For goodness sake! Don’t play Little Goody Two Shoes.

Every year, I play at least one game that gives an amazing first impression. Then, after about two or so hours, the cracks, thorns, warts, and blemishes reveal themselves all at once. It’s not a gradual letdown. It’s an instantaneous one that infuriates me so much that I question what the hell the developers were thinking. Off the top of my head, In 2020, it was Devil Summoner 2. In 2022, it was Omori. In 2024, it was Slave Zero X. (Aside: to the person that DM’d me bitching about my lack of skill being the reason why I scored the game so low, I got your message. I just never responded. Feel free to DM me again if you want to have a discussion. Or eff off. I don’t care). This year (2026), it’s Little Goody Two Shoes. Released digitally in 2023, Limited Run Games had physical copies created and I made a preorder almost completely sight unseen. The screenshots, the artwork, and the premise were enough for me shell the cash. Still, even if I did do extra research, nothing could have prepared me for this.

The first impression of Little Goody Two Shoes had me pumped and locked in. Character art looks like it came from shojo anime like Wedding Peach or something from CLAMP. In-game graphics looked like Sega Saturn’s Magic Knight Rayearth. The premise was an unholy harmony of Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure and Corpse Party. Mini-games look like something from Spike Chunsoft. All of this could have worked. It should have worked. But, it didn’t. I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll start with the premise: you play as a girl named Elise in the small, European inspired town of Kieferberg. Elise dreams of boundless wealth and privilege. Sadly, her life consists of odd jobs and dining on loaves of bread. One evening, her house is mistakenly invaded by a lass named Rozenmarine. This meeting sets something into motion for Elise and her ambition. But, there’s a cost that she, Rozenmarine, and the rest of the townsfolk aren’t ready for. Kieferberg houses many secrets and Elise will need to tread carefully if she wants to survive the week.

The game’s title of Little Goody Two Shoes has to do with Elise finding magical, red shoes that she finds after meeting Rozenmarine. Elise’s story is great. It combines slice of life humor from anime plus the dark history of the Boston Witch Trials. There’s horror, sacrifice, Satanic rituals and an overzealous religious leader. (It sounds very on brand with the current state of affairs in the real world – at least here in the United States.) As Elise goes through the week learning what she needs to do to fulfill her wish, her situation and the situations in town gets worse. You’ll come to learn a lot about the people she encounters. Most notably along with Rozenmarine, there’s Freya and Lebkuchen. These three maidens can be romanced, which can ultimately decide which of the many endings you discover. But, not all endings are sunshine and roses for Elise. Some are gory and bizarre. The game is rated T for Teen, but a good bit of the game could have been ranked an M.

Little Goody Two Shoes takes place during one week. Each day is divided into six times: dawn, morning, afternoon, dusk, evening, and Witching Hour. During the non-Witching Hour times, your day will spent helping the townsfolk with tasks for money, going on dates with one of the three above mentioned lasses, and watching story events unfold. Going from one part of the day to the next costs one hunger point from Elise’s hunger meter. Venturing into one of Kieferberg’s caves or caverns will slowly deplete her sanity meter. Elise also has a health meter (represented by hearts) and a suspicion meter (represented by witch hats). Other than the suspicion meter, restoring these meters requires items. And, items cost money. Money can be in short supply if you’re not skilled or have quick reflexes. The tasks range from fun to frustrating. It can feel daunting trying to balance all this in order to have enough money to survive. Yes, there are times when the townsfolk will gift Elise items but it’s not enough. If health, hunger, or sanity are depleted it’s game over. Similarly, if suspicion reaches maximum it’s game over. Perhaps more infuriating is how the screen becomes hard to see if hunger, health, or sanity are near empty. Trying to keep Elise at peak form is too difficult and is part of what ruins the game.

Another part, and it’s a big one, is the Witching Hour. During this time, Elise will have to venture through mazes, solve puzzles, and deal with enemies that can end her life in a snap. Note that there is no auto-save so saving as often as possible, and in as many slots as possible is highly recommended. I want to emphasize that things were fine initially. Once the Witching Hour struck, I was ready to see what terrors Elise had to endure. I’m a fan of survival-horror so I figured these moments would be fun. Everything fell apart when I got to the Witching Hour on Wednesday. That’s when I realized that Elise’s tiny health meter, her slow movement speed, a lack of scene skipping for most events, and bizarre choices by developers were overtaking the game’s good attributes. The game was rarely fun. I’ve played challenging games but the challenge in Little Goody Two Shoes was inflated by the developers going, “Hmm. You know what sounds fun? This!” and implementing frustration upon frustration.

Even the aspects I like have their flaws. The presentation is absolutely stunning. Whether it’s sunny and lovely in town or eerie and atmospheric during the Witching Hours, Little Goody Two Shoes looks like an enhanced 2D title on the Sega Saturn. Character sprites move beautifully and there’s a ton of anime stills. Spooky, crayon-like drawings pop in everywhere to add extra terror. There are stunning anime sequences during important events, too. The downside? There’s no quick-jump and it’s rare you’ll be able to skip events. Now. I know to some this gripe sounds lazy. But, think about it. This is a game released in 2023. Quality of life features like this are the norm. And in a game with lots of inevitable game overs, trial and error, and resets, not being able to swiftly move from point to point makes the playtime feel longer than it actually is. Yes, the game is beautiful to look at but you’ll be seeing the same things over and over. And over.

I don’t have much to say about the music or sound or voice acting. It’s probably the only aspect of the game that isn’t flawed. The game’s soundtrack is limited but each tune is catchy. The game isn’t fully voiced. Instead, characters will give little quips or statements during certain dialogues. Eventually, I turned that all the way down. There are a few musical interludes that sound great. While the game can be voiced with either English or Japanese options, the songs are sung in Japanese only.

If you’re a completionist or a trophy/achievement hunter, then two playthroughs are required. If not, it’s easy to get one of the many endings in about ten hours. Ten hours isn’t long, but it felt long after all of the frustration and retries. Little Goody Two Shoes is a game that could have been a cult classic that combines cuteness and creepiness into one package. As I sat down to write this review, I noticed that most people praised it as such. Sadly, my experience was different. I was immediately let down after a few hours. Gorgeous artwork, beautiful graphics, and a well-written narrative never have and never will make up for a game not being fun. We’ve seen this happen before in other games. Little Goody Two Shoes is another example of this.

Overall, 4/10: You can only go so far on your looks. Elise’s troubles in Little Goody Two Shoes are made worse by frustrating design choices and an absence of modern features.