Teacup Review: A Heartwarming Cup

Teacup genuinely surprised me. Developer Smarto Club created a small, simple world filled with lively characters and moments alike. On the surface, Teacup isn't anything groundbreaking. It's safe to say that the source material and the game as a whole share that very same fate. However, while playing, I couldn't help but feel spurts of joy. That's what Teacup provides; a single heartwarming day. Smarto Club successfully delivers a delightful appearance and uplifting vibe of a narrative with simplistic, yet serviceable gameplay. 

Presentation

While Teacup isn't going to wow 4K enthusiasts anytime soon, it's not like it was meant to. What it does provide is delightful pixel art reminiscent of childhood storybooks. If you are like me and grew up with someone reading Winnie the Pooh books to you, you're in for a bit of a nostalgia trip. In my particular case, some nostalgia I didn't know I had. As someone with a rocky relationship with his mother, Teacup somehow managed to help me remember the positives. For that, I am sincerely grateful.

Until the nostalgia hit, I wasn't necessarily charmed. Yet, everything presented seemed intentionally subtle. The look and tone presented in Teacup aren't the only driving forces. Cheery dialogue and sprightly music also carry their weight. Individually, these things are merely serviceable, but when coupled together, they shine.

Ultimately, Teacup's subtle aesthetic and overall feel worked for me. It's plausible that I have a unique take on the presentation, but even if that nostalgia pit doesn't spark for you, I can easily see players making their way through the game without a hitch. If you don't find the same magic here that I did, you won't find much at all; but that goes both ways. While nothing will necessarily wow you, I'd bet that “nothing” featured will grab your eye in a negative light.

Story

Teacup follows an anthropomorphic frog character of the same name. Her driving force? Tea. Yet, something that shines far more than her very apparent love for tea is her love for her friends. You control Teacup and go on a short journey during the town's celebration known as the Kite Festival. While trekking Teacup's small village filled with surprisingly admirable characters at every turn, you're in search of ingredients to make the best tea for all your friends. But, that doesn't stop you from helping countless others along the way. After the pandemic, I found myself invested in making the best of this gathering Teacup was planning for all her friends. An odd comparison, but as a fan of Ted Lasso's positive nature, Teacup revels in that positivity, and it's very refreshing.

The most outlandish thing I can even remotely bring up is the fact that Teacup trips off of a unique herbal tea. You do so in a beat-for-beat encounter with a character to gather info and progress. Like many other elements in Teacup and other cartoons, it's subtle enough that it doesn't feel out of place. It was a simple moment, but one I had a nice laugh at after.

Not long after the trip, the game presents its only actual deviation from all its positivity. While extremely indirect, an encounter with a mystic or fortune-teller of sorts tells of possible feelings of doubt or overcoming them in hopes of a better future. I liked this, and frankly could have used it a bit more. But I get if that's not the overall vibe they were trying to achieve. I felt that it portrayed a sense of possible depth. Nonetheless, as I mentioned before, the positivity resonates more than enough to overshadow any lack of depth.

I was so invested in Teacup's journey that I found it challenging to put it down. Thanks to its short commitment, the more I played, the more I wanted to see it through right here, right now. Once I did, I found the ending very sincere. I'm not sure of what I expected, but I wasn't let down. It just felt right. On top of that, you utilize all of the ingredients you've gathered along the way leading to a complimentary feel in terms of narrative and gameplay.

On the surface, the story doesn't do a whole lot. A lot of what you are doing is simple and only a means to an end to progress. But as you do, you gather ingredients, meet creditable characters, and help a laudable frog achieve her sweet goal. It's all extraordinarily uplifting, and once I started, I didn't want to stop.

Gameplay

Teacup plays with a dialogue and mini game focus. A lot of what you do is merely holding the sprint button and running from point A to point B while talking to anthropomorphic folks you run into along the way. While the dialogue is a focus, it is very minimal and easy to read, so nothing to fret over. As you progress, specific environments aren't available to you physically or on the map. However, gathering ingredients represented by your book as unusable inventory or information unlocks areas as you play. Some such ingredients can be found hidden in the environments, and thankfully, they aren't unfairly hidden.

The other focus other than dialogue is the game's mini games. These mini games ranged from fitting Tetris shapes into a puzzle to an actual swimming race. Once you complete them, you gather info or ingredients from the character. Every single mini game is fun, engaging, and relatively simple. Yet, if you have issues, hints will pop up after a short period.

Teacup's gameplay quickly becomes a pleasant mix of mini game puzzles, interacting with praiseworthy characters, and navigating the map as it unlocks. While not very boisterous, it's more than enjoyable.

Breakdown

Game: Teacup

Developer: Smarto Club

Availability: PS4, XBO, XSX, Switch, PC

Reviewed on PC

Pros:

+ Nostalgia

+ Complimentary gameplay and narrative

+ Admirable characters

Cons:

- Very surface level

Final Thoughts

Virtually every facet of Teacup is simple but charming. The aesthetic and tone similar to that of Winnie the Pooh worked for me, but that particular sense of nostalgia aside, it all appears more than serviceable to the eye. The story is very surface-level, but highly wholesome. The game doesn't feature an action-packed sense of thrill, but I was compelled to complete it all the same. I never found myself dreading the gameplay's straightforward approach. It doesn't do much, but the moment-to-moment gameplay did enough to funnel me through the narrative. While I connected to the games' presentation personally, I would still hold Teacup's journey in simple yet high regard if you took that away.

Reviewed by Austin Ernst