All views are that of the author and are not influenced by any copies of games provided by publishers for review purposes.
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
Fae Farm hooks players in with the promise that it's a cozy farming simulator at heart—with dungeons. As discussed in our SpoilerTV Game Preview, that adds a lot to a genre that has been growing—excuse the first of many farming puns—since Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Though that alone may not seem quite as inventive since games like Stardew Valley have an entire combat system as well, Fae Farm does it in a way that's brilliantly addictive with a gameplay loop and modernized, breathtaking visuals that will keep you coming back for more.
It's worth noting that there are two major, sometimes conflicting, sides of Fae Farm: the cozy farming simulator where you are growing crops, tending to your animals, romancing hot NPCs and everything else you'd expect from the genre. You're doing it all in a charming, enchanted world called Azoria where you find yourself one day and meet a cast of colorful and diverse residents. You start off with a robust character creator that has various skin tones, hair options and even pronouns; try not spending an hour just customizing your character. The coziness is also in every nook of this island, but Fae Farm takes it one step further by gamifying said coziness. Every piece of house decoration from your bed to chairs, tables and wall art has a player-related skill associated with it such as mana, health and coziness. The more "cozy furniture" you add to your house, the more energy you get. It's a fun way to make players more invested in decorating their homes, but if you were expecting a completely customizable, effort-free simulator then you might be slightly disappointed. Every piece of home and plot of land customization comes with crafting and exploring (including unlocking new colors), and that's exactly what makes Fae Farm a lot more than just a cozy farming simulator. Friendship and romance quests are a little more straightforward than you might want in a sim game, but multiple dates with Jack and Nhamashal proved to be extremely charming and relaxing—not quite how real-life dates go, in my experience. Being sent back home after the in-game clock turns midnight means you might have a love letter in your mailbox the next morning, and I found myself looking forward to those even more than the in-game event celebrations.
The other side of this game is its combat system, the "magical twist" portion of this review title, if you may. There are three major dungeons in Fae Farm: the Saltwater Mines, Floating Ruins and Scorched Caverns, each with a distinct set of enemies, resources and objectives. The common theme among all three is the presence of 25 floors, each sealed with a door you need to unlock and "jumbles" you have to defeat. You gain access to multiple magic spells throughout the game using a staff such as the Vortex and Charm spells, after which the combat gameplay itself can be pretty simple: you pick a spell, select your magic staff and hold down a button to knock back enemies. Where the magical twist comes in handy moreso than just in the dungeons is the vast amount and variety of potions you can brew in Fae Farm. Two popular ones that I kept coming back for just for the giggles are the Cloud of Sadness, a literal cloud that starts following you and waters multiple crops automatically, and the Zoom potion, which increases your movement speed substantially for a limited amount of time. Of course, there's also plenty of potions that are vital for combat, but I was certainly more drawn to the ones that boosted the farming sim portion of the game for me.
This back-and-forth between dungeoning and farming might not seem like everyone's cup of (iced) tea—again, only if you were expecting one or the other. However, that is exactly the thing that Fae Farm excels at. Mining in the dungeons for copper, iron and other resources with a potion that gives extra mining power and efficiency is essential to upgrading your pickaxe, sickle and other farming tools. Instead of these two elements clashing in a genre-defying way, they complement each other to form a game that is far more replayable than I could have imagined, and this gameplay loop reveals that there is a substantial amount of content and depth here. The comparisons to games like Dreamlight Valley are inevitable, and while that's a game I've spent over 100 hours on across multiple platforms, it faltered for me when it focused far more on cosmetics and decorations than adding new gameplay and non-repetitive content for quests. Plus, multiplayer still sounds like a pipe dream there.
It's important to note that Fae Farm is not a live service game like the aforementioned Disney game, but rather a boxed product. Phoenix Labs has already mentioned that the deluxe edition comes with two downloadable content packs to be released before June 2024, and based on the 40+ hours I've already put in, 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, bouncing on purple shrooms, chopping down trees or fishing aimlessly at the docks for hours. 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.
Every dungeon has a unique look and feel to it, which makes the experience less monotonous as you adventure on for a specific resource. The Saltwater Mines are like a breeze out in nature as you're surrounded by greens and rocky hills while the Floating Ruins mesmerize you with their magic and the never-ending bouncing between platforms. The Scorched Caverns are this author's personal favorite—something about fire always hooks me—with their falling platforms and awe-inspiring volcanic visuals. Azoria is just stunning.
Sound
While I didn't get to gush as much about the soundtrack in my Preview, it would be remiss of me now not to call out that the music feels like a living, breathing character by itself. It has the perfect mix of magic-infused sounds with orchestral chimes. This is even apparent with the incredibly satisfying farming dings and clangs, and while the NPC's "oohh"s and "aahh"s became a tad repetitive by the sixth-or-so chapter, I appreciate the diverse voice options available in the character creator. Check out the Fae Farm original video game soundtrack here!
Performance
It's pretty clear after spending so many hours in Azoria that this game is extremely polished from start to finish. There were little to no hiccups throughout my experience playing this on Steam and, impressively, the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally. It does seem like the game is catered more towards handheld/controller based on some menu options and various observations on the UI/UX, but the keyboard-and-mouse experience was just as pleasant and smooth. This may be slightly different on the Nintendo Switch, if games like Dreamlight Valley are any indication.
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. The text in the NPC dialogue is not quite customizable, but it's large enough and readable on most screen sizes. There are also 11 supported languages and standard display accessibility settings.
Verdict
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Fae Farm lives up to its promise of combining cozy farming sim with combat that doesn't lean too much towards one side or the other. It comes with an addictive gameplay loop and three magical dungeons so you could decorate the home and land of your dreams, making this a polished single-player or co-op experience with striking visuals and an incredibly memorable soundtrack.
Gameplay/Story: 9/10
Visuals: 8/10
Sound: 9/10
Performance: 8/10
Overall: 85/100
