In Dreaming Isles, you're a hapless sailor who's washed ashore on a desolate island, and it's up to you to turn it into a respectable farm. The good news is there's a farmhouse nearby. The bad news is that it's locked. Here's how to open the farmhouse in Dreaming Isles.

How to rebuild the bridge in Dreaming Isles

One of the first things you'll notice after you've picked yourself up out of the sand and explored a bit is the splintered bridge to the left of? the farmhouse. For now, this is your only way off the island, so you'll want to get that fixed as soon as possible. Interacting with the bridge reveals you need ten pieces of wood to fix it.

Luckily, plenty of trees are growing on the island, and its previous owner was kind enough to leave you a tool to get them down for lumber. Head up north until you find the chest sitting under the gigantic tree. Hover your cursor over the chest and click the right mouse button to open it. You'll find an axe inside. Click ?on it to move it into your inventory.

Once you've got the axe, equip it by clicking on the axe icon in your hot bar or clicking the 1-0 key on your k??eyboard, whichever works for you. Head to the nearest tree and click on it with the right mouse key to hack away. It should fall after a few swings, dropping 3-5 pieces of lumber. Once you've got 1o pieces, head back to the bridge and click the gap to repair it.

How to find the farmhouse key in Dreaming Isles

Now that you've fixed the bridge, head to ??the island to your left. This is the lucky little patch of land that will become your farm. Walk to the upper-left-most area of the island. You'll find an ominous-looking angel statue with a less-ominous silver key at its feet. Guess what it unlocks!

Once you're back on the main island with the key, click on the fa??rmhouse door to unlock it. Now, you've got a roof over your head, a bed to lie down in, and access to a crafting table, kitchen, and an underground tunnel you can use to explore the rest of the island and start building the pirate life you've always dreamed of.

The post How to open the farmhouse in Dreaming Isles appeared first on Destructoid.

Farming Simulator 25 is here, and its dedic??ated co?mmunity is already hard at work producing tons of amazing mods for the game. Everything, from new tractors to quality-of-life improvements, is in service of making the title even better.

But which ones should you get for your playthrough? Take a look at the 10 best Farming Simulator 25 mods you can download right now.

Courseplay

If you're sick of doing all the busy work in Farming Simulator 25, then Courseplay could be the mod you're looking for. It allows you to as?sign th?ese monotonous tasks to AI workers, from plowing land to planting crops, and much more.

In terms of complexity, it might be unmatched by any other Farming Simulator 25 mod. You just have to know when to stop and do something for yourself �if you assign all the farming tasks to AI workers, you've essentially made yourself the middle manager of a farm, for free.

Follow Me

Follow Me is an absolutely essential Farming Simulator 25 mod for any player. With this mod, you c??an gain control over multiple vehicles at once, making your farming much more efficient than in the vanilla game.

It can be a?? bit finicky to s?et up, but that's only because of how in-depth it is. Once you've got Follow Me working, you'll never be able to go back, especially on a big farm.

Place Anywhere

Place Anywhere is pretty self-explanatory. No longer will you be faced with th?e irritating "Too close to another building" message.

Simply place your buildings anywhere you want, and Farming Simulator 25 won't try?? to stop you. Naturally, this can result in some visual glitches, but you already know this going in.

Government Subsidy

Who doesn't love free money? Government Subsidy is essentially a Farming Simulator 25 cheat mod, allowing you to take subsidies from the government (4.8 million to 48 million dollars per year) or the local municipality (48,000 to 480,000 dollars per year). This lets you build your fa?rm mu??ch faster.

Of course, Government Subsidy is going to make Farming Simulator 25 much easier. Don't like it? Don't install it. Simple. At leas??t this money mod is wrapped in a thin veil of realism.

GPS for FS25: Guidance Steering Mod

GPS for FS25: Guidance Steering Mod has been around for a few Farming Simulator games now, and there's a reason it keeps coming back. It's become an essential part of a??ny player's load order.

So, what does it actually do? This mod helps you create tracks for your machinery to follow, with various methods i?ncluded. It's such a killer quality-of-l??ife feature that it's surprising it hasn't been added to the base game at this point.

MaizePlus and MaizePlus CCM

MaizePlus and MaizePlus CCM adds to the challenge and realism of Farming Simulator 25. In short, it overhauls the silage process to give it much more complexity and makes it so that you actually ha?ve to work to keep your animals fed.

Admittedly, this won't be for everyone. But for the hardcore players who love to delve into the nitty-gritty of every detail of their farm, there couldn't be a better Farming Simulator 25 mod.

Manure System

Oh yeah, this is the one we've all been waiting for - Manure System. This mod is actually pretty huge, adding in tons of new mechanics to help deal with your slurry. It takes inspiration from how farmers do this in r??eal life, improving the game's realism.

From new fertilizer pumps to an entire new lagoon system, Manure System is another Farming Simulator 25 mod that aims to add complexity to the game, rather than take it away. It's a lot to ??get to grips with, but is extremely rewarding if you take the tim??e to learn everything it has to offer.

Disable Vehicle Camera Collision

Farming Simulator 25 has no shortage o??f absolutely broken camera angles. It's frustrating, to say the l?east, but it doesn't have to be this way.

Disable Vehicle Camera Collision essentially fixes these issues entirely. If you're an ardent Farming Simulator 25 fanatic, I'm not sure why you wouldn't have it.

Sleep Anywhere

I'm a man of convenience, and Sleep Anywhere gives me just that. At the push of several buttons, CTRL + Alt + Z, to be exact, Sleep An?ywhere allows you to, well, sleep anywhere.

Now, you don't have to head back to the farmhouse to sleep, which can interrupt your flow and waste precious time that could be spent farming. Even if you don't use it every time for immersion, it's worth having installed as a quality-of-life Farming Simulator 25 mod.

Time Fast Forward

Sick of waiting for your crops to grow in real time? It's kind of what you signed up for when you bought Farming Simulator 25, but regardless, Time Fast Forward gives yo?u an out for ?this admittedly tedious process.

At the push of a button, you can sp??eed up time by a factor of 600, 1200, 2400, 4800, or 9600. Those crops have never grown fas??ter.

The post Best Farming Simulator 25 mods appeared first on Destructoid.

In Fields of Mistria, Saturday might be the best day of the week, because that’s when the Saturday Market comes to town and you have?? a chance to get your hands on items that you can’t usually get. 

The Saturday Market can also be incredibly helpful if you have request items to hand in, or simply want to get your daily?? conversation in with each villager, because everyone congregates in the middle of town to do some shoppin?g. 

How to unlock the Saturday Market in Fields of Mistria

Before you can peruse the stalls of the Saturday Market and spend all of your Tesserae, you’ll need to repair the bridge. When you first begin a playthrough, the bridge that you hop over with Balor has been damaged in the recent earthquake, and without the bridge, the vendors for the Satu??rday Market can’t get into town. 

The? quest to repair the bridge will arrive in the mail on Spring 3 of the first year, and you’ll need the following resources to complete it:

• 60 Wood
• 60 Stone

How many stalls are there at the Weekend Market?

Currently, there are four stalls at the Weekend Market in Fields of Mistria:

• Merri’s furniture stall
• Louisâ€?clothing stall
• Vera’s hair salon
• Darcy’s café

??Items available at each stall will vary week on week and both Louis�and Vera’s stalls will stop selling items once you’ve purc?hased everything that’s currently on offer. Darcy and Merri will continue selling their ready-made items, but they will stop selling recipes once all currently available ones have been purchased.

Everything sold at Merri’s furniture stall at the Saturday Market

Merri has, by far, the most items available for purchase of all the Saturday Market vendors. There’s a lot of furniture and decorative items to c?hoose from, as well as a lo?t of crafting recipes available. 

Furniture and decor items

The following items will permanently be available from Merri’s stall, but exact stock for sale will vary week on wee?k. Each item comes in a few different colors, with each option bei?ng sold separately:

Crafting recipes

Each item sold at Merri’s stall also has a correspondin?g crafting recipe, which she also sells for 300 Tesserae each. 

Unlike the ready-made items, purchasing and unlocking a crafting recipe will allow you to make all of ??the different color versions of each item, making the recipes much better value than buying th??e items outright even if the recipe is more expensive than the item.

Everything sold at Louis�clothing stall at the Saturday Market

Louis is a legendary tailor who, if the villagers are to be believed, has filled their wardrobes with everything they wear. Once you’ve purchased anything ??from Louis, it will disappear from his rotation, until you eventually clear out his entire stock. At this point, his stall will remain empty each week until further items are added in future patches. 

W?hen you’ve purchased an item from Louisâ€?stall, you’ll need to use it from within your inventory to learn it. After this, it will become available as an option in the ??character customization menu. 

The following items are available to pur??chase from Louis, each costing 500 Te??sserae:

Full outfits and dresses:

• Maid Dress
• Overalls
• Overall Shorts
• Overall Skirt

Tops:

• Buttoned Tanktop
• Ringer Tee
• Striped Long Sleeve

Skirts:

• Scalloped Skirt
• Short Pleated Skirt

Socks and shoes:

• Dressy Stockings
• Sneakers

Hats and accessories:

• Cat Ears
• Devil Horns
• Hoop Earrings
• Lily Pad Hat
• Striped Bow
• Striped Bucket Hat
• Tangerine Hat

Everything sold at Vera’s hair salon at the Saturday Market

Vera sells additional hairstyles and accessories, each of which costs? 500 Tesserae. As with Louisâ€?clothing stall, items will disappear from her rotation when they’ve been purchased, eventually leading to her selling nothing at all. 

Once you’ve purchased an item from the following list, you’ll need to use ??it from your inventory to learn it and unlock it in the character customization menu:

Hairstyles:

• Afro Puffs
• Short Parted Curls
• Straight Pompadour
• Straight Buns Fringed
• Rounded Afro
• Wavy Rugged
• Medium Half Bun Fringe

Accessories:

• Moon Hair Clips
• Bat Wing Hair Clips
• Strawberry Hair Clips
• Angel Wing Hair Clips
• Star Hair Clips

Everything sold at Darcy’s café at the Saturday Market

Darcy sells a range of sweet treats and drinks, as well as a selection of cooking recipes. The ready-made items that she sells will permanently be available, although stock?? will vary week on we??ek. 

If you’re ho??ping to make the most of the fact that all of the villagers are i??n one place, buying liked or loved gifts at Darcy’s stall is a good way to get a boost of friendship points each Saturday. 

Food and drinks

Recipes

As soon as you purchase a cooking recip??e from Darcy’s café, it will disappear from her rotation of stock, eventually leading her to selling no recipes at all.

Will we get more vendors at the Saturday Market?

According ?to the early access roadmap from NPC Studio, there will be more Saturday Market vendors coming to Mistria? at some point in a future update, but it’s not been confirmed when this will happen. 

It’s not due to arrive as part of the first planned major update, which is expected before the end of 2024, but it is included in the future update plan. There is some knowledge of who these vendor?s will be, but more information will become available closer to the time the??y’re added. 

The post Fields of Mistria: ??Full Saturday Market guide, including ?all vendors and stock appeared first on Destructoid.

There seems to be something of a tidal wave of cozy farming sims hitting the market currently, and it can be hard to tell what makes one stand out against all the rest. Back in June, I played the demo for Garden Witch Life, and fell in love with it.

Garden Witch Life is out now on PC (via Steam and Epic Games), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series ?X|S. If you play on any of the mentioned platforms and have been looking for a new cozy game to dive into, you should give it a try. 

After losing your job to mass layoffs and realizing that you’re not quite ready to head home to your parents and admit defeat just yet, you bump into May, who is a rather lovely anthropomorphic cactus with a café on Moonflower Island. Not only does she give you cake (which makes anyone instantly likeable in my eyes) and good life advice, b??ut she go??es out of her way to let you stay with her overnight. This cactus lady is very trusting of strangers.

Then, in what is perhaps the most generous move anyone could possibly make, she gives you the keys to an entire (admittedly run down) treehouse, along with a bunch of land that you can do with as you please. Apparently nobody else wants it, for reasons which are left unsaid, and of course you bite her hand off because who wouldn’t? If only real life were more like a farming sim. This is the first step in a massive life change, and we've all needed one of those at some? point.

You’re then left to pretty much fend for yourself. Of course you have regular interactions with the many anthropomorphized townsfolk, and you have to do quests for them as well, but it’s very easy to forget about that aspe??ct of the game entirely. There are endless corners of the map to explore, items to be foraged, and even a few animals to be petted. You’ll keep going until you pass out. N?o, literally, but more on that later.

One of the best things about Garden Witch Life is the decoration aspect. In a move that makes me more happy than I could ever say, you’re not limited to?? right angles or a grid system when it comes to placing?? furniture. You can more or less freely rotate everything, and place it wherever you want. Items can slightly overlap to prevent irritating gaps, and squares are a thing of the past. It’s beautiful. 

I will say that Garden Witch Life is not my perfect cozy sim game. There are things not currently in the game which definitely should be, such as crafting from storage. In order to craft or cook anything, you have to have the necessary resources in your ??inventory. It’s not that much of a big deal, and you can easily work around it by placing chests close to the crafting bench, but it does add an unnecessary extra step.

Crafting or cooking anything, especially early on in a playthrough, will unlock more recipes. Turning logs into planks will provide the recipe for a wooden storage chest, for example. Gathering items wo??rks in very much the same way, with everything you pick up unlocking some form of recipe. It’s always exciting to see the pop-up telling you what you’ve learned, and I’ve found that I’m more driven to craft, knowing that I’ll get new recipes from doing so. 

The cooking mini-game is a joy in itself. It reminds me of my dearly beloved Cooking Mama. You use the chopping board?? to prepare ingredients and then you need to cook them in the cauldron. You control the temperature, add ingredients one at a time, stir the? mix, and eventually end up with a fully cooked meal to increase your stamina. All that’s missing is an interactive blow feature.

One of the things I’m hoping is added in future updates is some kind of warning before the end of the day. It’s very easy to lose track of time in Garden Witch Life, and I’ve found myself passing out at the end of the day multiple times simply bec??ause I forgot to look at the clock. I p??ride myself on my ability to never pass out from exhaustion in cozy games, so this has been a humbling experience. 

I’ve only just started my play through of Garden Witch Life, and I know that I am very far from unlocking and understanding all of the features that await me, but I know that I could throw hours of my life into creating the perfect hideaw??ay treehouse and exploring everything Moonflower Island has to offer. I think the things that make me love Garden Witch Life are the very issues that I've mentioned above.

Life isn't perfect, but sometimes it throws you curveballs taking you in a direction you never imagined you could go. That's the lingering thought when playing, and I happen to love it when games impart valuable wisdom without really even trying. While Garden Witch Life might not be perfect, it's beautiful, charming, and it feels... Free. You can be whoever you want to be on Moonflower Island, and we all need?? more of that kind of freedom.

The post Looking for a? new cozy game? Try Garden Witch Life appeared first on Destructoid.

As I hung up the phone, it occurred to me, he'd grown up just like me

Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life offers a slightly different take on the well-worn farming sim genre. As a new resident of the Forgotten Valley, you’re stil?l here to revitalize an old farm and socialize with the townsfolk, but it’s that second aspect that takes a central role here. The point of your new life in this hamlet isn’t to save a farm or to stop the development of a theme park...

You’re here to make a life for yourself, on?e that is filled with love, family, ?and friends.

[caption id="attachment_387436" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (PC, PS5, Switch [reviewed], Xbox Series X|S)
Developer: Marvelous
Publisher: Xseed Games
Released: June 27, 2023
MSRP: $49.99

A Wonderful Life is one Story of Seasons title that genuinely lives up to its name. Prior games in the series �and when I say prior, I mean those before the release of the original version of this game back on the GameCube in 2003 �put the focus squarely on farming, with making friends and courtship positioned as side activities to keep players busy between harvests. In A Wonderful Life, those elements are the core of the experience. Yes, you'll still spend roughly half your time tending to crops and livestock as you would in any other Story of Seasons game, (and the farming ?system can get somewhat deep with hybrid crops and animal husbandry to consider), but nothing you do on this farm matters if you go home to an empty house and an empty bed at the en?d of the day.

It's your activities outside your farm that make the difference in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life. Meetin?g people, making friends, falling in love; these have (mostly) always been eleme??nts of the franchise, but here, whether or not you've had a life well-lived will be determined by your success in these areas.

The story of A Wonderful Life is divided into several periods of your farmer's life. You'll start the first year single and hopefully ready to mingle as you'll need to be married to one of the eight eligible townsfolk—same-sex relationships are an option here as is the option to make your farmer non-binary—by the end of winter or it's on to the end? credits roll. From there, you and your companion will have a child, and the next several chapters will focus on how well you do as a parent, as a partner, and as a member of the community. As your child grows into an adult, you and your spouse will grow old. People in the town will age as well. Some will die. People will move, and others will make a new start in the Forgotten Valley.

I've played plenty of games in the Story of Seasons franchise over the past decade, but not one of them handles all of the stuff outside your farm as well as A Wonderful Life does.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q2qKTRydI0

Life on the farm is pretty par for the course. To accommodate the structure of the game's story, each season in A Wonderful Life l??asts just 10 days. For some crops, that might mean you get one shot at growing it a season. For players who like to maximize their farm's potential, there are hybrid fruits and vegetables to discover, several different breeds of cows, each with their own milk, and machines that can help guarantee high-quality crops. With the available arable land being as small as it is, ten?ding to your farm will likely only take up a few hours each day. That leaves plenty of time to go fishing, help out at the archaeology site, complete various requests, participate in some mini-games, or try to strengthen your relationships with the people around town.

Or you can spend that time shaping your child into the adult they will become. In your role as a parent, you can help dictate your child's future, directing them toward one of several interests that may ultimately become their vocation. I'm not entirely sure how much of a difference it makes between which path your kid takes, but the destination didn't matter that much to me. It was the journey that won me over, all those nights spent?? playing with my daughter, buying her toys, and watching her grow from a tod??dler to a tween to an adult.

I don't have kids in real life. And, I'm not entirely sure if I want them. But seeing my virtual daughter grow into a young woman was something special to experience. In those moments, when time would jump ahead and I'd see how my rearing impacted her growth, I felt this sense of accomplishment no other Story of Seasons game has given me.

[caption id="attachment_387435" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

If you're already sold on Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life as a fan of the original and are just wondering how this remaster holds up, know that this is an exceptional version of the game. The Forgotten Valley looks wonderful in HD, it runs pretty much flawlessly on Switch, I appreciate most of the new ??character designs, and Marvelous has added enough ??new elements, including new hybrid crops, new recipes, and a new bachelor in Gordy, to make this a return visit well worth making if you've played it before.

Just don't expect certain elements, like animal husbandry, to have the depth they once did as a lot of the processes have been streamlined. For those who didn't give it a try on the GameCube or PlayStation 2, the easiest way to decide if this is right for you is to ask yourself how important you consider farming in your far??ming sims. If there is one complaint I have that isn't just nitpicking, it's that the audio isn't up to par with the rest of the presentation.

Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is a remarkable experience. It takes the classic farming formula and gives it a purpose beyond just seeing how many S-ranked tomatoes you can grow. With its?? focus on family, legacy, and living a good life, this is a farming sim where what you do away from the fields is as important as what you do when you're tilling that land. It's a game that encourages a healthy work-life balance, and there is no b??etter lesson we need in our modern era than that.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life appeared first on Destructoid.

Consider me mildly intrigued

Ever since the Harvest Moon franchise was forcibly uncoupled from the Bokuj� Monogatari franchise from Marvelous, it's had trouble finding its footing in the surprisingly competitive farm sim genre. Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley and Harvest Moon: Skytree Village attempted to mix the traditional crop-raising gameplay with a Minecraft-inspired voxel world. The results were less than stellar. Harvest Moon: Light of Hope revisited the top-down feel of the original game with mixed results, and the less said about Harvest Moon: One World, the better. While I contend Harvest Moon: Mad Dash is a delightful gem, it's clear this series needs to turn things around. It may be able to do that this summer with Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos.

Announced late last year, The Winds of Anthos takes place in the land of Anthos, where years prior, a volcanic eruption separated the villages of this land. The people of the world were saved by the Harvest Goddess, who cast a magic key into the ocean with the last of that power. It's unknown what that key will unlock, but what we do know is that, visually, this is shaping up to be the best-looking Harvest Moon since Natsume had to go its own way.

A look at the New Harvest Moon

[caption id="attachment_372939" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot via Natsume[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_372938" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot via Natsume[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_372942" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot via Natsume[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_372940" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot via Natsume[/caption]

Natsume started sharing screens of the game in March over on its social media pages. While we're still waiting for a proper trailer to give us a look at the game in action, these screens are decent enough for me to not write the whole game off right now. Of course, it'll have some competition when it launches as we're also getting a remaster of Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life this summer.

We'll find out if this will be the Harvest Moon to break the series out of its slump when Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos launches later this year for Nintendo Switch??, PS?5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.

The post Harvest Moon: The ??Winds of Anthos might be worth keeping an eye on appeared first on Destructoid.

This year brings multiplayer, new characters, and more

Disney's Dreamlight Valley has taken over my free time. I was looking for a cozy new simulator to play, and so far this title has ticked all the boxes for me. I found it to be a bummer that I was nearing the end of all of the content released as of now, so I was waiting with bated breath to hear any news about what's to come. My prayers have finally been answered, because Gameloft just laid out their plans for their free updates in 2023, as reported by GameSpot. This year has a ton in store for the game, including a multip??layer mode, new characters, realms, clothin?g, motifs, decorations, and furniture.

First up in February, the game will be welcoming two new villagers: Mirabel from Encanto and Olaf from Frozen. We'll also be able to "discover the secrets of the Frosted Heights biome," which likely me??ans that we'll get some more quests surrounding the Valley itself that will reveal more details about the Forgetting. The Star Pat?h event in February will also celebrate Disney's 100th anniversary.

[caption id="attachment_359723" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Gameloft[/caption]

The April announcement teases a new realm, some new characters, and "more surprises," and features a picture of the beloved Lion King protagonist, Simba. April's Star Path will be celebrating Disney Parks �not really sure what this means but I'm down for it. Early summer promises a big story event, and a new princess' arrival to the Valley. For the rest of the year, we can look forward to the addition of multiplayer, as well as the rest of the aforementioned content like clothes and furn??iture. Some bug fixes and quality-of-life changes have also been announced, like further streamlining recipe and inventory systems, and sprinklers to help water your crops.

Finally, when the game's lead producer Manea Castet was asked if we'll be seeing any Star Wars or Marvel characters coming to the Valley anytime soon, apparently he dodged the question. I don't know, I'm getting the sense that my prediction is correct, and eventually we will see familiar faces from the extended Disney universe making their way into Dreamlight Valley. We won't know for sure until Gameloft makes ?an offic??ial announcement, but it's fun to speculate for now.

The post Gamelof?t lays out their roadmap for Disney Dr?eamlight Valley in 2023 appeared first on Destructoid.

The farming classic's reimagining locks in a date

Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is locking in for a summer trip back out to?? the farm. The reimagined version of the original farming-life sim classic arrives on June 27, 2023 for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.

This new Story of Seasons is a remake of the GameCube-era classic, which North American fans might better know as Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. Much like other Story of Seasons games, it follows the player's efforts to make their farm flourish, through both crops and livestock, as well as ?devel??op social bonds with other characters.

The general appeal of these games is actually pretty well summed-up by this new trailer. It's a papercraft version of A Wonderful Life's basic premise, and you're going to want some ti??ssues nearby.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBNJDX-5Mj0

The appeal is pretty apparent. It's an interesting mix of story and farming, with a lot of heart and emotion. A Wonderful Life seems to be a fairly well-remembered entry for Harvest Moon / Story of Seasons fan?s, and hopefully this reimagining captures that heartfelt emotion seen in the papercraft trailer.

It's a wonderful life

A physical version of A Wonderful Life will also be available at retailers. There's a $49.99 standard edition, and a $59.99 premi?um bundle which includes a goat pocket plushie and cloth poster, as well as a custom outer box. Both versions have an original ill?ustration by illustrator Igusa Matsuyama.

While there's certainly been no shortage of farming sims since Stardew Valley reignited the genre, it's exciting to see a classic entry in the series get a second wind like this. A Wonderful Life's use ?of generatio?ns and storytelling gives it a special distinction from other games, and it'll be interesting to see if that shines through for newer players in the remake.

Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life arrives for PC via Steam, PS5,? Xbox Series X|S, and Switch on June 27.

The post ?Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life locks in a launch date with an emotional trailer appeared first on Destructoid.

It's basically the love child of Disneyland and Animal Crossing

Cozy farming and community simulators are some of my all-time favorite game genres. At the best of times they're a fun, relaxing world I can get lost in, and at the worst of times, they feel like a lifeline that's keeping me from spiraling out. First it was Stardew Valley, then it was Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and now Disney's Dreamlight Valley has taken over my gaming time. It's got everything you could ever want: adorable critters you can pet, delicious foods that'll have your mouth watering (I'm looking at you, Peanut Butter Waffle), and of c??ourse, all of your neighbors are beloved Disney characters.

With a whole flood of farming sims taking over in the past few years, we've seen a lot of different takes on the tried-and-true farming, fishing, foraging, cooking, and mining mechanics. Purely from a game design standpoint, Dreamlight Valley has to be one of the best representations of the genre I've seen in a good while. There are tons of little quality-of-life features that you may not notice if you're not looking for them, but over the course of a playthrough, they really start to ?add up.

[caption id="attachment_357172" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

It's the little things

For example, the map shows exactly where every character is at all times. It's a really simple thing, but being able to know where someone is when I need them for a quest makes a world of difference when you'd otherwise be wasting time checking a wiki or running around the map trying to find them. My absolute favorite feature, though, is that with the exception of a few key tasks tied to main questlines, you can access everything in you have in storage, as well as your inventory, while crafting items or recipes. This is huge for someone like me �my chest organization is basically non existent, and trying to juggle what I need to bring with me to complete objectives usually brings on a headache. Thank you Gameloft, because that sole mechanic made Dreamlight Valley one of my favorite cozy games on principle.

While the developers clearly some really smart decisions during Dreamlight Valley's design process, the game's premise alone is enough to get players to buy in. In today's world of Disney adults, who doesn't want Mickey and c??o. as their next door neighbors? I can't speak for everyone, but I know that for me, Disney properties are comforting because they're always u??pbeat and light-hearted. Those are usually the characteristics you're looking for if you like farming/community sims anyway, so it was basically a match made in heaven.

Dreamlight Valley clearly saw a surge in players once it was released in early access and it dominated the news cycle for a bit due to how loveable it is, but it has since quietly stepped to the background. The thing about this genre, though, is that they have a tendency to draw cult followings that stay loyal for a very long period of time. For instance, Stardew has a thriving modding community, and players spent thousands of hours in New Horizons decking out their islands to their exact specifications. I think Dreamlight Valley will have a similar staying power for the exact reason it caught our eye in the first place: the properties. It's a game worth playing in? and of itself, but Gameloft has yet to scratch the surface of the company's most beloved characters.

[caption id="attachment_357173" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

The well goes deep

As of now, the game features ?characters and items from a total of ten different films, not including the classic characters who are filed under "Mickey & Friends":

• The Sword in the Stone
• Wall-E
• Lilo & Stich
• Moana
• Ratatouille
• The Lion King
• The Little Mermaid
• Frozen
• Tangled
• Toy Story

There are plenty of other movies referenced in different clothing and furniture you can purchase as well, like Monsters Inc., Wreck-It Ralph, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast. Scar from The Lion King and Buzz and Woody from Toy Story wer?e added after the game's early access launch as expansions, so it's clear Gameloft will be releasing content featuring more and more of Disney's most famous films as time goes on.

On top of that, most of ten movies that are highlighted in the game right now only feature one character from their respective film, so there's tons of potential in introducing more of those personalities as well. (At least, that's what I'm holding out for because Tangled is my absolute favorite �so far we have Mother Gothel, but no Rapunzel or Eugene yet). One of the Memories you collect in the game shows the Beast from Beauty and the Beast, Eve from Wall-E, and Vanellope from Wreck-It Ralph hanging out in front of Remy's restaurant, and if tha??t's not p?roof, I don't know what is.

[caption id="attachment_357171" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Disney's not-so-secret weapons

With even more potential storylines from Disney/Pixar favorites like Aladdin, Peter Pan, Mulan, The Princess & the Frog, The Incredibles, and Finding Nemo, just to name a few, Gameloft should have enough content for the rest of the decade. If, however, for some undecipherable reason, new updates with the mainline Disney properties aren't enough to pull players back in, they could always break out the big guns: Star Wars and Marvel.

This seems to be the exact same strategy they employed for Magic Kingdom and California Adventure by adding Galaxy's Edge and the Marvel Campus respectively, which may have been met with mixed results, but if you ask me, they've still done a lot of leg work when it comes to the parks' branding. Pulling from those properties would open up their own Alice in Wonderland-esque rabbit holes, and while I doubt the developers plan to draw on them?? any time soon, I imagine it's a nice comfort knowing they're there.

Maybe all of this is wishful thinking born from my own love of Disney's Dreamlight Valley, but then I remember the company didn't become as successful as they are by chance. As long as the powers that be continue to care about the game, they're going to do everything they can to keep players happy and engaged, which is easy when players love the gimmick so much �myself included. All they have to do is keep it coming. They have gold with the solid game design and properties to pull from, and now I'm just hoping they'll keep spinning it i?nto thread for the sake? of our happily ever afters.

[Featured Image via Gameloft]

The post I think Disney’s Dreamlight Valley will be sticking around for a while appeared first on Destructoid.

My top 12 games of the last 12 months

2022 was my best year for games for what feels like a good, long while. There was excellence across the board from all of my favorite genres, including narrative titles, farming/life simulators, and rhythm games, just to? name a few. I know I'm not alone in saying that it was really difficult to narrow down my choices for my favorites games of the year. I wanted to have a clean top ten, but I've had so much fun this year I? had to make way for a few extras.

In all honesty, I've spent the last few years repairing my relationship with games �I don't think it's a secret that working in this industry is rough, especially when it comes to working QA. Looking back now over all the games I've played and truly loved this year, I can't help but feel a bit sentimental. In spite of my complicated feelings when it comes to this medium, I keep getting pulled back in by the sheer passion that game developers ?continue to put on full display.

2022 has been a year of reminders of why I was drawn to this industry in the first place. I was worried that the emboldened, on-fire version of myself was dead, but little did I know it would only take a few extraordinary indie titles (and some therapy) to slowly wake her up. For me, this year was a??bout finding the fun in games again, and even when it comes to the more serious titles on this list, I had nothing but fun all the way through. In no particular order (except the last one, I guess), here are my favorite games of 2022.

Vampire Survivors

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HXNxWbRgsg

I love playing games while listening to podcasts or video essays, which is how I ended with around 400 hours in both Hades and Slay the Spire. After burning out on both of those, I was in desperate need of a new podcast game. Thankfully, it was Vampire Survivors to the rescue, and when I finally added it into my ro?tation after hearing of its greatness for weeks, I knew? it was going to be an instant favorite.

It's such a simple, easy-to-pick-up game, but I can tell there are still so many secrets to uncover. I also never play games on my phone because it's just not my thing, but I keep coming back to the mobile version of Vampire Survivors, which I think really speaks to t?he strength of its streamlined design.

Disney's Dreamlight Valley

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY5KdtnK4dU

I was a little late to the party on this one, only having started it a few weeks ago, but it turns out Disney's Dreamlight Valley is exactly the kind of cozy experience I have been looking for. It's got my favorite Disney characters, it's got the cozy cooking/farming/foraging quests, and it's all streamlined in a way that doesn't require me to use any brain power whatsoever. I was in desperate need of a "turn my brain off" kind of game, and the calming, warm embrace of Dreamlight Valley helps soo??th my anxiety like climbing into a flu??ffy bed on a cold, rainy day.

Stray

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uP2MyUL49s

I'm a cat mom, so it would basically be illegal for me to hate this game. I feel like I've written about it to death at this point, but I can't deny that it was one of the prettiest, most heartwarming games I've played all year. Something else I've dealt with has been getting over a crippling existential dread after leaving my cult-like religious upbringing, and Stray's story had what I thought was a really hopeful story about the end of the world. ?It helped me reconcile with some of that existentialism more ??than I realized at the time.

Ooblets

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RcMRQo7Rl0

God, Ooblets was such a breath of fresh air. I was lucky enough to get to review the farming sim crossed with card-based Pokémon style battles for Destructoid, and I had an absolute blast playing through it. It was yet another game with a bright, happy art style and sugary sweet writing, so of course it was right up my alley. It was easy to fall into the relaxing gameplay loop, and the story surprised me in how delightful it wa??s to go through, especially toward the end. My only regret is that I didn't play it on the Switch.

Pentiment

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxJ5sOpqw-o

I'm always a sucker for a murder mystery, but one that's set in the middle ages with an authentic art style to match? Yeah, I was hooked from the beginning. One of the other things I really love about Pentiment is that it has a ton of small design choices that all come together to a really streamlined point-and-click experience, and when all of those little improvements came together it made a world of ??difference.

In a landscape of storytelling that also seems so obsessed with having definitive answers (see any "END OF X MOVIE/SHOW/GAME, EXPLAINED" video essay on YouTube), Pentiment dares to leave you with ambiguity and a lack of closure ?in some scenarios. What happens, happens, and you kind of just have to roll with it. It's one of the most refreshing approaches not only to the whodunit genre that I've seen in a long time but also to stories in general.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeVapCrI1pY

On the flip side of my cutesy, cozy sensibilities, I am an absolute simp for the Call of Duty series. I'm a big fan of first-person shooter gameplay, and few other franchises have gotten it down to a science like Call of Duty has. I got into the series back with Cold War, and of the few titles I've played, Modern Warfare II is by far my favorite.

The movement is fluid, the guns are a ton of fun, and it has the best maps of any other CoD games I've played, hands down. I had a ton of fun going through the campaign this time around as well, and of course I'm happy as long as Shipment is around. This is the multiplayer game I've been reaching for the most this year, s??o of course it had to have a spot on this list.

Potion Permit

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uQPlRP5XC4

I was surprised that I felt so compelled to put Potion Permit on this list, but it truly was a delightful experience all the way through. It's another game I got to review this year, and while I'm clearly a sucker for farming/life simulators, Potion Permit is a particularly good one. For one thing, it's the first in the genre that doesn't require you to actuall?y farm, and instead switches up the usual formula by having players go out into the wilderness to gather ingredients to create potions for various reasons.

The town was incredibly charming, and the developers did a great job of making each character feel incredibly unique and complex. It was fairly buggy when I played, but I'm sure those issues have mostly been patched by now. If you're looking for a cozy Switch game to curl up with, I absolutely recommend Potion Permit.

NORCO

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=lARSSx_dDOw

NORCO has to be one of the weirdest and most-thought provoking games I've ever played. Another entry into the ever-growing subgenre of Southern Gothic narrative games, NORCO's story centers on a family living in the cyberpunk future of New Orleans. The story takes some crazy twists and turns, and while a? few of the gameplay sections felt a bit stale, the surreal story and breathtaking pixel art were more than enough to secure a spot as one of my favorite narrative games of the year.

Signalis

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfi7ivjXD3Y

I really thought I wasn't going to be able to play Signalis on account of my being a wimp, but I'm so glad I proved myself wrong. There's such clear inspiration from horror classics like the early Resident Evil and Silent Hill games, and yet Signalis carves out its own gut-wrenching, beautifully orchestrated niche. I love the unique art style, I love the creepy and engaging worldbuilding, I love the understated storytelling that says so much. Signalis got some great hype this year, but I still don't think it was eno?ugh.

Cult of the Lamb

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsPtUNB1z-Q

Cult of the Lamb is one of those games I was ??intrigued by since the first trailers I saw, and I am pleased to report that it did not let me down in the slig?htest. I'm always a sucker for cute art styles, but it was the combination of simulation and action roguelike mechanics that really hooked me.

While I've recently struggled to play a game for more than about an hour at a time, I could not put Cult of the Lamb down, and played through it in a few marathon sessions. I loved the gameplay loop so much, I ended up writing a feature about how "perfect" it is, so it's safe to say that Cult of the Lamb ?was one of my favorite games of the year, especially when it came to that addicting gameplay.

Trombone Champ

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpQ8a3c7EAQ

I don't play rhythm games enough, but when I do, I'm reminded that it's one of my favorite genres. I'm mediocre at best, but I've always been a dancer and musically-minded person, so it's a good time. Then when Trombone Champ came out, it made failure part of the fun �which means it was perfect for me. Part of my struggle in enjoying games again has been that for a while, I took them way too seriously. Trombone Champ is so delightfully goofy and ridiculous, it helped a lot in me breaking out of my shell and having some unadulterate?d fun.

Immortality

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8tV-R7Rfhg

Okay bear with me, because this is the one where I get a little pretentious �when I initially decided to get into video games, it's because I was so impressed at how the medium was telling stories in entirely novel, innovative ways. While I've come to a whole new level of appreciation for games being just games, every once in a while I'm reminded of how exciting I find games that bring something new to interactive storytelling. This year, that game was Immortality for me.

The performances, the themes, the interactivity itself, it was all so beautifully executed. The way my stomach dropped during the game's famous twist is a gaming moment that I will absolutely never forget. I think it's safe to conclude that Immortality ??goes down as my? favorite game of the year, and when the releases were as stacked as they were in 2022, I think that's saying something.

The post Noelle Warner’s favorite games of 2022 appeared first on Destructoid.

You had me at "dark fairytale"

With Stardew Valley being one of my most-beloved and most-played games of all time, I am constantly on the hunt for the next game that can scratch my farming/community simulator itch. There have been quite a few that I've written up over the past few months, and the newest title to add to the list of hopeful successors is the sandbox life sim RPG, Kynseed, which has been described as a "Stardew Valley-inspired game with 'dark fairytale'? creatures." Yeah, sign me up.

The game has been in early access since November 8, 2018, but it's finally getting its official release on December 6, 2022, as was announced in a newly-dropped release date trailer. Fans who have followed Kynseed all throug?h its development are beyond thrilled to see the game nearing its completed state, as can be seen in the comments sections of its trailers.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU4rSiixt_Q

The release trailer showcases the usual fare for these kinds of games, like farming, cooking, and fishing, but things really get wild once they dive into the combat. Fighting off monsters looks a lot more intense than the slow-paced combat of Stardew, with more of a strategic, turn-based thing going on. I've really come to appreciate combat mechanics a lot since I had a big Stardew binge a few years ago, so I'll be interested to see how Kynseed's spin on things ??continues to evolve the simulator gen??re.

Oh, and did we mention that the developers behind Kynseed are industry veterans from the classic Fable series, now under the new banner of PixelCount Studios. Based on what we know of the game so far, it seems like they've injected this new project with all of the character and whimsy we can expect, so this is definitely one I'm lo??oking forward to checking out on release day.

The post Kynseed is a Stardew-like with a “dark fairytale” theme coming this December appeared first on Destructoid.

The days keep getting longer

Harvestella arrives on Nintendo Switch and PC this week. And ahead of launch, Square Enix is detailing some updates it made to Harvestella after getting feedback from the demo.

The Harvestella Switch demo went live on the eShop following the September Nintendo Direct. Players had feedback from it, it seems, and Square Enix is making some tune-ups in a day one update for Harvestella.

As the studio outlines in a new blog entry, one major point is longer days. Time seemed to fly by a bit in the Harvestella Switch demo, so this should hopefull??????????????????????????y make it easier to do a bit more while the ??sun's up.

Cooldowns for job sw??itching have been sped up, so it's easier to change up in combat. And the Mage class will also strike a bit faster than before. There's also more warning when your character ??is low on HP.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd3U4jQFovk

In one of my favorite notes, Square says fishing is more fun. Specifically, the hit?? time has been reduced. But I like the general notion of fishing being more entertaining.

The Harvestella day one update has also received some bug fixes, a new UI for saving and loading, and partially reduced load times. These are all coming in a day one update to Harvestella itself, but the demo will not be updated.

Home on the fantasy range

These all sound like solid tune-ups for Square Enix's fantasy farming adventure. Harvestella is the RPG company's take on farmi??ng life, a genre that's been seeing quite the resurge??nce.

The demo feedback route has worked out well for Square Enix in the past. Specifically, Triangle Strategy made a good few changes and tune-ups between its demo and launch that ultimately felt for the better.

We'll know soon enough whether the same has been done for this farming RPG. Harvestella goes live for Nintendo?? Switch and PC via Steam this Friday, November 4.

The post Harvestella day one update takes aim ??at dem?o feedback appeared first on Destructoid.

The slimy indie hit returns

Lots of great indie games have been getting a lot of love this year �Stray was Annapurna's biggest launch by far, and Cult of the Lamb had over a million players in a week. Now it looks like Slime Rancher 2 is joining those ranks, because it has reached a big milestone of over 100,000 copies within the first six hours of its release. Nick Popovich, co-founder and CEO of the studio behind the Slime Rancher series Monomi Park, shared a tweet yesterday thanking fans for making? the game a success.

For those who may not be familiar, the first Slime Rancher game came out back in 2017 after about a year of being in early access. In the game, players take on the role of a farmer tasked with collecting and breeding different types of slimes on their very own ranch, all wrapped up in an open-world FPS-style packaging. Critical reception to Slime Rancher was favorable, but over the years it garnered something of a cult following, and got PlayStation and Switch r??eleases years af??ter its initial launch for PC and Xbox.

//twitter.com/NickPopovich/status/1573??097739507875843

Anecdotally, I've seen love for the Slime Rancher series spread through word of mouth more than anything �it's another one of those cozy farming-style games that players just can't seem to get enough of. It's exciting to see the devs put out a sequel to the beloved indie game that has been met with nearly universal praise, because? maintaining that momentum can be difficul?t.

100,000 may seem like a relatively small number compared to some huge launches that can be in the millions, but for an indie studio, that can be life-changing. Here's hoping we continue to see more great things?? fr??om Monomi Park, because they've managed to tap into a certain kind of magic that we don't see very often.

The post Slime Rancher 2 ?s?old over 100K copies in less than six hours appeared first on Destructoid.

After years of anticipation, I'm pleased to say Ooblets was well worth it

Ooblets is one of those games I followed from its announcement all the way back in 2016 up to its release, so it suffices to say this was a highly anticipated game for me. Stardew Valley meets Pokemon is a hell of a logline, and the combination of those gameplay elements compared with the game’s cute, colorful art style basically made it feel like it was made specifically for me. The game went into early access in 2020, but th?is month it got its full 1.0 ?release.

You’ve got all the usual mechanics you’d expect from a game like this �farming, fishing, foraging, cooking, befriending villagers �as well as some new twists. You can see clear inspiration from farming sims like Stardew, and yet Ooblets still manages to feel entirely unique in that regard. I am absolutely Ooblets�targe??t demographic, and I am pleased to say that I found it to be an absolute delight. Let’s talk about it.

Ooblets (Epic Games Store [reviewed], Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S)
Developer: Glumberland
Publishers: Glumberland
Released: September 1, 2022
MSRP: $29.99

The premise of Ooblets is that it takes place in a magical land called Oob, which is populated with creatures called�you guessed it: Ooblets. At the start of the game, the player lands at a scenic seaside town called Badget??own, having left the big city for the countryside where Ooblets run free. Naturally, they tak?e up residence in a run-down old shed, and begin their new life as the local farmer.

Badgetown is as cozy and quaint as you’d expect, complete with a coffee shop, barber shop, clothing store, seed store, town hall, and more. The residents are a ton of fun and have some of the most distinct personalities I’ve seen in a community sim since the early Animal Crossing days. Some of their dialogue was so ridiculous and clev??erly written that it genuinely made me laugh ou??t loud, which made the friendship part of the gameplay loop something to look forward to.

In fact, all of the dialogue, item names, and?? descriptions are written in a goofy tone that feels reminiscent of the 2010s “sO rAnDoM XD�humor, but like, actua?lly written in a way that feels fresh and funny rather than cringy and grating. I got the feeling when I was playing that the style might cause some players to bounce off, but I found it charming as all hell �do with that what you will.

They've got the moves

But let’s be real, the real pull to Ooblets is the promise of Pokemon-style battles �don’t worry, there’s plenty of that. Soon after their arriva?l at Badgetown, the player is tasked with selecting one of the four local Ooblets clubhouses to join based on their values (I joined the cute club Frunbuns, naturally), and by extension choosing a starter Ooblet. With your starter in tow, you can enter battles with wild Ooblets to get seeds from them. After?? planting those seeds and growing them on the farm, players then have their very own Ooblet of that specific type. Ta-da!

It is also crucial that I mention that your Ooblets run along behind you, following you everywhere, and there is no shortage of cute accessories to dress them up with. Finally, a game that understands my needs.

As for the dance battles themselves, well, those were yet another pleasant surprise. Rather than a typical fight where your pets are beating the crap out of each other, all of the combat in Ooblets takes the form of dance battles, an idea that made me absolutely giddy the first time I saw?? it. The battles are card-based, and each unique Ooblet gets their own special cards added to your deck as they level up.

You can either battle other citizens of Oob in the Dance Barn or in the other regions, or the more common means of battling is with the wild Ooblets that run around the diffe?rent environments. Gotta catch ‘em all, rig?ht? Each type of wild Ooblet requires a different item in order for you to battle them, which can range from foragables to crops to processed food.

Each match sets a score somewhere between twenty and forty, and the first team to earn that number of points wins. Players earn points from cards, and there are also modifiers in play like Hype, which allows you to earn more points; Fluster, which makes you earn fewer points; Stun, which makes one of your Ooblets miss a turn; Trepidation, which adds useless cards to you or your opponent's deck; and so on. If you’ve played any card-based battler from Hearthstone to Slay the Spire, you’ll be right at home.

Sometimes a bit offbeat

The battles are easy with a few exceptions, and a lot of times a win or loss can come down to the luck of the cards. Considering Ooblets is a chill game, I didn’t mind a bit of RNG, lest I won every single battle with no p?ushback.

I have a few qualms with the battles �that there wasn’t a way to look at or modify my full deck, which would have been a nice touch. Sometimes the animations for the moves could be a bit slow (which is also a problem the more recent Pokemon games have had).

The other thing is the Dance Barn battles, which are unlocked after you repair the said Dance Barn in town. It’s a tournament-style setup where you go up against other townies in 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 battles. I?? tried to do them as often as I had time for, and let me tell you, I only won one or two of the tournaments ever.

Jokes about my gaming abilities aside, it’s because some of the Ooblets have stun abilities. This is no problem when you’r??e battling with teams of four or six, but if you’re unfortunate enough to get stuck in a 1v1 with an opponent that can stun you, it’s literally game over �they stun?? lock you the entire match.

There are special game?? modes in the Dance Barn, including one where players can only use their Ooblets�special cards, which is kind of ?a problem when you realize the one Ooblet you picked doesn’t have a way to earn points without the point-earning cards from the deck. Either way, I had a lot of fun with the battles, and would often go out of my way to do them just for fun.

To-do lists, but make it fun

I feel like Stardew Valley is one of those games that strikes the perfect balance of giving you just enough to do without you ever getting bored, while at the same time not overwhelming you with too much. One thing I didn’t particularly love about Ooblets was that it became a bit of a grind, requiring players to c??ollect a ton of different items to progress the sto??ry and complete tasks.

There are like seven different entities that can?? give you tasks to do, not including the smaller errands imposed by your friends around town. In the early game, I was thankful to have clear objectives to get me going, but after a while, it was hard to keep tra??ck of just how many things I was trying to accomplish at the same time.

Of course, you can play at yo??ur own pace, but for someone like me who loves checking things off lists, I couldn’t stop myself from going as hard as possible to efficiently progress through all of my tasks. If nothing else, it kept me super engaged the whole time, although part of me felt like the game was insecure that I wouldn’t find enough to do on my own.

You can also have up to five or six pretty involved tasks going at the same time, and as someone who struggles with multitasking, I did find it a bit overwhelming at times. This issue isn’t helped by the fact that everything in the game has a ?silly name �little springs you use to build things are called nurnies, for example �so I would often have to keep checking what it is I was actually looking for in the first place.

Thankfully, though, I happen to love the foraging aspect of these types of games, and boy howdy, a ton of Ooblets is running around? and collecting stuff. If that isn’t your ?thing, you might get a bit frustrated, I’m not gonna lie.

Exploration

A few hours into the game, you meet a local named Gimble who owns a hot air ball?oon. After repairing it with a whole slew of supplies, she can take the player to different regions of Oob, where they’ll gather more supplies, partake in dance battles, and progress the main story quest. Each re??gion has its own unique foragables, seeds you can take home and grow on your farm, and of course, Ooblets to collect.

I found that each region had some fun the?ming, and I always looked forward to seeing a new place and what surprises it had to throw at me. I?? don’t want to give too much away, but the area called Port Forward was a real standout for me as a lover of minigames.

I was also really pleasantly surprised with the game’s main story, which really doesn’t come together until the very end. Most farming sims�stories are pretty bare bones, but Ooblets presents you with a mystery from the very beginning �and seeing the culmination of that mystery in the game’s last few ho?urs is a blast.

Another element that gets added later is your very own store, where you can sell items that you collect, build, or cook, and it’s easily the best way to earn money in the game. Of course you can upgrade and decorate your shop over time, too. Once I reached this point, I got that feeling again that there’s a little? too much going on in the game, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker by any means.

In conclusion

Overall, Ooblets absolutely met the expectations I had built up for it over tho?se six long years of waiting. If you love the far?ming/community sim genre, it’s an absolute must-play, and I think it’ll be a game that sticks around for years to come.

I played it on PC for this review, and I’m looking forward to trying out some mods that the community will cook up, but I have to say that this is a perfect Switch game. In fact, after I go back and drive this save file into the ground, I plan on buying the Switch version to replay all over again, much like I did with Stardew. Gotta support the indie games you love, right?

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Ooblets appeared first on Destructoid.

A flood of cozy simulators in the wake of Stardew's success

It feels like with every new batch of gaming news streams we get, they’re accompanied by memes about whichever game genre dominates the announcements and updates. Over the summer, there was an endless stream of dark space marine shooters, and after the news streams that rolled through this week, it seems there’s a new genre taking over the industry for the next few months: farming simulators.

Ooblets, I Am Future, Dreamlight Valley, Potion Permit, Bear and Breakfast, Witchbrook, My Time at Portia, Wytchwood, Homestead Arcana, Little Witch in the Woods, Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life �the list of upcoming or newly released farming/community sims never-ending these days. This is excellent news for me, considering it’s one of my favorite genres ever, and you can bet your bottom d??ollar I’m playing as many of them as I can.

Why was Stardew so popular?

While farming/community sims have been around for a long, long time, I think we can accredit a lot of their recent resurgence to the success of one stellar indie game: Stardew Valley. It’s one of those games that’s simp???le enough to pick up and start playing regardless of your skill level and even regardless of where you are in any given save file, yet still complex enough for players to challenge themselves and min-max the crap out of it if they want to.

The controls are simple and you can run it on anything, which means it’s available (as well as affordably priced) on every conceivable platform. The game has fostered a rich modding community, wh??o enjoy putting a fresh spin on the gam?eplay, story, characters, aesthetics, and so on.

Plus, it’s the passion project of a single developer, and has all of the charm and care you might expect from someone who truly loves what they’re making. All of these elements came together to not just create an unforgettable game, but a full-on cultural phenomenon that swept through the industry and made Stardew one of the most beloved and successful indie games o??f ?all time.

Cause and effect

If my hypothesis is correct, that means that now over six years after its release, we are seeing Stardew Valley’s influence ripple through the industry �hence the wave of cozy farming/community simulators. Of course, we have to give credit where it’s due to series like Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons for paving the way for this once niche genre to break further into the mainstream, but I truly believe Stardew is what pushed it over the edge due to its universal app?eal and subsequent popularity.

So now we have a wave of all kinds of games that are putting their own? spin on the classic farming/community sim formula, which is a ton of fun to see. Just like shooters or RPGs take the mechanical motifs of their genre and try to do something no one has quite seen before down to the most minute level, simulators are seeing the same level of impassioned scrutiny.

Video games are still an incredibly young medium compared to film, television,?? literature, or even their older cousin, tabletop games. As someone who has studied patterns and whole movements that form in media, I can’t express how cool it is to se??e developers explore the intricacies of a newer genre and create something new.

Carving a new path

So for example, most of these games are going to have mechanics like farming, mi?ning, fishing, cooking, crafting, befriending townspeople, etc., but the combination in how these mechanics are implemented and influence e??ach other will always be unique. Each game will have different economic and social systems for the player to interact with that will lead to different outcomes.

It’s like how a lot of games like BioShock, Mass Effect, and Dishonored, for example, have some kind of magic mechanic to supplement weapons that we know and recognize, like guns, daggers, etc. While we’re familiar with the motif of magic supplementing familiar weapons, each game that implements its own kind of magic will use that magic slightly differently �what the magic can d??o will be different, the cost of that magic will be different (usually utilizing some kind of mana system, which can also have an infini?te number of variations), and so on. There are a lot of layers here.

My point is, we have enough farming simulators now that by nature of a saturated (and nearly oversaturated) marke??t, developers are forced to think creatively when it comes to using the mechanics in the toolbox of their genre to create as engaging of an experience as possible.

Then we get games like Cult of the Lamb or Ooblets, which combine community simulation with an action roguelike and farming simulation with Pokémon-s?tyle animal companion battling, respectively. Like storytelling, the key to making fresh and exciting games is finding new ways to combine and implemen??t elements we already love.

It’s one thing to study that phenomenon in retrospect, but it’s another to see it happen in real time. Regardless of what some people say, I think this is a very, very exciting t?ime for g??ames �especially farming simulators.

The post How Stardew Valley ushered in the farming sim rena??issance appeared first on Destructoid.