Little Goody Two Shoes Is a Bewitching RPG
Dylan Atkinson, Contributor
Having played the demo, I already had high expectations for Little Goody Two Shoes (AstralShift, 2023), but I still wasn’t expecting it to surprise me in so many delightful ways. Little Goody Two Shoes is a horror narrative adventure game where you play as Elise, a young lass who has a big dream: becoming filthy rich. Unfortunately for Elise, she is stuck as a maid-of-all-work helping her fellow villagers with menial tasks. Upon discovering a way of manifesting her dream, she ventures into the heart of the woods, determined to achieve her wish.
Screenshot by the author.
The art style of Little Goody Two Shoes lovingly recreates the aesthetic of 90s anime series with pristine accuracy, combining it with modern flourishes. Certain scenes feel as if they could be taken out of context and presented as a 90s shōjo series. The music further enhances the game’s style and atmosphere, playing whimsical fairytale tracks during the day and suspenseful, otherworldly tracks as Elise ventures deeper into the woods. Several scenes also shift the aspect ratio to 4:3 and a CRT filter is applied over regular gameplay to further enhance the retro aesthetic. Such filters can potentially be overpowering, but I didn’t find them to be distracting at all. Little Goody Two Shoes also blends a variety of art styles in enchanting sequences that are reminiscent of Madoka Magica.
Screenshot by the author.
Horror RPGs like the ones developed in RPG Maker often lack variety and play quite similarly, but once again, Little Goody Two Shoes stands out. The game operates on a limited day and night cycle that has you talking to townsfolk, playing various minigames, and most importantly, going on romantic dates with three bachelorettes during the day. Meanwhile, at night, you venture into the dangerous woodlands to achieve Elise’s dream as you solve puzzles and run from enemies. All this is done while managing several resources to keep Elise healthy and sane while avoiding accusations of witchcraft. Managing these resources isn’t just busywork, either: the way you handle them affects future choices. For example, a character named Muffy will ask for specific food everyday or else she’ll snitch on Elise for secretly housing one of the other characters, raising the suspicion of the other townsfolk. Unless you happen to have said food on hand, you’ll need to spend additional money to avoid raising suspicion which can have a knock on effect for other resources.
It’s generally easy to avoid maxing out suspicion because you can avoid talking to the townsfolk. However, it’s impossible to outright ignore suspicion because mandatory scenes have dialogue options that can raise suspicion and the aforementioned Muffy. The only way to lower suspicion is by talking to the townsfolk and keeping Muffy fed.
Screenshot by the author.
Of course, the relationships you can form with each of the girls are a large part of the game’s appeal; the game spares no expense on romantic dates. Little Goody Two Shoes wears its queerness proudly on its sleeve, while also not necessarily making a big revelation out of the fact that Elise likes women. Many other horror RPGs also don’t tend to focus on romantic relationships, so the emphasis on relationships in Little Goody Two Shoes is another way the game distinguishes itself. Each date features special artwork and sometimes entirely new locations used only for one date. The three girls, Rozenmarine, Freya, and Lebkuchen, are all charming in their unique ways and each has very genuine relationships with Elise. The way each of their relationships develop reveals more about both them and Elise in ways that I wasn’t expecting. I felt that any of them falling for Elise was believable. You’ll need to decide on a romantic partner quickly, however, because after the first couple of days, it seems that you are locked out of the romantic dates for the girls you didn’t choose. It may be possible to raise the relationship of Rozenmarine and another girl, but it is certainly impossible to raise the relationship of Freya and Lebkuchen simultaneously because their romantic dates typically occupy the same time slot.
Screenshot by the author.
The narrative presents tons of mystery and keeps the story compelling beyond Elise’s vain dream. Although some unexplained oddities left me more confused than curious, I was thoroughly engaged across my three playthroughs, seeing all ten endings. Your reaction to the unfolding narrative, I imagine, changes greatly on whether or not you’ve played Pocket Mirror (2016), AstralShift’s previous game. I played through Pocket Mirror before the release of Little Goody Two Shoes after learning they were connected and felt it enhanced my experience.
Unfortunately, the biggest issue I had with the game was some of the dialogue choices. When presented with certain dialogue choices I found that either one or both options weren’t very descriptive and seemed unrelated to the context of the conservation. This made it difficult to determine what the correct option was and forced me to reload sometimes. This is especially problematic during a certain sequence where choosing the wrong dialogue option results in an immediate game over.
Screenshot by the author.
However, in nearly every other regard, Little Goody Two Shoes is a joy to experience that exceeded my expectations over and over again, and it is a great achievement for AstralShift. Its visuals, music, gameplay, and story all combine to create one of the most captivating RPG Maker games I’ve played. This experience is only made more rewarding by playing Pocket Mirror and seeing its most visually interesting moments fully realised in Little Goody Shoes. In a genre that can often feel derivative, Little Goody Two Shoes innovates and expands beyond the genre’s scope, reaching new heights whilst retaining its identity.
