Press emails are fun. Some are from a generic list and others saw what you said, when you have a mouth as wide as the Armillaria ostoyae, that can be trouble. To quote myself after a very long week of writing, “Previously what we saw didn’t give too much in terms of reasons to get intrigued [by Mail Time], if I am honest.” In truth, I wasn’t interested because I saw much more colorful and explosive titles with a release date on the horizon two years ago. Developed by Dutch developer Kela van der Deijl, Mail Time finally came to PC with its cottagecore adventure.

Dominated by warm colors and lots of “warm vibes” as I believe the kids say, Mail Time is very much a cozy game to snuggle up to with a warm chocolatey drink. Focused on exploration and adventure, you’ll play as a young trainee mail scout/girl scout as you earn badges to become a fully-fledged scout. Learning under Janet, you’ll find and do tasks for very cute and anthropomorphized animals like weasels, swans (maybe she’s a pretentious Goose), a frog, rabbits, and so on. I may have instantly fallen in love with Shelby, the racing turtle.

In a small Honey, I Shrunk The Kids style section of forest, you’ll go through the grassland jungles, a picnic plateau, bamboo backwoods, and a swampy, well, swamp. There aren’t many other ways you can rephrase a swamp with things like adjectives. With some repurposed plant pots and other “trash” laying about, your little mail scout in training feels small in a big magical world. One of the best examples of this is the verticality of the environment, reaching from the very bottom of the forest to the top of a well. That doesn’t sound big until you put it into perspective that you are only a few inches tall.

With the gameplay dominated by exploration, you spend quite a bit of time traversing the landscape by walking, jumping, and most obviously paragliding. Highlighted in those trailers we saw over the last couple of years, cottagecore-Just Cause led by a mushroom child is quite fun. It doesn’t have the deepest of mechanics, but matched with the verticality and trying to get across the map to deliver the post, it is great fun. Though it has to be as that’s arguably the only gameplay aspect.

Described as “cozy,” there is a focus on story and character interactions with the aforementioned animals being those characters. Each has its own story and background, several of which will give you quests to chat with another character or provide something to deliver. Two examples would be the Landlord and spy stories, both intertwine later on, but both focus on going back and forth between characters to showcase their perspectives. The only typical adventure story elements you’ll find are Toph’s mushroom collecting and Ham’s “speak to everyone to get me a new favorite food.”

The only thing that really stuck out against Mail Time was one or two bugs (not the friendly ones) and some of the writing. I’m all for character writing, but when I’m tired of what someone has to say several text boxes in, it only makes sense to make it leaner. It would also help if the final portion of Toph’s mission to collect different mushroom types didn’t bug out. After collecting every sample by following instructions, I’d have the same dialogue repeat about what shrooms I needed to find (which I already had) and changing my hat.

Once you get to the final missing/main quest, as it were, there aren’t any loose ends for post-game exploration. Despite having notes in the journal directing me to deliver mushroom samples (with an acquired achievement) they wouldn’t deliver for love or money. Though if you take a day away and forget directions to a quest the journal isn’t the most helpful there. It is difficult to say that will be a common problem, especially given Mail Time is only a couple of joyous hours long.

Ultimately, Mail Time is a short, fun, and charming attempt to be a focused game of that Animal Crossing-like gameplay loop. Specifically, a game of cute animals you talk to and walking for miles collecting junk to hand to them. I have an issue with excessively talky characters, but it is hardly enough to bemoan an otherwise charming title. I think what struck me the most was the visual effects of the waterfalls, beautifully distorting the world as you travel through them. A great story with a final beat we all need to hear, Mail Time is nothing more than wholesomeness for a few hours snuggled up with a warm chocolatey drink.

A PC review copy of Mail Time was provided by Freedom Games for the purposes of this review.

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Mail Time

$19.99

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• A wholesome little adventure and story.
• Cottagecore-Just Cause.
• Some visual effects on the waterfalls look great.

Cons

• Slight progress-breaking bugs.
• Excessively talky characters.