| Little Goody Two Shoes | |
| Developer: | AstralShiftPro |
| Publisher: | Square Enix Collective |
| Engine: | Unity[1] |
| Platforms: | |
| Genre: | Role-playing, adventure |
| Modes: | Single-player |
Little Goody Two Shoes is a video game developed by AstralShiftPro and published by Square Enix Collective.[2] It includes elements of anime-inspired role-playing, adventure and horror games. Players control a girl called Elise who attempts to avoid horrific monsters in the enchanted woods while trying to find a way to escape her mundane life. This game is a prequel of a 2016 RPG Maker game by the name of Pocket Mirror.[3]
A young girl named Elise is found by an elderly woman in the woods. Years later, after her adoptive grandmother dies, Elise performs odd jobs for the nearby villagers while fantasizing about wealth and adventure. Players control Elise as she investigates rumors of a wish-granting creature in the woods and why horrific monsters have started coming out at night. During the day, players can perform jobs for the villagers and build relationships, including going on dates with up to three different female love interests. The jobs are action-oriented minigames, and relationships use elements of life sims and dating sims. During the night, players must guide Elise through the woods and avoid the monsters. If players do not maintain positive relations with the villagers, they may accuse Elise of being a witch and responsible for the monsters' appearance. Elise dies if caught by the monsters, and players must also balance her hunger and sanity. If Elise dies, players can return to a save point.[4] There are ten different endings based on choices players make, such as who to romance.[5]
Developer AstralShift are based in Portugal.[6] They were influenced by Japanese cartoons targeting young women from the 1990s, including Sailor Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth, and Slayers. In particular, they wanted Elise to emulate the strong female protagonists of these shows, both in design and writing. The world was influenced by the video games Legend of Mana and SaGa Frontier and horror games made in RPG Maker. Though the story connects with their previous game, Pocket Mirror, Little Goody Two Shoes was designed to be standalone.[7] It was initially designed to be a short prequel to that game, but they said it progressively grew in scale during preproduction in 2019 and 2020.[8] Square Enix Collective released it for Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch on October 31, 2023.[9]
Little Goody Two Shoes received positive reviews on Metacritic.[10] RPGamer praised the combination of genres but found the action sequences and puzzles frustrating.[4] Nintendo Life similarly praised the mix of genres and criticized the puzzles.[5] Push Square called it "an excellent life-sim adventure" but said it can become repetitive.[11] RPGSite enjoyed the story, gameplay, and anime-inspired presentation, and they said the mix of genres was handled well by gradually introducing new gameplay elements without overwhelming players.[12] Sports Illustrated praised the mix of influences and genres, which they said were impressively brought together. Although they criticized the puzzles and some of the writing, they said AstralShift "nailed the retro anime style".[13] RPGFan designated it the best adventure game/visual novel of 2023, calling it "scary good" and "candy for the eyes" for its retro RPG Maker look.[14]
In the 35th GLAAD Media Awards, Little Goody Two-Shoes was nominated for Outstanding Video Game.[15]