There is one action-heavy chase sequence late in the adventure, with Hoa dodging fiery blasts and making last-minute leaps along a path of heaving machinery, but it’s a cutscene designed to inject some drama into Hoa’s story rather than a tricky playable platforming section to intentionally induce stress. These may have been threatening bosses in a lot of other games, but here they’re friends rather than foes the chilled-out chieftains of each habitat that task you with hunting down butterflies in exchange for clearing a path forward. There are also giant creatures to encounter along the way like a moss-covered rock monster and a towering octopus. Mechanical spiders can lash out at Hoa, but the worst they can do is knock her back on her heels a few paces.

While there are enemies of sorts to be found in Hoa, there are no death states or damage to be suffered of any kind.

As far as brainteasers go, Hoa lags a long way behind the likes of Limbo and Little Nightmares II, but that at least allowed me to relax and enjoy the serenity that comes from catching rides from flying ladybugs through a forest canopy and exploring inky underwater depths by the glowing light of a school of jellyfish. Its puzzle design is similarly uncluttered and perhaps even a touch oversimplified, with only a couple of late-game (used loosely in a two-hour game) mechanisms perplexing enough to give me pause. It’s all very intuitive, to the point that Hoa thankfully has no need for an on-screen interface of any sort to obscure your view of its gorgeous world. This nurturing of flora and fauna has satisfyingly practical effects on the gameplay sunflowers bloom as Hoa moves near to create platforms out of petals, while rhino beetles can be beckoned closer to push heavy obstacles on her behalf.

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