Mom's Soup

Game: Mom's Soup

Developer: RobotBand

Platform: Browser

Play it here: https://robotband.itch.io/moms-soup

Happy Mother's Day! Mother's Day is a special day where we celebrate the moms who brought us into this world, raised us, and found out how much of a disappointment we are as we fail to live up to expectations. Anyone relate? No, or just not admitting to it? Never mind. We love our moms out there, and what better way to celebrate than by playing some video games? Since today was Mother's Day, I thought and said to myself "Self, what games out there are centered around mothers?" To put it bluntly, not too many, but there are games to be had to play on this special day; case in point, Mom's Soup. 

Mom's Soup has you playing as Eddie who goes on a mundane epic quest to get groceries for his mom so she can make some delicious soup. You must explore 4 different areas to locate these ingredients: the store, the river, the mountain, and the forest. Collect the ingredients of broth, fish, mushrooms, and deer meat and mom will be able to make her soup. Now, you could complain and bemoan "But Mom!" but it's Mother's Day today, so we should be prime to be doing favors for her, after all, she raised little brats like us. 

The game is charming in its simplicity with its visuals and gameplay, looking very reminiscent of an Atari 2600 game from back in the early 80s, except probably better programmed and lacking in sound. Eddie looks very much like a Pac-Man ghost out doing groceries for his mom. Such a nice boy! I wonder if he gets an allowance? Probably not. Each area is set apart by their colors, with the hub and store being yellow and blue, the forest being brown and green, the mountain being grey and white, and the river being blue and green. Some of the areas have nice scenery, such as the riverbed, with its Spongebob Squarepants decor at the bottom of the river being a fairly nice touch that helps give the game some personality.

The four different areas you explore are differentiated not just by color, but by the way you must explore each area in order to get your item. The shop requires 3 coins in order to buy broth, with 1 coin hidden in each area, the forest has you traversing the forest in a lost woods sort of fashion that is a callback to The Legend of Zelda on the NES, the mountain has you exploring a maze with switches to help view the layout, and the river has you swimming underwater. Commenting on the last section, swimming in the river is much more difficult than it needed to be, as the swimming pattern is incredibly precise, and diverting off course means certain death and restarting the level. Who would have thought that getting groceries for mom would be this difficult?

Once you collect all the ingredients, Mom is able to make some soup and everyone is happy. You'll probably be told that the harshness of your quest was a learning experience that is all for the better in the long run and you'll agree because you love your mother so much. Perhaps the extremities of gathering ingredients are a reminder of life's harsh realities that we must be ready for and that our parents help prepare us for. Just watch out for the curve balls life is gonna throw at you.