Confetti’s Cozy Corner: On Your Tail
On Your Tail, the charming mystery adventure cozy game by Memorable Games, has made its way to the Nintendo Switch! The game centers on Diana Capoli, a college student who is very burnt out and lacks life experience.
On Your Tail begins with Diana receiving feedback from her professor stating that her writing entry for a competition has potential, but it is very robotic and feels like AI wrote it. Disheartened by this feedback and feeling the growing pressure of her parents to be successful Diana decides to go on holiday and broaden her horizons!
Diana’s late grandma, Sarah, once described an Italian village by the sea called Borgo Marina as life-changing. Inspired, Diana abruptly travels to this village and discovers that it is beautiful and equally mysterious. Her arrival, which is more like a crash landing, at Borgo Marina reveals that the village is plagued with a series of thefts, that all seem to be connected. Diana begins developing her sleuthing skills with the help of your grandmother’s magical Chronolens, a device that allows you to see into the past.
While Diana is investigating the thefts, she will become well acquainted with the village, inhabitants, and cultures of Borgo Marina. She will build connections with the villagers, get a job, play mini-games, make food, and more. Along with solving the mystery, the slice-of-life components add much-needed balance to the experience. While I wish there were more slice-of-life options to make the scale between solving various mysteries, I did enjoy all that was given. And, yes, there are romance options, including same-sex options!
The game mechanic for solving a mystery resembles a tabletop game where you must put the sequence of events in order represented by a card and game piece. Diana must find clues in the environment that will help her solve the mystery, interrogate witnesses, and compile all the information in the correct order to arrive at an answer for how the theft occurred. This gameplay mechanic was very cool and made me wish that there was an actual tabletop game for On Your Tail that coincided with the game.
I have completed the game on PC and have been enjoying my replay on the Nintendo Switch. The PC edition of the game did have bugs that were patched out little by little, and I am hoping the same will be the case for the Nintendo Switch.
The hardware limitations of the Nintendo Switch are definitely shown in On Your Tail, as the game often crashes when moving from place to place. The map and details of Borgo Marina are beautiful and the Switch struggles to make the experience seamless. Also, there were moments when the art on the ‘cards’ would not populate. The only reason why I was able to complete a mystery sequence was because of my previous experience with the game, but for new players that will be very confusing.
The art direction in the game is very beautiful. Often, I would find myself stopping for some time just to admire the environment of Borgo Marina. Accompanying the beautiful environment is an equally lovely soundtrack and sound design that makes you feel relaxed and immersed in the experience. Even when admiring the environment, there is still an air of mystery that lingers, which adds perfectly to the storytelling of On Your Tail.
On Your Tail is a story of adventure, mystery, and ultimately challenging players to look at the world from a different perspective. By the end, I believe that Diana learns that there is more to life than academia, people pleasing, working hard, and following set paths. She learns to question things more, get out of her head, explore the world, and have experiences beyond just what she writes on paper. Ultimately, knowing that those experiences can influence her art.
I do hope the bugs will ultimately be ironed out of the Switch version for On Your Tail. The story is beautiful and will have an impact on players, especially those who are pursuing fields in art or content creation! It impacted me in a very positive way as a writer and creator pursuing her dreams right now.
On Your Tail is available today on Steam and the Nintendo Switch for $29.99.
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