Chill Panda [Switch]

Developed by CGA Studio in collaboration with Onteca, Chill Panda was originally created as a mobile app recommended by the NHS for kids under the age of eight in order to help manage their emotions whilst having fun. Upon starting, you’re given two options: Game mode, to explore Chill Panda’s world; or Quick Chill mode, to get straight to the ‘calming exercises’.

The world of Chill Panda is fairly simple, with a few different areas for you to discover, each with their own activities for you to take part in. First, there’s the ‘Chill Zone’, where you’ll complete breathing exercises alongside Chill Panda, such as Square Breathing and Stop, Breathe, Be; then there’s the Do Zone with exercises for you to follow, including Warm Up, Poga, and a 5 Minute Workout. There’s also a Play Zone, where you can play ‘Painter’ which is just a colouring in task, that gives you various pictures to fill with colour (some of which are truly terrifying, such as a crab with a creepy human face); and Arcade, where you can play on an Arcade Cabinet, with two different games to choose from: Matching Pairs and Surf.

As you complete activities and quests, the well in the centre of Chillville will fill - it can be filled to maximum once per day for a reward; and you’ll unlock access to the beach the first time you do it! The paintings you colour in whilst in the Play Zone will be hung up on the walls of your house, and you can customise the interior of your house with different furniture that you must spend your coins on. These coins can be found around the world, and gained through certain activities. Similarly there’s a play area where you can purchase new playground equipment such as seesaws and slides. You’ve got a scooter to travel around on, and you can also purchase different paint jobs for this to customise it. The Minigames you can take part in along the way are pretty shallow, and whilst we get that this is supposed to be a relaxing kind of game, the sheer blandness of the activities is actually more frustrating than it is calming.

The visuals are just a bit meh in all honesty, and the gameplay matches. I feel really conflicted about how mediocre it is, since I know it’s made with mental health in mind, but it’s just… not great. The kids had a shot, and were equally as unimpressed - and whilst they’ve got decent experience across a wide variety of games, even some of the simpler games they’ve played went down better than this did. It also has some of the most horrifyingly unsettling voice acting we’ve heard in a game, with strangely echoing voices that are just downright disturbing, though thankfully not everything is voiced.

Priced at £9.99 on the Switch eShop, although reduced to £1.99 until 9th May 2022, Chill Panda is a strange choice when it comes to games. It’s got a bunch of stuff to do, but feels so bland when you’re doing it all that it kinda goes against the whole ‘promoting good mental health’, as you just want a tad more stimulation, feeling bored the entire time rather than relaxed. It’s a shame really, as something to promote good mental health and healthy habits in children is a great idea - this just falls short - especially given that many games such as Mario and Kirby can be played for the same intended effect! The one part that we found to even be slightly enjoyable was getting to build a sandcastle - and then kick it apart directly afterwards. Overall, you’d be better off picking up a couple of other indie titles instead, as kids will get far more enjoyment there.

D’ya like my sandcastle??

In the end, we decided to give Chill Panda the Collecting Asylum rating of 1/10.

Are you interested in Chill Panda? What do you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!

- V x

Thank you to CGA Studio and Onteca for the Chill Panda Switch review code!