Developed and published by Runaway Play, Flutter Away is a cozy and wholesome experience set inside the Amazon rainforest. As a butterfly researcher, you will spend a few days inside the biggest rainforest on the earth and look for different species of butterflies to understand them and bring their knowledge to the outside world. While looking for butterflies, you will experience what life in the Amazon rainforest is like and also make some new friends in a place you never thought was possible. This is our review of the PC Steam release of Flutter Away in which we will explore a beautiful Amazon rainforest setting and find some cool new butterflies.
Flutter Away is set in a cozy setting of the Amazon rainforest where you step into the shoes of a butterfly spotter. The game begins with you setting up your camp in the heart of the jungle and from there, your goal is to take your camera for a spin along different paths and photograph the different species of butterflies found in the Amazon rainforest. There are three unique paths for you to explore in a sequence and your journal will keep a note of everything that you find, explore, and take a snapshot of. All of your adventures are documented in a colorful pattern and once you take some pictures, it will start filling up with brilliant artwork and details about that particular thing. This is your only main task in the game and for completing your adventure, you only get five days in the game which includes a night time as well. The daytime and nighttime objectives are separate from each other and you will need to complete all of them to progress in the story.
The story of Flutter Away is fairly linear and so is its world. The exploration is limited to just three paths and for the early days, you are limited to just one or two paths before you unlock the third and the final path. During the day, you will have to explore the path unlocked for finding different species of butterflies. You also get an inspection stick where you can allow the butterfly to sit and inspect it closely. Each species requires a photo taken with the camera and an inspection on the stick for you to complete their journal page. Once done, you can move to the next species of the butterfly. Apart from hunting for new butterflies, you will meet a friendly capybara and complete some simple tasks for it like feeding it and making it your friend.
Your camp gives you a place to call home in the Amazon rainforest and while you are not out hunting butterflies, you can rest and sleep here. The nighttime missions are fairly similar to the daytime missions as well. You will have one butterfly species to find during the night and complete some other tasks like capturing the beauty of the stars or other similar tasks. Once you complete all objectives in your journal, you can rest at your campsite and proceed to the next day. This continues for five days before you can conclude your story. You can return to the forest after completing the game but there is nothing to do apart from just roaming around the paths. Everything is unlocked for you to explore but you cannot complete any sort of objectives beyond this point if you missed them earlier.
The controls are fairly simple and easy to understand. Flutter Away is designed to be as simple as possible and that is what really makes it an easy-to-pick-and-play title. Everything is right there in the UI along with the controls that you will need to access your journal, the inspection stick, or your camera. The movement of your character is basic and gets the job done of allowing you to move around and is nothing fancy. It makes sense because Flutter Away is not a complex game by any means so why complicate the controls. You can easily understand what you need to do in the first few minutes and from there, it is all smooth sailing.
Flutter Away is not really a tough exploration game because while it makes it look a little hard for you to complete different objectives by just dotting them down in your journal, the locations where you have to look for them are mostly highlighted by a very bright ray of light coming down from the sky. This is only for main story objectives that you need to complete for progressing in the main story but it takes away that exploration element by guiding you to every location where you need to go. While the objectives are listed in your journal, after exploring the paths, you will start noticing these bright rays of light guiding you to the objectives. This makes it feel like a guided tour instead of a real exploration game. This also shortens up the gameplay time because you will know exactly what you need to do next and not look around like you would in a traditional exploration-oriented title.
The puzzles themselves are not very hard and at most, you will need to find something to attract a certain animal to a location or open up the path by clearing up the branches lying in the path. This is once again, guided by ray of lights so you will know exactly what you need to do. The only real challenge in the game is to find out all of the secret collectibles in the game which are essentially not highlighted in any way. These could be cave entrances to animal tracks or a hidden bird high up in the branches. This will require a keen eye and a thorough investigation of each and every location. Personally, I enjoyed looking for these collectible pictures more than the story itself because here I was not being guided into everything and I felt like I was actually trying to do something for myself.
Apart from the butterflies and the cute capybara, there are plenty of other animals and birds to spot in the game as well but the game treats them as hidden secrets. Sometimes, you will not get to see the animal or the bird and will only unlock an entry in your journal of their feather or footsteps. The main focus throughout your adventure will be on butterflies and the capybara. Apart from the animals, there are some cool and cozy things to spot in the world around you as well. Some of these are part of your story missions and some are really well-hidden and you will need to find them on your own. You will really have to become a shutterbug in order to find all of the secrets because they are chapter-specific and once you clear a chapter, you will have to start a new game in order to find that one missing collectible in a previous chapter. This is despite you getting the option of a freeroam in all paths after completing the game and it makes this post-game exploration useless because you cannot complete the previously missed opportunities here.
I would have loved to see more from Flutter Away because when you finally start to get comfortable with the mechanics and the day-and-night cycle of the game, it just ends. The first few chapters are just an introduction to mechanics and when you finally start doing things your own way, the game just ends. This could have been an adventure through the Amazon Rainforest but its small length makes it just a hike through the Amazon. But the story is there and it is really cute especially if you love animals and would love to explore the rainforests one day looking for them. There are plenty of butterflies to seek and inspect in the game and the easy mechanics make this process really easy as well. Once the game is over, you are left wanting more but sadly there is not much on offer here once you are done with all of the achievements and finding the secrets.
Final Verdict:
Flutter Away is a cute little adventure that does not offer much during its exploration. There are a few surprises thrown here and there but it seriously lacks in terms of content. What it does not lack is pulling you in with its cute and wholesome gameplay experience that leaves you wanting for more. There is a very short little time for you to explore the entire playable area and once you have unlocked everything, there is nothing there for you to do in the game. I will be taking off one point from its final score just for this very reason because otherwise, this is a great adventure and is one cozy game that you can quickly mark off your to-play list. Flutter Away is highly recommended for players who love small and quick games that can be completed without much hassle and also for those who love playing adorable and simple titles.
Final Score: 8.0/10
