Smile For Me

About Smile For Me

Smile For Me is made by LimboLane, the two-person studio of Gabe Lane and Yugo Limbo. It came out on PC and Mac in May 2019, and on Nintendo Switch in April 2023 published by Serenity Forge, with an updated Bloom edition of the game.

You arrive at the Habitat, a place for the lost run by Doctor Habit, a dentist with a gleaming grin and a tower of his own. The residents are anything but happy: a heartbroken clown, a man who wants to smell like pickles, and 21 other peculiar characters. With the Big Event a few days away, you set out to cheer them up.

You never speak. You nod or shake your head in conversation, take what people need and solve their puzzles, which are odd and sometimes hard. The Habitat is drawn in bright, flat colours, with live-action puppet scenes of Doctor Habit on the TV. At night, his programmes turn into subliminal messages telling you to stop meddling.

It is creepy rather than frightening: reviewers call it horror-lite, with an unsettling secret under its cheerful surface. Whom you help decides which ending you see. It suits players who like strange, funny adventure games with a dark streak, in the vein of Endacopia or OMORI.

How to play Smile For Me

1. Walk the Habitat in first person and click on people and things.
2. Answer by nodding or shaking your head; you never speak.
3. Find out what each resident needs and solve their puzzles, often by fetching and using items.
4. Watch the days go by; the Big Event is coming and you cannot help everyone at once.
5. Read the diary pages you find; they point toward the better endings.

Tips

• Talk to everyone more than once; their needs change.
• Keep track of the days and plan which residents to help.
• Some puzzles follow odd adventure-game logic; look for clues in conversations.
• Pay attention to what the TV shows at night.

Questions