A New Leaf Memories is a Huge Mess... 

This is so disappointing. I backed this on kickstarter because of how cute the art style was. The fact that the original developers weren't able to continue with their game makes me sad. I really hope Crytivo gets their act together and fixes this mess.

The dark skinned portraits are so horribly done.... It's obv they just slapped on a black multiply layer and lowered the opacity over a light skin drawing, then erased out the eyes.... You can literally see it on Kelly's where her eyelids are white from where they erased 🤦‍♀🤦‍♀ What, their AI generator couldn't generate dark skinned chibis? haha

i feel awful for the original developers, crytivo should be ashamed of themselves. the original artstyle was so cute and charming. i would feel like total crap if my art got replaced with AI garbage. hidden tower is clearly no good both as developers and for business, crytivo should just drop them already.

Survival Horror Farming Sim. The NPCs are all eerily similar and look somewhat... off. They react to you as if they're meeting you for the first time, every time. They follow rigid schedules with no deviation, if they move at all. Their houses are all exactly the same. You may encounter an event with an NPC out in the field, where they have genuine and realistic (if somewhat strained and wary) interactions with you, they look normal... and they're far away from town. There would be no possible way for the NPC to reach town before you, no matter how quickly they travel. _They are already there, as if they had never left, and they look... off._ Eventually, with enough exploration, you discover a cave system with ramshackle houses in it, and all of the far more convincing NPCs living there. They are... happy to see you. Even happier to get gifts. In fact, a neutral reaction is the absolute worst you can get from any gift. There are no disliked or hated gifts. *You come to learn you are trapped in your role as a farmer in a location where the townsfolk have been replaced by fakes, and the real ones must survive out in the wilderness.* Imagine if it were a real game lol

9:04 if you look at his irises, they look weirdly painted in a way that human brushstrokes wouldn’t do. I’ve tried nijijourney out of curiosity and this is DEFINITELY how irises generated by it look. This is definitely AI generated.

"Every day they do the same introduction... which makes sense because they are extremely forgettable" LMAO

9:09 Michael's eyes are also asymmetrical. Look at the texture on the irises; one of them looks like it's broken glass, and other has an extra highlight.

I backed this project in the kickstarter and me and several other backers never got any of our keys so I would stay away from this. Literally thought it was dead.

What a shame Crytivio couldn't tell the Devs was using Ai and shame on the Devs not disclosing it either. Unfortunate situation! I hope they hire an artist to draw their portraits or do it their own, turning into Ai is lazy and not disclosing it is dishonest. I hope they can improve the game during the time it's in EA! Thanks for the review as usual!

At first I thought this was a Harvest Moon mobile cash-grab with lazy AI art, but after watching I came to find out it's an indie cash-grab with lazy AI art.

Congrats, devs, you've made Natsume's recent attempts to knock off Story of Seasons and Stardew look *competent* That takes a lot of 'work'

I'm so glad you're always advocating for more unique stuff in cozy games. It seems companies think cozy = low dev effort and we need to correct that!

The way you cooked them in the most subtle way made me chuckle more than once haha It does look like the artstyle had a downgrade and a lot of the disappointments just add up to a huge pile of sadness.

"pigeons that are struggling" made me laugh so bad

I’m starting to see a pattern with most of not all “cozy” gamer on Kickstarter being scams or taking advantage of people. Puffpals is becoming a HUGE second with their pattern of handling stuff after like 3+ years in limbo and still in alpha. Oh but obviously they can still sell dlc and plushies for the game before release!!! They did this with a 15 dollar autumn dlc last year, said a big f u to the backers with a crap apology then was like, “or but we want the money so we’re still giving the people who bought it the stuff instead of refunding them” which really soured me on my purchase. I can’t even get a refund and their “NDA” can make you lose access to it all with no refund. The nda is a check box in a discord server whcih personally shouldn’t be legal. I spent too much money to care anymore tbh. :/

So this is the cozy game for AI bros.

Seeing more about this game makes me think there’s *heavy* inspiration from My Time at Portia. A bus that goes around town, animals roaming all over, and having to place soil to grow crops. But Portia is a much higher quality product than this game. I’m honestly so sad to see this game compared to how it looked originally. This game honestly looks like an alpha build rather than what usual early access games look like. I’m glad the original devs are looking after their health but for what the game’s become, it’s so disappointing. But there’s one positive, that “Yaa!” Really got me 🤣

When devs don't have real artists in the projects that have a real say.. we get things like this. Taking shortcuts and all these bugs are not acceptable. It does have potential but still a lot of work needed. 😅 great feedback

Not the hover bus helping control the animal overpopulation 😂😂

What a shame - the original trailer with the original team looked amazing. Of course their health is far more important than a game! But it's a shame that the new workers don't seem to have even kept the spirit of the idea alive here.

oh yeah, that art is defo ai. See how the details melt together? The eyes are major clues, they vary so much between characters. even in other games that make different eyes for their characters (like genshin), the style stays the same.

It's such a shame to see game dev team using AI and buying premade assets when there's so many artists looking for a job, or at least a side project to add to their Portfolio...

9:56 Oscar looking like he been 3 months dead

When I first saw this on Kickstarter, I had serious doubts. It turns out, I was right. Now, I'm also skeptical about Ova magica, Puffpals, and Sugardew Island. The reason why I doubt is simply because they haven't shown actual gameplay.

The bus being "a good attempt to fix the animal overpopulation" got me LOL

BUSTED! They've bought a lot of their stuff from an asset shop - the same ones that Bitten Toast bought to build Garden Paws.

thank you so much for this discussing the ai art was very concerning, as an artist it was very disappointing. It looks like it WAS ai generated. I've heard from people on other serves now. As a placeholder, even as much as I hate to say it. But a game--for sale? There is also no emote variations just still portraits. Thanks, okay, had to pause and check that part out first xD watching the rest of the video now!

I'm an artist and I can tell you 100% the portraits are AI generated. They have the kinds of mistakes you'd have to go out of your way to make, lol.

I love how honest you are every time you review a game.

Man, I remember I was disappointed by the change in art style, the first one looked a lot more cozy :( sad to see it flounder to find its footing

Those kind of games should never be made early access. It changes so much, you've got to restart so many times that by the time the game is complete, you don't feel like playing anymore. So most people that buy it during early access just don't end up having the will to play it once it's 1.0, unfortunatelly.

It just feels like one of those soulless “cozy games” that come out lately… and im so sad to see it because it clearly had a lot of love and direction in the beginning, so it’s sad that the original creators couldn’t continue but hope they are doing alright. And that the developers can straighten themselves out and make sure to create an actually good game, cuz the base is there and im sure that in the hands of the right people it can potentially be pretty alright

"We have animal crossing at home"

The 2D art is AI generated. Especialy apparent in that portrait 7:00

Why are the dark skinned characters in this game so gray in their character portraits…?

6:23 If that hill was any steeper, the bus would have just grinded to a halt and the driver would have indicated "end of the line, please disembark." Player: But this isn't even the stop. Driver: I said Get Off!

Those portraits are 100% AI generated. It's very easy to spot the tell-tale artifacts on all of them.

Thanks Josh, you helped me save money, I really wanted to like it

''It's in Early Access'' Some games stay in the Early Access Hell for their entire life cycle. It's no longer an excuse in my book. And from what the comments are saying, there was also a Kickstarter for it. They can and should do better.

Crytivo is now associated with multiple controversies with the games theyre publishing, including this one. Super Zoo story looked extremely similar to stardew valley, many people thought it was a mod, the people behind it were weird towards replies, got so far even Concerend ape had to say, hey maybe tone the likeness down. Then Roots of Pacha was removed from steam temporairily because Cryvito (who were the ones to take it down iirc) had a Rights dispute between the developer, they did come to an agreement and parted ways. And most recently, Farm Folks came under fire for making a weird tweet about, asking about different levels of breast physics, a lot of fans were like hey thats a little weird and not something we're super into, the community manager had basically a meltdown in the discord server and rudely dismisses anyone who shared their thought. And it also resulted in a lot of outsiders, who arent exactly the target demographic, come in and be defensive and weird about it (think of the type of people complaining women in videogames dont look "women enough"). Now not everything is caused by Cryvito directly, and yet i cant ignore how often it happens with their games. So although they are not directly related to some of these controversies, its enough for me to say, be wary of recent games published by them, or at least make sure to look into it beyond the store page.

I would have quit right after seeing how the camera works 🤣

I was going to say that maybe it was a bit overkill to say it was outright suspicious that the portraits were removed or explain signs they weren't AI, but then I say Erin at 8:51. AI isn't the greatest with hair or symmetry. If you look at their portrait in particular, their earrings are a bit off and asymmetrical, and their hair is weirdly blurry around the ends. Most of their portraits don't look *bad*, just a tad generic, so I think there was probably some cleanup involved. One of the characters has a sweater with pretty good repetition, which AI struggles with. It's very possible they modified them enough to feel they didn't need to disclose the AI usage. I think removing them was probably their best bet here, though. I don't honestly think the style of the portraits even fits the game.

*Goes to play Stardew Valley again* New farming sims need to really step it up.

I backed this on Kickstarter, the Japanese style and art direction had me drawn in. The positive thing I can say, at least something released...but at what costs. -- The Steam page has still not been updated, despite people in Discord telling the team to do so. -- I personally was a very late addition to do pre-release testing (4 days prior release). I want to stress others had more time in testing, not sure how many people and for how long though. -- And when I played for an hour I did question when they want to release it because there was not really a word of it in their Discord. -- The game feels very early Alpha not ready for release, even into early access. And all the points you raised are very valid and true.

That art style change is insane.

Thanks for covering this one! I've had my eye on it since I first heard about it a couple years ago. Can't believe it shadow dropped lol. I had no idea it was out. Really disappointing to see what's become of it. Hope they can turn things around. The original idea was such a cute art style; i was really looking forward to it.

9:14 also the reflections in his eyes are just a bunch of weird shapes instead of being similar like real eyes?? like, what And looking at his bangs… some parts just don’t connect, not in the human error way where you just draw the lines wrong, but like, it definitely looks like an ai mashed shapes together for the bangs so yeah I see it

"And pigeons... that are struggling" idk why that made me laugh so hard.

Thank you for this!! I will NEVER pay a cent to play this game. In fact, even if it was free- I’d NEVER play this. The devs should be ashamed.

cracking up that they called it "a new leaf" as well

Laughed so hard over the comment about the bus taking care of the animal overpopulation problem.😂 I wasn't expecting a lot, but I did expect more than this. It's a shame they tried to sell...a Unity Template and not a game. smh

I think The initial trailers art style was better

I'm sorry that is very obvious AI art, they didn't want the trouble so they removed it. the Eyes and the highlights are dead giveaways

Thank you for always shielding us from lackluster cozy games!

It's honestly disappointing the direction this game went in, it honestly feels like this game knew the basics of what a farming sim needed, but didn't flesh it out enough to make the game feel enjoyable. The AI art for the character portraits doesn't help the devs' case, especially since they never disclosed it and even removed the character portraits. As an artist, I could tell that the moment I saw the character portraits, something felt off about them. I wish the people in Crytivo recover for their mental help and wish the best for them. On a bit of a lighter note, Josh, you caught me so off guard at 6:29 with the overpopulation comment

Hi! I have been on this channel for more than three years now! This channel is so amazing and I don't regret clicking on the video at all! Yaaaaaah!! 🎣

Yeah, I played the demo a while ago and couldn't play more than 30 ish minutes then deleted it from my wishlist, which I rarely do...

the animals moving around reminds me of that gmod game "guess who" 🤣

Literally got stuck right at the beginning. Couldn’t figure out how to put the soil down. There was too much to read on one screen and just was confusing 😢

That's what we get for normalising AI in Art. This has got to be one of the most lifeless looking games I've ever seen.

i"m in paperless 2d animation, which thankfully isn't something ai can manage yet, I still don't like this. It's ONE thing to use it to finish a bit of rendering or maybe use flow frames for really slow movement, but using straight up for full commercial work inevitably means you stole someone else's work. Of course it's really down to customers and audiences to reject finished work that uses AI artwork, we'll see if they do enough, but honestly I don't think enough people will care T__T.

Thanks for checking this out for everyone. It's too bad the way things turned out for it.

Okay that "Yaaa!" Was so stinkin' cute.

10:33 Look right above the eyelashes on Kelly. I assumed since the generative software they used probably doesn't have enough data on dark skinned characters, that's why it looked bad. But no, clearly not. My new theory is that they had it spit out a bunch of light skinned characters, took the ones they wanted changed, used the select tool on the face (missed a couple spots lol) and TINT SHIFTED the area. I don't know how else they could've ended up with a color that bad. That is hilarious!

Great review! very interesting

Oof. I had this on my wishlist, but I guess it’s time to wait. Thanks for the honesty, Josh! ^^

I feel bad for my friend who just got this game last week, I think she saw the old trailer and she's been duped 😬

The way they did the darker skinned characters is so dirty. They look GREY 💀 how did anyone look at that and go “yeah. That looks good”

It's as if the 2nd dev only continue for the sake of continue it. Chance the new dev is only only 1-2 guy seeing how messy it is, and the 1st dev just leave without oversee it any further. Just using the assets the 1st dev made and barely add their own, which explain the chaotic 3d size The main obvious point is how they use the AI as it is, without any retouching. Bet they are strapped for cash and couldn't hire any artist, even the cheap one. Bcs if they do, they at least would understand how important in game art is, especially for character portrait.

9:57 you can see the highlights being crossed, which a real artist would know not to do. also wtf his skin is grey

I played for a little bit, I did enjoy what I played. I miss the initial art style, and didn't like how we start game without seeing how we got there.

I was somewhat interested in this game, but for some reason, wasn't that excited for it, I see why. Also, I'm really glad you take the time to do an HONEST review and give details about what you do/don't like about a game. Other YTbers, will just gloss over issues and just say something is "not fso good" and move on, not sure if they are afraid of backlash from the devs or it affecting sponsorships or what. I appreciate the honesty.

"I never played a good farming game that had bad farming" I rarely find any with any good farming! (aka something more interesting than just plant, water daily, harvest)

Thanks for the review

they still havent updated their description images/videos on the steam listing...

You know what I would love? A farming sim opening in reverse, so to speak. Like you're there because of circumstance and your character really struggles (like city person to farm person adjustment hell). So a lot of events come from villagers helping you out in the beginning and MC is miserable, and your character learns to love OR hate it (even more), and then like "game over" is if you choose your old life or continuing save file is like staying. With like back history of the main character sprinkled and painted along the way ;_; There's gotta be one out there already. Haha. I'm in my 30s so I've been playing farming games since I was a wee one, but sometimes, now that I'm a bit older, I kinda want something more to backstory of my character? They feel a bit cardboard at times. Which is both marvelous but ALSO like a sandbox for creators to go buckwild with some new elements, y'know?

😥 Oh no! I was so exited for this. But thanks for telling me so I can stop waiting so much for it.

I kickstarted this because the trailers reminded me so much of Harvest Moon Magical Melody. So sad to see it in this state

oh, those are defo ai portraits - look at the one with the star shaped earrings, stuff in the iris being unidentifiable junk, clothes, and ones with the flower on the head doesnt even have correct one on the portrait, not to mention the discrepancy between the portraits and the models in general

ah, yes, the game that tried to capitalize on the animal crossing title

Thanks!

first impression - another freaking farming game come ooooon

Graphically, this looks so awful. Thanks for explaining the development history. Definitely adds context

IIRC (there's a lot of not so great farm sims suddenly, I might be getting them mixed up) but didn't the devs respond to the AI portrait complaints by simply removing the portraits?

This is the first time I’ve ever seen this game, so the chonky panda taking up the whole bridge was cracking me up.

I feel like we're going through a oversaturation of Farming and Life Sims right now.

Josh you look so pissed at 10:59 :D sorry you had to play this

Thank you for playing these games so we don't have to! I still stand by what I said about riding the bus being the only thing that's really decent in the game so far except I still feel sorry for the bus driver stuck there continuously going the same route running over the animals

Why are the characters all named after people from the office ??

9:56 wtfffff

The Buses seem kind of lazy as well... where are the wheels? That said, it is early access..

those portraits are def AI what a lazy production...

Great video, it's a shame that this game is so rough. The backers must be very disapointed :[

God damn it.. This would've made for such an amazing horror game. Let the player live an extremely monotonous life in this cutesy game for like 1 season until things start becoming.. weird. Suddenly some of the villagers just aren't there anymore, animals are gathering in certain spots, crops are withering at random, the bus arrives without the driver, merchants begin selling ominous goods, and so on..

As an artist, even with a quick glance it’s 100% AI. Too many small details are melting that’s way too many to list.

There are a lot of things in this game that, on their own, could be overlooked/excused or chalked up to it being in early access. But all of it added together? Gives the EXTREMELY strong impression that no real passion or effort is being put into it at all and that it's likely just an attempt to cash in on farming/cozy games' recent rise in popularity. It's sad to see but I suppose it's just one of the natural pitfalls of a genre gaining popularity.

Oh... I recognize most of the animal models from a lot of cheaper made mobile games. 😵‍💫 They're probably premade assets you can purchase for like five dollars or something somewhere. I just haven't found where yet, but multiple games use them.

They didn't even do any cleanup on the portraits. Erin's earrings don't match, and all of them have that weird detailed lighting on their hair that doesn't fit with the rest of the art.

i played 6 mins and refunded lmao

This just seems completely unacceptable so far... Shady art practice and incompetence out the gate (or before even stepping out of the gate, given early access).