Adorable Adventures: A Little Boar with a Big Heart

I played a game about a baby boar finding his family, and I have feelings

If you were around for my monthly roundup in April, you’ll know that Adorable Adventures was one of the new games I was most excited for, so it was no surprise to anyone that I bought it on the day it released. The name certainly does its job; you know exactly what you’re getting; but I didn’t anticipate how much I’d fall in love with it over a single weekend!

Developed by Wild Sheep Studio, Adorable Adventures is a cosy exploration game in which you play as Boris, a curious baby wild boar who must use his nose to track scents, uncover secrets, and reunite with his family after a forest fire scatters them across a national park.

It's a simple premise, but an irresistible one, and it opens heavier than you might expect, with the smouldering aftermath of the fire setting an almost melancholy tone. But the game doesn't dwell there. Almost immediately, it settles into an upbeat rhythm of exploration and discovery, and that's where it truly earns its name.

The national park you roam feels photo-realistic in a way that kept making me stop to take screenshots. The sound design is absolutely gorgeous too. The ambient birdsong, water sounds, and (my personal favourite) the sound of Boris’ little hooves clicking and clacking across different terrain. It is, without exaggeration, pure serotonin. I found myself smiling at the screen more times than I could count.

And the boars! There is something so healing about experiencing the natural world through the eyes of a baby wild boar. Boris and his siblings are funny, charismatic, and bursting with personality. Each one has their own distinct trait that makes them feel alive rather than just collectible. When you sniff them out and they join you on your journey, they bicker and bundle into each other and generally cause joyful chaos. I laughed out loud more than once.

The gameplay loop suited me well. I enjoy collectible hunting and fetch quests, so I was very much in my element. Reuniting with your siblings involves solving unique quests based on their individual personalities, and beyond the main story there’s a generous spread of side activities: photography challenges, racing mini-games, environmental puzzles, tidying up litter and extinguishing fires, and identifying flora and fauna (master enough of a type and Boris gets a little nature-themed outfit accessory, which is delightful). The narration from the park ranger throughout ties it all together beautifully, giving the whole thing a warm, documentary-esque quality.

That said, it’s not without its frustrations. The map is, to put it plainly, useless. It doesn’t show you where you are, and while it’s covered in icons, there’s no legend to explain what any of them mean. For someone who likes to feel oriented in a game world, this was a constant source of mild irritation. Similarly, some of the side quests offer barely any guidance. Tracking down the baby bunnies, for instance, relies almost entirely on a quiet squeaking sound - and oddly, the sniffing mechanic wasn't available for this quest either, which felt like a strange omission given it's Boris' primary tool. There are no visual cues whatsoever, which is a meaningful accessibility gap for hearing-impaired players.

I also ran into a couple of technical issues. About 30 minutes in, I got stuck between some rocks and had to use the unstuck feature, which teleported me all the way back to the start of the map. Annoying, but manageable. More frustratingly, I couldn’t get the game to run properly on my PC. It was too laggy and glitchy, so I ended up playing exclusively in handheld mode, which meant I couldn’t stream it as I’d hoped.

I completed the main story in around three hours, and there’s still plenty of sniffing and collecting left on my to-do list. At its price point, I do think some players might raise an eyebrow at the length-to-cost ratio - it’s a fair point. But the hours I spent with it were genuinely joyful, and that’s not something I take for granted. There is something very valuable to me about a game that makes you feel this good.

If you’re a fan of cosy exploration games, collectathons, or just something that will make you go “aww” and feel good, Adorable Adventures is worth your time.

Verdict: Charming, beautiful, and occasionally a bit rough around the edges - but Boris has my heart!