Birthdays the Beginning

The ambitious-but-flawed Birthdays the Beginning is packed with charm, but suffers from a clunky interface and confusing systems.

The designer behind Harvest Moon returns with a game that frustrates as much as it fascinates.

Birthdays the Beginning is cute and nostalgic but there's not much depth

Birthdays the Beginning is about as exciting as watching paint dry – even if you get to pick the colors

It comes so close to being something I love and then it has a hollow core.

Even though certain design elements aren't as streamlined, fleshed-out, or user-friendly as they could have been, part of me is just thankful Birthdays even got greenlit. Niche as it might be, I've wanted something like this for years, and despite my admittedly high expectations, I still came away impressed. I hope the game is able to find an audience, because it so clearly deserves one.

Birthdays the Beginning is an oddity: it's a relaxed, cutesy god game, but it also requires you to follow strict rules and pay attention to a vast array of stats, which can kill the fun factor to a degree. The free play mode makes for a more chilled out time, however, while the challenges offer more objective-based gameplay for those that want it. The creature capturing is initially compelling, but once you've seen everything, the game doesn't really have anything to draw you back in.

Birthdays is a fantastic idea on paper, but suffers from some very poor execution that hinders the overall experience.

Birthdays: The Beginning is a cute and clever world-builder where simple actions can have deep, complicated results.

If you're a fan of sandbox games, then you should definitely check out Birthdays the Beginning. It's a quirky, colorful and fun sandbox release with a ton of lifeforms to create and capture, giving you dozens of hours of gameplay for your purchase. There have been a couple of patches to the game to rebalance things, and the Platinum will take you “forever” since you'll need to basically keep your PS4 running for months, but don't let that get in your way since the overall experience is great.