You know that feeling when you fill in boring emails or look at endless tables, the day drags on, and you dream of some game that would play itself in the corner of the screen while you "work"? Well... your wish has been granted!
At least on paper.
Whimside on the bottom third of the screen promises you an idle experience – something that happens on its own while you write reports or pretend to follow a Zoom meeting. Sounds perfect in theory. In practice? You'll end up glued to the screen, finger ready to click, ignoring even toilet breaks so you don't miss a rare whimling.
Starde.... This Whimside there is really lijep pixel art
A game that doesn't know what it wants to be
Whimside pati od krize identiteta. Predstavlja se as well asdle game, but forhtijeva vaše konstantno prisustvo. Flertuje with idejom “creature collection” žanra, but je u svojoj srži - puzzle game.
The main trick is mating crazy creatures to get exactly the combination of body parts that the task is looking for. Make a successful guess - you get crystals, unlock new biomes and so on.
Problem? You cannot create new body parts by mating, you can only combine the ones you already have. That's why you have to listen for a beep when a whimling with a new part appears on the map. Miss it - you're waiting for a new spawn, which can take a while.
Unicorn cat, Jednočka? Or the cat's horn?
What it actually looks like
There is a small folder on the bottom third of the screen. Creatures appear randomly on it and you have to click to catch them. When you open the inventory, you will see your new wonders with names like Donrarada or Mubogeha.
Sounds like you missed the keyboard? Don't worry, there is logic: names are a puzzle of body parts. “Donrarade” means DONkey ears, RAbbit body, RAbbit head, DEer tail.
This linguistic gymnastics actually helps to identify the combinations you need for the next breedings.
In addition to capturing and mating, you can place whimlings in your garden where they produce crystals. You spend crystals on decorations, new mating spots, or the "auto collect" button - which isn't really an auto, because you still have to press it to collect crystals.
Graphics and charm
The game uses cute pixel art. The whimlins are silly enough to make you laugh, and the biomes are visually different enough to keep your attention.
Ne šefe ovo je sasvim normalan taskbar...
Idle… or not really
Whimside has an “idle” tag, but the presentation is deceiving. Because when a game only takes up part of the screen, you expect it to be passive, right? The problem is that it punishes you brutally if you step away from the computer. You won't progress if you don't click, and the spawn rate of rare parts can be frustratingly low.
At some point, you'll realize that the “best strategy” is to simply hunt all the whimlings you see, just to increase the genetic pool for mating. But then that initial charm disappears and the game boils down to waiting for something new to appear.
Conclusion
Whimside is an interesting attempt at mixing the idle and creature collection genres, but it delivers a somewhat frustrating combination that is neither. There is obvious talent and potential behind the game - it just needs a clearer vision.
If you like the idea of constant clicking and genetic puzzles of goofy pixel creatures, you might enjoy it. If you're looking for a real idle game… you better go fill out those emails.
A copy of the game for review purposes was provided by the developers Toadzillart and Tadpoly
