Spring Tales Review: A Lighthearted Puzzle Adventure

I played the demo of Spring Tales a while ago and was impressed with not only the puzzle/mini-game segments, but also the storytelling that is the heart of this game. Therefore, I was looking forward to getting the full release of Spring Tales. Now that it’s out, does the full game hold up from beginning to end and live up to the promise of the demo? My review shares everything I experienced and felt about this charming title.

Spring Tales is now available on Steam for $4.99.

Story – A Storm Won’t Tear Apart a Strong Community

Spring Tales doesn’t just have a story; it’s pretty much the core of the game, its driving force. The premise is simple: a storm sweeps through the town of Blossomdale, causing a great deal of destruction. There’s debris everywhere and buildings have been damaged. However, with a strong community like Blossomdale, even a storm can’t stop them from carrying on with their lives as normal, working hard and pulling together to get everything ready for the upcoming spring festival.

The way Spring Tales is told is an interesting one, and also one that works well. The game is broken up into chapters, each one focusing on a different character, whether it’s the local baker, librarian, carpenter, or school student. You help each of these characters get through their day, completing different tasks in different locations.

Although these chapters are fairly short, you have plenty of time to get to know each character. They haven’t got complex backstories to learn or expand their characters. That’s not needed here. You just go through the day with them and get to know them, as well as their neighbors.

Gameplay – A Day in the Life of the Townsfolk

Spring Tales is a short narrative puzzle adventure that can be easily completed within 1-2 hours. Despite its short playtime, Spring Tales is one of those games designed to encourage you to slow down and take in the moment, enjoying the interactions between Blossomdale residents and completing simple tasks.

Completing Tasks, aka Mini-Games

As you play through Spring Tales and help the townsfolk get through their day, you complete a series of tasks presented in puzzle mini-game format. These mini-games vary greatly. You may have to bake food, make coffee, clean up, fix something, etc. 

Although these mini-games are simple, you’re not 100% spoonfed. A lot of the time, you have to work out what you need to do. You may have some form of instructions or hints; for example, when baking, there’s a cookbook with a recipe to follow, but it’s silhouetted so you have to figure out what to do. Spring Tales is simple enough to relax while playing and immerse yourself in the story, but it’s not so easy that it’s boring. The simpleness of the puzzles is done just right.

It’s quite hard to get anything wrong in Spring Tales. If you do happen to mess something up, you can try again with no consequences. You don’t get frustrated, you just quickly figure out where you went wrong and try again.

There’s not a lot of hand-holding in Spring Tales, but the puzzles are nice and simple anyway.

Their Story Is Yours, Too

Spring Tales tells the story of the residents of Blossomdale as they work to get their town together in time for the spring festival. This is told in a series of easy-to-read speech bubbles. There’s enough dialogue to tell a story and immerse you in the life of Blossomdale, but it’s not too heavy on the text so that you quickly get bored and skip through it just to get to the mini-games.

In these conversations, you sometimes get the option to pick between two dialogue choices. They’re not vastly different and don’t make a massive impact on the story, characters, or gameplay (although there may be a Steam Achievement or two). It’s just to get you more involved, and this is fine. It makes it feel like it’s as much as your own story that’s being told, rather than a story being told to you.

Point-and-Click

When you’re not doing puzzles or reading dialogue, Spring Tales can play as a point-and-click adventure. Namely, this is for moments where you leave rooms, buildings, areas, or even just interact with the environment. Interactable spots are pointed out via glowing spots. These can sometimes be hard to spot, and if you’re struggling to locate it, it can temporarily pull you out of the immersion. Making these click spots more obvious might be beneficial.

Sometimes you have to click on a spot to move onto another location, but it’s not always that obvious where.

Graphics – A Lighthearted Novel Come to Life

Spring Tales is beautifully presented in 2D graphics, which brings to mind the striking cover images of novels aimed at women. This imagery was also brought on by the game’s theme, that of a community of people coming together after suffering a crisis, told in a heartwarming, uplifting story.

The graphics alone really sell Spring Tales. They make the town of Blossomdale and its residents feel so alive, even in the absence of being heavily animated. It’s bright and cheery without being oversaturated, avoiding hurting your eyes. It’s the total opposite; this game is simply gorgeous to look at. I honestly wish there was an art book containing all the wonderfully-illustrated locations.

Audio – Positive and Upbeat

The music that plays throughout Spring Tales mirrors the whole theme and aesthetic of the game, being cheerful and uplifting. It very much reminds me of the soundtrack for Animal Crossing. This is quite ironic given the themes of communities coming together in both games.