Minabo - A walk through life

Platforms
Graphics
Genres
Labels
Publishers
A-Z

Login with Facebook

Minabo - A walk through life

by Aethyna Jun 29, 2023 | 1 Votes | 70 Played | 0 Reviews

Your vote

9 rate

Genres:

Simulation

Graphics:

2D

Labels:

Nature , Romance

Platforms:

Publishers:

DevilishGames Minabo – A walk through life is a 2D life simulation game where you’ll get to go through the life of a turnip from “birth” to “death” while forging relationships with the new turnip people you meet along the way and maintaining those relationships the best you can. Can you help your character live a fulfilled and happy life? Play Now Similar Games Played Post a Review

People Also Played

Summary Plotline Gameplay Graphics/ Sound Conclusion

Summary

Minabo – A walk through life is a 2D life simulation game where you’ll get to go through the life of a turnip from “birth” to “death” while forging relationships with the new turnip people you meet along the way and maintaining those relationships the best you can. Can you help your character live a fulfilled and happy life?

Plotline

The story of your turnip character is entirely in your hands. Do you want to create a character who refuses to interact with the people around it, or would you want to have someone more sociable? You can decide which character to partner with, which to remain friends with, and even how many children to have in this game.

Gameplay

Minabo comes in two game modes, namely “Mission” mode, where you’ll be given three objectives to complete within the single lifespan of a turnip person, and “Free Life” mode, which is basically free play that will be unlocked once you complete all the missions in the Mission mode. The Mission mode also functions as a pretty good tutorial just so you can understand how to play the game and how to complete the objectives required of you.

The gameplay in Minabo is quite simple. After you’re born as a turnip person, you’ll then start your journey through life by walking (or, in the case of a baby turnip, crawling) towards the right. Movement in this game signifies the passage of time, and there are two ways you can move – you can either move at a normal pace, that is by pressing and holding down the spacebar button, or you could get your character to move faster… well, as fast as it is able to… by tapping the spacebar button repeatedly.

Interacting with the other turnip people around you and forging (and maintaining) relationships with them are key parts of the gameplay here in Minabo as well. You are given three ways to interact with another turnip person in the game to either forge a new relationship or maintain a current one, each of which will fulfill a corresponding emotional requirement to keep you feeling fulfilled in life. This includes chatting (Intimacy), hugs or kisses (Physical Contact), and giving the person you’re interacting with a sense of belonging (Belonging).

However, do take note that people whom you don’t interact as often with will typically lose their affection for you over time – this is something I call “relationship attrition”. So, if you are keen on maintaining a relationship with someone in Minabo, you’ll need to make sure to interact with them on a regular basis.

Interactions will level up your relationship with the other person over time, and there are many levels of relationships you can go through, such as from Friends to becoming Partners in life, to even procreating and having baby turnips, depending on which stage of life you’re on. Romancing offers a slightly different gameplay, requiring you to hold your Best Friend’s hand and walk through life together for a short while. Of course, this is easier said than done since sometimes, they may suddenly stop, and you’ll need to stop alongside them and wait for them to start moving again, or you’ll risk losing your grip.

Although you can technically romance anyone you meet in the game regardless of the age gap, the game does have some hard restrictions in place to prevent stuff like incest (you can’t romance a sibling or a parent) or procreating at a super early age (you need to hit a certain age milestone before you can unlock the Partners stage of the relationship and hence, the Procreation stage) from happening.

I should probably also point out that the game does allow you to have multiple romantic partners at a time, but naturally, the other partner may not be as happy with the arrangement as you are, and their “relationship attrition” will reduce much faster, making it that much harder to keep multiple partners happy, let alone procreating with them if that’s your goal.

The game is also designed in a way where you can’t just keep spamming a single interaction and hope everything will turn out okay. This is because the chances of an interaction succeeding are reduced the more you use it and will only gradually improve if you leave it alone for some time to “recharge”. Leveling up a relationship, say… from Friend to Best Friend, may also reset the success rate.

By now, you probably would have realized that it’s important to keep these three “emotional tanks” (Physical Contact, Intimacy, and Belonging) filled as much as possible since they will determine the overall lifespan of your character as well as the other people around you... well, at least the people you care or are supposed to care about. Having filled tanks will ensure longevity in Minabo.

Interestingly, and true to real life, there are various events that you’ll encounter along your life’s journey. You may, for instance, encounter gravestones of turnip people who have keeled over, and you’ll be given one of three Reaction options to choose from, namely Angry, Indifference (which works well if it’s someone you don’t really know), and Regret. There are also seemingly-random events that may let you increase or decrease the lifespan of the people around you or increase your skills at maintaining or forging new relationships.

In addition to pets like cats and dogs, you may even encounter turnip people with hats. You can try to win the hats off these hatted turnips by playing a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Winning a hat will have it added to your hat collection, but it’s not merely a collectible in Minabo – it also grants the wearer certain perks too. Unfortunately, you have only one head (of a turnip, that is) and can only equip one hat at a time, so make sure to choose the most suitable one for the task at hand!

Minabo – A walk through life is a life sim that may be set in the surreal world of turnip people but the experience you can get from going through a turnip’s life can feel quite similar to real life.

For me at least, the game proves that maintaining a relationship is difficult and require constant attention. As an introvert, it just reminded me how exhausting it is to try to keep the relationships I’ve made throughout my life, with me losing some friends over time due to lack of contact. In an odd way, it does spur me to want to reconnect with some old friends just to have a chat and catch up.

Graphics/ Sound

The graphics here look amazing! It has an old-school look to it without having the entire game made using just pixels – no hate towards pixel art though! – and it’s really nice to see the seasons change as you “walk” through life.

In terms of sound, the game features a selection of soundtrack that sounds like a celebration of life as you progress. There’s no voice acting here, but the turnip people have their own language and will “talk” to each other in what we’ll perceive as gibberish.

Conclusion

All in all, Minabo – A walk through life is a pretty emotional life sim that simplifies and mimics (to some extent) the progression of life, specifically the social aspects of human life, to offer an introspective look at life and all the people we meet, interact, and have a relationship with throughout our lifespan. There are fun hats to collect and missions to complete as well. If you’re looking for a game with deep and emotional experience, you might want to try Minabo!