On Your Tail

Game Title: On Your Tail
Released:December 16, 2024
Game Length: 20 Hours
Grade: C

Story

Prologue: The game starts out with a very extensive introduction where the protagonist seems to be confused on the difference of going on vacation and running away from home. She decides to leave unexpectedly without confronting her parents and leave on a vispa with only the clothes on her back. She isn't aware of where to go other than a locale on a letter that her grandma sent her. Although she forgets her phone, there is a special chronolens that allows her to see very specific events in the past (that are associated with the main investigation portion of the game).

Introduction: Once you visit a unique individual on the way there, stumble into an unknown figure by an abandoned train station, and get rescued out of the storm by a well-established man, there will be a chain of events that must be completed before exploring everything this new town has to offer. You will need to visit the mechanic to repair your vispa before traveling to a few places nearby. You will need to buy a boating instruction manual, read it thoroughly by completing the puzzle, and pay the fishing man to rent a boat to explore the nearby sea. You need to buy a fishing rod at the general store and upgrade it from the engineer to fish out to sea. There is also a shopping bag that allows you to gather any crops you may find. There is a sequence of events that must be completed before you are able to discover the best location to call home away from home (which ends up being a predestined apartment). Afterwards, you will be able to take on more jobs, buy accessories from certain shops, and talk to individuals that remained lock early in the game. 

Supernatural: Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much action happening outside on the streets. Other than a few random strangers that wander in specific spots, the town feels rather static. It's like the town is stuck in some sort of time bubble. Humorously, the story sort of explores that notion as you continue to solve the mystery behind a strange figure that is reeking havoc upon the characters. A lot of the mechanics in the game have some convoluted explanation, like how a fortune teller seems to know a lot about your current situation. Though, much of the story itself is self-contained in puzzles or in dialogue.

Activities

Village: Most of the doors you encounter in the game have someone you can talk to. There are a total of 73 inhabitant cards you can collect. Some characters are based on real life pets. While there are some very limited interactions, you can learn more about them after delivering packages and letters at their doorstop. There are 23 character cards that are much more involved with the main story that you can interact with physically somewhere in the village itself. They have a much more variety of reactions from their model and artwork when carrying a conversation. These allow you to visit inside their place of work or home. It is rather nice seeing all the passion that is built inside the various paintings, pictures, and accessories inside the rooms.

Chores: You can get a little bit of cash from fishing or collecting crops, but there are a number of things you can do to earn some cash. Each day, you can deliver a handful of packages to the locals. There is a place where you create a formula out of the ingredients you collect and sell ice cream over the course of the day. You don't have to physically be there and the money is deposited in a piggy bank in your bedroom. You can collect things around a farm. Perhaps the best and earliest job is being a waitress at the restaurant. Unlike your typical mini-game, you set a course for your character to follow instead of manually moving her in all directions. Cleared plates must be returned before new customers appear and a table's order must be exact (cannot carry a cleared plate or a plate with food that isn't displayed). Additional currency is earned if you exceed the minimum and two games can be played each day with the potential of unlocking more difficult levels.

Friends: There are six friends you can have travel with you, but the feature has to be unlocked first. They can follow you around and contribute their opinion when you are in conversation. You can call them on any phone to appear next to you, but you must manually ask them to follow you afterwards. They can sit down next to you at various rest spots like specific benches on the street, railings, or on the roof at home. You can then choose to talk with them or read a book. They will return home if you visit quest-related areas, go out on a boat, or travel on your vispa. There are two games you can play with them (against the AI) - marble obstacle course and stone skipping. 

Interactions: You can buy a number of books, movies, and outfits. You can only swap to other casual clothes at your home or a swimsuit that allows you to enter the water at the changing booths. Decorations, radio, television, and phone can all be added to your home and workplace. Riddles can be solved only if you have unlocked or collected the appropriate card in exchange for a joker card to help with puzzles. You can also exchange those joker cards at the fortune teller to unlock artwork. Constellations and photographs challenges are available. You can stargaze but only after buying a telescope. There is an entire cooking mini-game when you discover certain recipes. There is an arcade game you can play once you prove to the underground club how bad you can really be (part of the main story). The mechanic's toolbag has some difficult organization puzzles. 

Problems

Difficulty: The biggest detriment to the game was how hard it was to complete the main story. The first few investigations were fun when you were looking around the room to spot the difference with your special device and sorting out the order of events. Things get much worse when figuring out the order of five cards turns into a dozen that can be combined and reused. Interrogations where you have to keep combining detective instinct cards, facts, and responses until you are down to two was a bit overwhelming. I stopped feeling clever in figuring things out when the mini-game turned into some heavy trial-and-error. Characters that appear on the playing field will react differently depending on the situation. You don't know until after you play a card how long they will take performing an action, what unknown variables will happen that were never explained to you beforehand, or which direction the characters will move once something new happens. 

Progression: The second problem had to be how they slowly dripped out content based on how far along you were in the story. What I desired was a sandbox where everything was available at once. Instead, there were always moments where it was clear they wanted you to do something else first. You need to become acquainted with friends, chores need to be completed for money, and some shops aren't available until meeting certain characters. 

Convenience: With all the data available at your fingertips, you would think they could have at least made it easier to travel around the place. There is no fast travel. There isn't a mini-map that points you to your destination or a compass to show which way is north. You can't mark your map. There were points in the game where I would run from one side of the map to visit the mechanic to the other side to reach my vispa multiple times. I thought I was being clever by calling them to my side on the telephone, but that too was ruined when the next objective asked me to do something at their place of work. Only a couple of activities are ever shown on the map and they are unlocked after you complete them. The main storyline is always pinned on the map, but side objectives like delivering mail require you to physically locate the address. Did I mention that a person's address isn't available anywhere in the database? I felt ashamed when I forgot my very own address of my new home!  

Summary

Review: The setting for On Your Tail is an interesting one. You visit an exclusive town full of life and fantastic characters while trying to learn more about a mysterious figure that is causing problems for them. There is a long range of things to buy and activities to do with your friends. Unfortunately, the difficulty clashes with the story and lack of conveniences tend to ruin the more casual setting. Constantly running back-and-forth without the ability to teleport, travel through what seemed to be unnecessary loading screens in tunnels, and the very linear progression of content hindered what could have been a fun game. I don't recommend this game.