As everyone started swinging through Marvel’s New York City this week, I needed something new and fresh — something less demanding.
It’s been a long time between cosy games for me, and Mail Time just about ticked every box I needed for some heartfelt relaxation.
READ MORE: Review | Spider-Man 2 (PS5)
Indie studio AppelMoes are the small team behind this cosycore adventure; originally a Kickstarter campaign with over 1500 backers.
Two and a half years of development later, it’s here. And while Mail Time isn’t perfect in its console debut, it does have plenty to give.
Story and quests
The objective of the game is relatively simple enough; deliver letters and parcels to the folk of Grumblewood Grove.
Your character is a Mail Academy student on their first assignment.
After a quick tutorial, you’re off and on your way. You’ll very quickly find yourself inundated with letters to deliver, even before your first task is close to complete.
READ MORE: Review | Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch)
It’s very fetch questy, but being able to take it at your own pace and in the order you choose helps.
The characters you meet along the way have their own interesting stories, whether it’s aspirations to be a superstar athlete or an obsession with rare coins. Every quest starts with a letter and leads to solving a problem or finding a specific object.
My favourite would have to be Toph the Bat. Not only is he adorable, but he also offers a quest that gives you a little more than just a ticked box (more on that soon).
Your character has a little bee that follows you everywhere, but it never has any input or says anything about your journey (until very late game) — it’s seemingly only following you around for aesthetics.
I would’ve appreciated it if the bee chimed in on occasion or offered tips while exploring.
Quests vary from delivering letters to finding lost items for your new animal friends, and the more you complete the more patches you earn.
Patches are essentially achievements, but you’ll need a certain amount to progress through the story. There’s a handy journal you can refer to at any time with quest information.
If you’re a PlayStation Trophy hunter, this game hands them out like they’re going out of fashion. Even the simplest of tasks are rewarded with a trophy; absolutely no complaints on my end.
I did feel there were a few quests missing, perhaps they didn’t quite make it into the game. Scattered throughout the world were hidden Ladybugs, but I never found a use for them, and they didn’t amount to anything. There is also a particularly mysterious animal in the well, but we don’t learn much about them.
Maybe there was more planned for our bee friend too.
Creating the perfect mail scout
Mail Time would’ve been fine with a preset protagonist, but it was a nice touch to be able to create your own.
Before you jump into the story, you’re able to bring your own character to life. Backpack shape, glider design, clothing, hairstyles and colours, name and pronouns – there’s plenty there to choose from.
The character creator has a good amount of customisation options, but it’s missing one crucial adjustment. Out of everything on offer, you can’t change the colour or design of your mushroom cap hat… Or at least I thought.
As you make your way through the woods, you’ll eventually meet Toph the Bat who opens the door to a world of fungus apparel.
Toph asks you to explore the world, find different mushroom types and offers you new patterns and designs for your unique mushy helm.
Graphics, performance and sound
Graphically, it’s a simple world with basic 3D models. But throughout, a few of these models fail to connect, leaving objects floating and looking out of place.
There’s also a few graphical bugs and some issues with pop in. I’m anticipating a patch here.
The art style is adorable. I wasn’t surprised to read it won Best Art at the Dutch Game Awards 2023.
While in-game, the NPC character models don’t do anything other than stand there. But interacting with them shows you a sequence of hand-drawn characters, an excessive amount of narrative, topped with clear expression and emotion.
It’s this art and Mail Time’s game textures that help build character to an otherwise lacklustre world.
The soundtrack is quite basic, but it does fit well within the world. The music changes depending on which part of Grumblewood Grove you’re in.
I found a number of irritating audio glitches. The most significant was at a waterfall where the sound cut out completely if I moved the camera a certain way.
READ MORE: Review | Wizard with a Gun (PS5)
The official trailer for the game highlighted mumbled character voices, Banjo Kazooie style, but the game doesn’t feature anything of the sort. There’s no dialogue or character noises at all for that matter.
All things considered, the game is still remarkably only 585 MB installed on the PS5 console.
Do we recommend Mail Time?
The ending had a message to share, but I felt the message was shared too soon. I honestly wished there was more.
The Kickstarter hints toward a stack of extra content for the game and answers a lot of questions regarding the final build, these little things would’ve been great to have for launch.
Mail Time is the type of game you can sit around on Friday night with the family and complete in one sitting. It’s a bit longer than a film, but no longer than the extended edition of Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Mail Time is out now on PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam.
Quest Daily scores Mail Time:
7/10
Quest Daily was granted access to Mail Time by the publisher.
