Flutter Away Review – Short and satisfying

Video games typically involve some challenge, tesing your wits or reaction times or pattern memorization, and often are very competitive. I would argue that these are the elemants inherent in any sort of game, video or otherwise, with even the simplist and earliest games of stick-hoop being a test of skill, seeing who might best stick a hoop (or hoop a stick? I’ve never played.) Contradictory to this idea, there exists a distinct genre of video games that deliberately diverge from the conventional norms by discarding scores, traditional challenges, and competitive elements. Instead, they are devoted to providing players with a serene and tranquil experience, akin to a soothing escape or a virtual vacation. Flutter Away stands as a prime example of such a game, immersing you in a calming simulator that hopes to offer a delightful respite after a tiring day.

In Flutter Away you take on the role of a leading lepidopterist (or butterfly researcher, as the game calls it) sent on an expedition to an unnamed rainforest. Over the course of five days, you’ll be exploring the rainforest and taking pictures of various butterfly spieces as well as the broader nature around you, documenting it all in your journal. Such a scenario is something many real life scientists hope to one day be able to do, and the game doesn’t shy away from making the whole thing feel like a dream come true.

Gameplay consists of completing eight or so tasks a task, four when the sun is up and four when the sun is down. On each of the five days you are also tasked with documenting three new butterfly spieces, which will gradually require more exploration and interaction with the environment as it opens up to you. Documenting a butterfly involves finding the specimen, taking a picture, and most adorably getting the butterfly to land on your special butterfly perch for closer inspection.

Having a limit of five days might give you the impression that everything is on a timer. Quite the opposite, the days don’t progress until you finish your tasks and decide to move forward, with the transition between day, night, and morning controlled by interacting with your campsite. The game encourages you to move along at your own pace, with no rush or time limit to push you forward.

Our protagonist, though they never speak a word, is full of personality. You see this every time you put an entry into your journal, which fills out a short paragraph describing whatever it is you’re documenting. Every entry shows an undeniable amount of enthusiasm and excitement and is in a word adorable.

Adorable is kind of the defining word for Flutter Away. There are no spooky plot twists, though I did get a sort of unsettled feeling once or twice that made me think there might be. The entire game is desigend to be adorable and relaxing, and the biggest bit of drama was when lightning scared a Cabybara away from my camp.

The game is very digestable, perhaps to a fault. It won’t take you longer than an hour to beat Flutter Away. It took me exactly 50 minutes to reach the end of day 5, and I scored about a 66% percent completion according to the game — meaning I missed a few secret photographs. I imagine a second playthrough would see me net 100%, but I don’t really feel the need to go back for completionism on this one.

I’m not totally sure what Flutter Away could do to make the experience longer, which is something I’m sure fans of the game will wish for. The whole thing feels like a compact and clean little experience, something you can finish in an afternoon. It really doesn’t need to be anything more than that.

I didn’t experience any bugs or glitches in my playthrough. A few times, I thought the game was broken, not allowing me to close the journal at the end of the day, but I found out that this was because I hadn’t filled in all of that day’s information quite yet. This was a rare moment of confusion, and you shouldn’t expect this lack of guidance in the rest of the game. Everything you need to interact with to progress in the game is highlighted by a shaft of light and contained in a small, manageable area.

There’s not a lot more to say about Flutter Away. The game isn’t my game of the year pick, nor is it something I’m going to come back to or really think a lot about in the future. My ADHD made it a bit of a slog to get through at certain points, but the game wasn’t long enough to feel like it was dragging on or draining my patience. For what it was, Flutter Away was a nice, relaxing little experience that I finished in one sitting without any problems, and I think that’s exactly what the game wants to be. I wouldn’t call it the best game ever, but you know what you’re in for, and you will by looking at it, its hard to say you can really be disappointed.

Try Hard Guides was provided with a PC review copy of this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in the Game Reviews section of our website! Flutter Away is available on Steam and Nintendo Switch.