I Simply Need My Cozy Vibes

Cozy vibes are all the fashion, particularly as we settle into fall climate. There’s something about lighting candles, making contemporary baked items, and pulling on a tender and heat sweater. Phoenix Labs’ Fae Farm is a recreation that needs to capitalize on the idea of “cozy” as a competitor to life sims comparable to Stardew Valley and Story of Seasons. Whereas Fae Farm provides some nice concepts on updating the farming sim system, it struggles to determine the kind of recreation it desires to be and whom it’s for.

Moving into the fantastical world of Azoria, gamers are whisked away to a brand new farmstead stuffed with magic and marvel. Nevertheless, Azoria has been displaying indicators that the fairy spirits are all out of whack, and the participant has been tasked with befriending these spirits in order that pure disasters can cease occurring throughout the land. On prime of aiding the residents of Azoria with their duties, gamers farm, craft, dungeon-crawl, and enhance their approach by means of the sport to hone in on the comfy vibes. 

From the get-go, there are tons of customization choices for the participant character. Phoenix Labs has created a plethora of choices that are also extremely inclusive, from choosing pronouns to the inclusion of hijabs. Furthermore, lots of the recreation’s varied NPCs are various, as there may be the inclusion of characters who’re bodily disabled, or actually have a studying incapacity. The developer has gone out of its method to make it really feel like anybody and everybody will be included on this planet of Azoria, and for that it deserves loads of reward.

Take a look at this farm! Mine… didn’t seem like this.

Fae Farm desires to be all about consolation and coziness; sadly, it’s something however. The story is fairly barebones, particularly when evaluating it to different farming-sim titles comparable to Stardew Valley or Story of Seasons. It doesn’t assist that the NPC dialogue could be very inane, with every NPC solely open to discussing the one factor they’re seemingly obsessive about. The NPCs are so one-note that it makes them unappealing to talk with, not to mention pursue marriage. Given how banal the wedding candidates are, gamers are higher off staying single. There’s simply no depth in relationship any of the characters within the recreation as a result of their issues are very one-sided and there’s no different on the participant’s finish to do something apart from sit and hear. 

On the identical word, doing quests for NPCs is such a bore. There are a number of varieties of quests together with principal story, delivery orders, sidequests, and job-specific quests, every netting some pretty fundamental awards. Cash is tough to come back by at the start of the sport, however doing any duties for townspeople doesn’t web gamers a lot in helpful rewards both. A lot of the sport consists totally of fetch quests, with some crafting on the aspect for “selection.” 

It isn’t till gamers start to unlock product makers that cash turns into simpler to amass. Nevertheless, makers have their very own issues, requiring frequent monitoring whereas gamers need to consistently travel to feed them gadgets to make new merchandise. Makers usually are not technique for participant engagement, and whereas it’s nice that there are a number of things to craft, loads of the completed merchandise usually are not price a lot cash. Whereas it makes crafting extra environment friendly, it’s additionally extra hands-off, which doesn’t absolutely help the comfy farming fantasy.

Going to make all of the animal associates I can!

There are some distinctive concepts to farming, but it surely’s half-baked as effectively. Fascinating components embody the flexibility to remodel crops into completely different ones, and various kinds of soil mattress altering the outcomes of the harvest. One welcome aspect is the truth that the sport will routinely swap instruments for the participant based mostly on the duty they’re trying to finish, and mana can be utilized to help in duties comparable to watering bigger areas of the backyard or hitting a number of ores and rocks directly. It does turn into a bit awkward when too many gadgets are grouped collectively; the sport will assume which device the participant will need to use even when it’s not the one they need to use at that second. 

It’s unusual that farming isn’t the primary focus in a recreation referred to as Fae Farm. With three dungeons to discover, farming takes a backseat, and gamers are compelled to climb twenty-five flooring in every dungeon, hoping they don’t die whereas accumulating sources. Fight in Fae Farm is just not effectively constructed. Hit detection for the magic wand gamers wield is just not superb, and plenty of enemies are surprisingly vicious. Gamers have entry to doubtlessly helpful spells, comparable to a attraction that may briefly stun enemies, however the results don’t final lengthy. Furthermore, it’s additionally very simple for the sport to by accident swap to a device throughout fight as a substitute of the wand when subsequent to craftable gadgets, giving the enemy a free hit. Even worse is that to open the door to the following flooring, gamers must carry out a secular process comparable to holding a fireplace orb on their backpack lit and discovering its pedestal. As soon as they’ve labored by means of a flooring, they will discover out which type of seal must be made to maintain the door open, and as soon as that process is full and seals are made, gamers will have the ability to teleport between flooring which have seals with ease. It’s a silly system that comes with the boredom of accumulating ore, going again to the farm to craft a seal, after which repeating the duty time and again. It’s not intuitive neither is it partaking. Whereas there’s a boss on the finish of the dungeon, gamers are as a substitute befriending the spirit that lurks within the dungeon, and what they usually need is merely to be fed. It’s a cute idea till one realizes it’s one other prolonged fetch quest. 

Dig, dig, dig!

The one space the place Fae Farm surprisingly achieves the comfy feeling it’s aiming for is in how gamers enhance their stats. Gamers make furnishings for his or her house, with each bit granting a rise in well being, power, or mana stage. That is an fascinating idea that encourages gamers to construct gadgets and furnish their houses. It additionally permits the participant to combine and match their decor, and there are a lot of choices that may be made, bought from distributors, or discovered all through the world. Given gamers will obtain a number of houses all through their playthrough, it’s necessary to furnish each to proceed to spice up one’s stats. 

Fae Farm‘s musical choices are sturdy. There’s quite a lot of tunes that add loads of character to the world, every with observe being a comfortable jam. Most of the tracks give a sense of being whisked away to a fantastical land, which inserts with the sport’s visuals. The voice appearing within the recreation is kind of minimal, principally innocent, and neither provides a lot to the expertise nor hinders it. Visually the sport is vibrant, although there are noticeable slowdowns, notably in dungeons the place the sport struggles to have tons of things and enemies on display screen directly. Even so, the visuals do job of creating Azoria appear and feel heat and welcoming. 

I needed to like Fae Farm, however actually, the total package deal was principally disappointing. It’s a recreation that tries to compete with the favored farming sims, however by no means fairly does sufficient to face by itself ft. Whereas there are kernels of excellent concepts, they’re marred by questionable design decisions, with quests and targets that by no means really feel satisfying. I’m all for the coziness revolution, however Fae Farm, sadly, feels something however.

BATTLE SYSTEM

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INTERACTION

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ORIGINALITY

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STORY

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MUSIC & SOUND

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VISUALS

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Various and inclusive characters 
Automated device change is a pleasant contact
Tons of cozy décor choices

Horrible fight and hit detection
All NPCs are one-note
Cozy actions comparable to farming are unsatisfying