A cute little apple is having a busy day in a town full of needy fruits & veggies. This is the unusual premise for Zertug latest game, Apples Busy Day.

In this game you can find out the answer to a very important question; what do apples do in their free time. Apples Busy Day is a lighthearted exploration game. The protagonist is an apple aptly named Apple. He’s a friendly and good-natured fruit always ready to help whomever he comes across. Apple wanders around his home island helping any neighbours he meets. Of course that makes him very popular in his community. As you can imagine, there’s no lack of characters requesting Apple’s assistance. Whether it be delivering a love letter or helping a young fruit get back his soccer ball, Apple is always happy to oblige.

The game aesthetic is simple and cute. The artwork is lively and colorful. It almost looks like children’s drawing. It has an up-beat feel to it. I loved the style, and feel like it’s perfectly suited to the game’s essence. Apples Busy Day is exactly as advertised. It spans a single day of Apple’s life, a very busy day! It’s meant to be light and quirky. I also thoroughly enjoyed the jazzy soundtrack that has a cheerful take in keeping with the game’s atmosphere.

I got into this game knowing nothing about it and with no expectations. On the surface, Apples Busy Day appears very simple, and that’s part of its charm. The gameplay is easy, you just walk around the town and everyone you meet has a problem for Apple to resolve. Still, it has a certain complexity that is not apparent at first glance. Not all quests are as straightforward as they seem. There are some light puzzles mixed in as well. The different characters are all fruits or vegetables. They’re cute, quirky, and the dialogues are fun to read. Eventually, you even meet a banana who introduces fishing. Of course the fishing, like the game, is on a smaller scale. There are only five type of fish to catch, but I found it to be a nice addition to the game. There is also a net to catch butterflies and crabs. In the end, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

The quests are fun. There are some tasks that are strictly fetch quests, but in this game it works since it’s all about Apples busy day. The fishing and bug catching are an integral part of the game, and I feel like they are a nice break in between the other quests. Additionally, there might even be a treasure for Apple to unearth.

I really liked my time in Apple’s world, I couldn’t stop until I had completed all of his tasks and left the island. It’s a lovely game to have a relaxing moment with. It’s extremely short, lasting only about an hour, but since the game is representative of one day, the length is actually perfect. However there are a couple features that I would like to see in the game. Despite the length of the game and the small size of the world, a map would have been a great inclusion. The world size is limited, but there are a lot of paths you can take to reach slightly hidden areas. It’s almost like a labyrinth, and can be confusing. The goal of this game is to fulfill all of the town’s inhabitant’s requests, and you’ll find yourself doing tasks for many of them at once. You might need something from a character who won’t give it to you until their own demands are fulfilled. Because of this, you’ll end up walking back and forth quite a bit. There are times where I couldn’t remember where the character I had to see was, and it would have been nice to have a map to refer to in those moments. There is a spyglass you can look through that lets you see the whole world a bit at a time. It’s exactly like when you look into one of those viewing binoculars that you can find in tourist areas. It appears a bit late in the game to be used as a map unfortunately. Also you would have to travel there every time you need to look in it so it would be impractical.

The last feature I would have liked is a more detailed quests page. The existing page only tells you which quest you’ve completed and what you need to acquire, but it doesn’t specify who demanded it. Since the quests are so interdependent, you might forget who you have to see once it’s completed, and this information should be on the quests page.

Apples Busy Day has a cute aesthetic and a cozy atmosphere. I had a lot of fun playing it, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to play an interesting game that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s fun, unique, and doesn’t overstay its welcome. You can finish it in one sitting for a relaxing afternoon. It’s short at about one hour playtime, but for the small asking price it’s easily worth picking up.

Positives

• Simple relaxing gameplay
• Cute fruits & veggies characters
• Steam deck optimized

Negatives

• A more in-depth quests page is needed
• No map