An interesting contradiction is that, in Summer Afternoon, you are in a wide empty town, but, in Messenger, you're stuck in a small planet AND limited vision. You can only see near-by stuffs and never the whole town.

The design of the latter allows packing more details in a smaller space. Also, players are forced to face a lot of unexpectedness, as navigation becomes a natural challenge (which isn't difficult to overcome, which is exactly the point). It's like the blind men and the elephant, and can feel very limited, but you end up using your brain, and, in that process, you fully embrace the world details.

Love the beach guy makes an appearance in both.

well spotted! seems to be the case: https://x.com/vlucendo/status/1971219342231732516

The alien sunbathing at the beach is a nice wink.

I remember that. What a talent.

controlling movement is much easier. Something is wrong with the movement in the OP game, at least on a browers