Lore of the Frog Review

To say I love frogs would be a severe understatement. I've adored these amphibians since I was a little girl, and I express it by having an egregious amount of frog emojis to pester my co-workers and friends on Discord. It's no surprise, then, that it took me longer to get Lore of the Frog than it did for me to install it and jump in! For those who might be unfamiliar, this cosy title, developed by Bacho and GuardHouse and published by the latter, has us playing as an archaeologist on a journey... one filled to the brim with frogs (did I mention I love them?).

Jokes aside, throughout our adventure in Lore of the Frog, we get to explore a mysterious island that is marked by statues from an ancient civilisation that worshipped my favourite amphibians and expressed it by building all sorts of buildings in their honour (as everyone should; they're amazing). While the game is quite short — the developer expects players to complete it in about an hour or two, unless you've got a bad sense of direction, like me — I think this is a good thing, as it offers titles like these the space to really shine through without having to add unnecessary complexities that would muddy the original vision.

Sprinkled throughout the map are a few points of interest, from collectibles — including adorable little hats you can use to adorn the myriad of frogs — to puzzles and shortcuts. I spent a lot of my time just running around adding hats to frogs and looking for more (particularly the witch hat), and I had a big ol' smirk plastered across my face for a lot of it. It's hard not to find the game charming when there's so much wholesomeness, even in the silly texts that exploring the island prompts.

I was also impressed at how pretty some of the areas were, causing me to take tons of screenshots! Though I wasn't the biggest fan of the platforming, as it felt a bit clunky and difficult, so I would find myself spending several minutes trying to reach the collectible coins. I also wished there were more puzzles or things to do, as I wanted to keep exploring the land, finding new hats, and hanging out with frogs.

Lore of the Frog is exactly what it says it is on Steam — nothing more, nothing less — and I love it when developers do this; it makes managing expectations easy. It's a short, wholesome, relaxing adventure about putting hats on frogs and walking around a charming island. If you're looking for something other than that, this is definitely not the game for you!