You know that feeling when you're filling out boring emails or staring at endless spreadsheets, the day drags on, and you're daydreaming about a 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 promises you an idle experience in the lower third of the screen – something that happens on its own while you write reports or pretend to follow a Zoom meeting. In theory, it sounds perfect. In practice? You'll end up glued to the screen, finger ready to click, ignoring even bathroom breaks so you don't miss a rare whimling.
Starde.... This Whimside has really nice pixel art
A game that doesn't know what it wants to be
Whimside suffers from an identity crisis. It presents itself as an idle game, but requires your constant presence. It flirts with the idea of the “creature collection” genre, but at its core - it's a puzzle game.
The main trick is pairing whimsical creatures to get just the right combination of body parts that the task requires. Guess correctly – you get crystals, unlock a new biome, and so on.
The problem? You can't create new body parts by pairing, only combine the ones you already have. So you have to listen for the sound signal when a whimling with a new part appears on the map. Miss it – you wait for a new spawn, and that can take a while.
Cat unicorn, One-ness? Or Catcorn?
What it actually looks like
In the lower third of the screen, there is a small map. Creatures randomly appear on it that you must click to catch. When you open the inventory, you'll see your new wonders with names like Donrarade or Mubogehe.
Sounds like you hit the wrong keys? Don't worry, there's logic: the names are a puzzle of body parts. “Donrarade” means DONkey ears, RAbbit body, RAbbit head, DEer tail.
This linguistic gymnastics actually helps in recognizing the combinations you need for the next breeds.
Besides catching and pairing, you can place whimlings in your garden where they produce crystals. You spend crystals on decorations, new breeding locations, or the “auto collect” button – which isn't really auto, because you still have to press it to collect the crystals.
Graphics and charm
The game uses charming pixel art. Whimlings are quirky enough to make you smile, and the biomes visually differ just enough to keep your attention.
No boss, this is a perfectly normal taskbar...
Idle… or not really
Whimside has an “idle” tag, but the presentation is misleading. Because when the game takes up only part of the screen, you expect it to be passive, right? The problem is that it brutally punishes you 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 simply to catch all the whimlings you see, just to increase the genetic pool for breeding. But then the initial charm fades, and the game boils down to waiting for something new to appear.
Conclusion
Whimside is an interesting attempt to mix the idle and creature collection genres, but it delivers a somewhat frustrating combination that is neither one nor the other. There is obvious talent and potential behind the game – it just needs a clearer vision.
If you enjoy the idea of constant clicking and a genetic puzzle of silly pixel creatures, you might have fun. If you're looking for a true idle game… you might as well go fill out those emails.
A copy of the game for review purposes was provided by the developers Toadzillart and Tadpoly
