking stuff up, reading, and so on, is done with the left mouse button. Tutorials about the game appear at the beginning but can, at a later point, be accessed through the Backpack, which serves as Inventory, Options, and Return to Main Menu hub.

The Backpack mentioned above is accessible on the lower left-hand side of the screen. It contains all the items Nico collects along the way. Each item can also be examined more closely. When an item can be used, an additional mark on the right-hand side of the screen appears once it’s selected. Not all items can be used. In the Backpack, we can also access the Map and collected items, letters, illustrations, and even Nico’s novels.

Sunset Hills a white dog and a brown dog sitting in a car
On the way somewhere.

We have a world vaguely resembling Europe from the beginning of the 20th century, with its wars, cultures, industrial progress, fashions, and so on. But it’s a world of dogs, with no humans around.

Our main hero, Nico, is also a dog. He is in a very dapper suit and has a smile, a suitcase, and a big heart, always willing to help those around him. The first time we meet Nico, he is sitting on a train, writing in his journal (with a very nice tea set on the table in front of him). He is just about to get to his first destination—Tobik.

I admit that the tea set and the train were quite enough to win me over, but even without them, Sunset Hills is a gorgeous game. Artistically, it’s a blend of 2D and 3D art – it looks sharp and soft at the same time. We have 3D scenes with 2D characters, which sometimes might look odd- for example, when Nico is climbing stairs, but it’s part of the game’s charm. It resembles a blend between the Broken Sword cartoonish style and last year’s Fall of Porcupine. In any case, Sunset Hills is visually lovely and cozy.

Sunset Hills Three dogs in suits, one of them is a dog version of Sherlock Holmes
Oh my, do we know you from somewhere?

Also, it’s a very cinematic game—the transition between cutscenes and gameplay is seamless. The load times between locations are fast enough not to interrupt the gameplay.
The characters are not voiced over, which I found a little disappointing. That being said, the soundtrack is good enough to warrant its separate release.

In terms of puzzles, I was thrilled – nothing too complicated, nothing too easy, but most importantly, all of the puzzles and their solutions so far are well placed in the context of the game. I haven’t thought, “Why is this so ridiculously complicated’. Overly complicated puzzles in an adventure game – like compiling pieces of something for hours, are primarily annoying and quickly erase whatever charm a game has. Luckily, Sunset Hills doesn’t suffer from this problem.

Sunset Hills an open journal with writing and pictures, main menu
The interesting Main Menu.

Some Other Things

Sunset Hills has one of the most interesting Main Menus I’ve seen—it looks like Nico’s diary on the train. That being said, accessing the Options menu is a bit of a hassle because it requires using the Backpack.

The options include basic Audio, Language, and Control Settings. I didn’t have any issues with performance. Sunset Hills has Steam Achievements but no Trading Cards as of yet.

Conclusion

Sunset Hills is a charming and cozy adventure that takes us on a train trip around the world, with memories, people, and stories to discover. If you like adventure games and train trips, you’ll love this game as much as I did.

Final Verdict: Two Thumbs UpTwo thumbs up

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