All views are that of the author and are not influenced by any copies of games provided by publishers for review purposes. This preview is based on Chapters 1-4.
About the Game
Fae Farm is an upcoming farming sim role-playing game where players get to craft, grow crops, tend to animals, decorate and use spells to explore the enchanted island of Azoria. The game can be played solo or co-up with up to 4 players, and it is developed and published by Phoenix Labs. It comes out on September 8th on PC and Nintendo Switch.
Gameplay
At the heart of Fae Farm is an incredibly chill world. Right from the start with its character creator, the game allows flexible customization options for hair, skin color, facial expressions and body types as well as pronouns, all to help you express yourself any way you'd like. Eventually, you'll find yourself transported into a dazzling world. You'll never want to leave Azoria!
The thing that captivated me the most about Fae Farm is its openness in letting you play however you want. I was entranced by the double jump as my character's wings twirled in the air and bounced off the purple shells far more times than I'm willing to admit, and when tending to animals or watering plants felt tedious, there was always, always something else to do instead. While I didn't get to mess around with multiplayer co-op yet, it's nifty and very exciting that the game lets you farm, cozy up at each other's houses and even go dungeoning with up to 4 friends in cross-play! This open-endedness is far too uncommon in cozy games in my experience because games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, while incredible and time-consuming, did feel quite repetitive eventually. Fae Farm will constantly have you coming back for more.
What the game adds to the genre is dungeons and combat, and it does so in a way that brilliantly complements the coziness instead of clashing with it. The Saltwater Mines, in particular, provide players with the opportunity to mine for resources that cannot be found anywhere else in Azoria, and these resources—copper, iron and topaz, to name a few—are essential items to upgrading your tools and crafting specific artifacts. The dungeons are not difficult to master; they consist of 25 floors, each with a hidden key concealed under a resource waiting to be mined as well as a few enemies (called jumbles) that will attack you as soon as you get close. The combat, which is found exclusively in the dungeons of Fae Farm, is pretty simple that consists of equipping a staff and hitting the Attack button, but eventually you also get access to magic that adds significant changes to your dungeon gameplay loop. This sets the game apart from every other cozy affair you've played before. So grab your magical spells and buy some potions, then prepare for a truly marvelous adventure.
Of course, the combat won't necessarily be the reason you stick around with Fae Farm, but rather the depth in the farming sim portion will. Every nook of your house is customizable, let alone your farm where you'll plant crops and trees, cook recipes, smelt ores, and more. What's even more intriguing is how the game switches to your tool of choice based on the activity you're doing; no more awkwardly trying to find your axe when chopping down a tree—Fae Farm automatically does that for you! Much like Stardew Valley and other games in the genre, it also forces you to go to sleep when the in-game clock hits midnight, sending you back home and putting some coins in your pocket. Initially, this seemed a little disruptive as I was often in the middle of completing a task such as leveling up my friendship with Mayor Merritt or romancing Nhamashal, but the "day reset" eventually grew on me by the end of Chapter 4. I got to experience seeing crops grow within a short amount of real-life time and enjoyed watching the different seasons come and go; plus, this mechanic allowed me to gain enough money to purchase more seeds, make my house significantly more cozy and upgrade some essential tools. The gameplay loop is incredibly satisfying!
It's important to note that Fae Farm is not a live service game like Dreamlight Valley, but rather a boxed product. The developers have expressed interest in adding content in the future and, based on my 12+ hours on the first four chapters alone, I can only say I could easily get lost in the world of Azoria for a very long time.
Visuals
Every section of Fae Farm looks breathtaking with eye-popping, rich colors and incredibly appealing visuals. The cartoonish environments help make the world of Azoria look and feel relaxed and chill. This translates to how the island made me feel, whether I was twirling around, chopping down trees, fishing at the docks or romancing Nhamashal (yes, it's worth noting twice). It may not revolutionize the genre in this aspect compared to plenty of other cozy games, but there's also no denying it: Fae Farm is jaw-droppingly beautiful.
Sound
There's nothing more I love and appreciate than when a game sounds right, and the farming dings and clangs of Fae Farm are very satisfying. There are times where it seemed that the combat noises were slightly lowered or muted altogether, but it wasn't clear if that was a design choice or a weird bug on my end. The game doesn't offer too much in terms of voice acting as the NPC's communicate in "oohh"s and "aahh", but I appreciated the diverse voice options in the character creator at the beginning of the game. Other RPGs, please take note of how it's done.
Performance
The game runs very well with little to no hiccups throughout the four different chapters on Steam. It seems that it's catered more towards a controller experience based on some menu options and various observations on the UI/UX, especially the start-screen that asks you to press A to continue even if you're just using keyboard and mouse. Impressively, both the Steam Deck and the Asus ROG Ally handled the game just as well as my gaming PC, and I did find that the handheld/controller experience much more pleasant and enjoyable overall.
Accessibility
One notable accessibility feature in the game is the ability to make fishing easier. This is especially useful if you find the mechanic a little tedious and/or if you'd rather speed up the process. There are also 11 supported languages and standard display accessibility settings.
Verdict
Fae Farm is an addictive magical farming sim with a surprising amount of depth. While the enchanting world of Azoria is still cozy in all the best ways possible, there's something in Fae Farm to warm the heart of casual and non-casual gamers with dungeons, simple yet satisfying combat, and a wonderfully diverse character creator. [Preview is based on Chapters 1-4]
