The Indie Informer

Prepare to get away from it all. Flutter Away sets you gently down into the rainforest to research butterflies over five days of picture-taking, creature discovering, and light puzzle-solving. It’s a wonderful game to jump into if you need a stress-free few hours.

Genuine and enthusiastic, the main character enters a world of dense foliage and colorful possibilities. My task is to uncover and research as many butterfly species as possible. To do this, I have a camera to record the creature, a wooden perch that helps me view them up close, and a handy journal. Any progress I make is instantly recorded in this last, with delightful hand-drawn impressions of the surrounding nature and passages of refreshingly excited observations.

The journal also holds my short checklist for each day and night. Different species appear depending on whether or not I can see the sun, and my encounters aren’t limited to vividly colored insects. I manage to catch a glimpse of an adorable capybara on my first day and grow closer with the creature as time goes on. But there are also a handful of things — from plants and new pathways to unexpected animals and different tools — to find every day.

Though its charm shines through, there are definitely places that could use more polish. The controls can feel clunky or slightly off. The scope of the world and the runtime are both small. But none of this is enough to eclipse the game’s warmhearted experience.

Flutter Away is just a few hours long, but if you’re looking for soothing exploration, this may be the game for you.