What a wonderful surprise! The elements of the game are conventional: village emptied by some disaster, the player has to go figure it out. The execution, however, was extraordinary, and there were a couple of innovations that were worth the price of the game by themselves.
Beautiful art - that was the deciding factor in my initial purchase. Lovely music, reasonably coherent plot, sympathetic characters. Mini-games seemed just the right level of difficulty. Smooth gameplay, excellent map.
What set this one apart were the wonderfully executed statues and the animated helpers who were more ally than gadget. Multiple endings that encourage a replay. Overall, simply a superior example of its genre and highly recommended.