I would have really liked an overlay on the green itself to give me a better indication of how the ball will behave. I managed to learn to read that slope indicator well enough on shorter putts, but it becomes extremely hard at distance, and downright infuriating when a lofted ball lands on a seemingly flat green only to bounce unexpectedly due to the slope. Golf Story opts to give you an arrow indicator similar to the one for wind, pointing in the direction of the slope and telling how steep the grade is: flat, light, medium, or heavy.

The pixelated art style is lovely, but effectively communicating subtle hills in isometric 2D is next to impossible.

The weakest aspect of its golfing is how Golf Story handles slopes on the putting green. But tweaking where on the ball I hit, what spin to put on, and how much power to use can be extremely rewarding when a drive lands right where I want it. That gets more complex when the wind starts blowing harder, which has a very real impact on the ball.

Fairways are often small and hard to land on in Golf Story, dotted with sand bunkers, rough grass, and puddles. It’s just complex enough that it allows for an immense amount of finesse and control.

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