Review: Fae Farm

“I found myself singing along to the catchy tunes.” | If you love farm sims like Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing, here’s a warning for you: there is a high probability of addiction to this next game. The multiplayer farming adventure RPG is the perfect cozy game to unwind, after a rough autumn or winter day. Creative Director Katie De Sousa says the game was meant to not only bring people together and have fun, but to bring relaxation as well. Ready to emerge yourself in a whimsical world of wonder where you’ll forget all your woes? 

OMG! OMG! Did you know this is Galia’s first written review for LifeisXbox?

Things I liked!

• Multiplayer mode: you can invite a friend to your farm, where they can claim a spot and make it their own. When there is a level diff, you’ll adopt the level of the farm where you were invited, and thus, you can help your friend out. The most fun would be to bundle forces and tackle all the quests together from scratch.

• Art and animation: how beautiful is this art style? The round and colorful design of the characters and the surroundings are dreamy and even the monster design is nice to look at, with presumably, references to other franchises like Harry Potter. And could we have a moment of appreciation for the adorable chicken on your loading screen.

• Quests: whether it’s farming or mining for side quests or leveling through the story, you will spend hours and hours perfecting your homestead(s). As you level up, other worlds are unlocked. Bonus points: with unlocking story quests, you’ll get cutscenes with lovely animations that feel like you are part of a fairy tale. 

• Inclusivity: a friend of mine who is in a wheelchair told me he was so happy to see one of the characters being in a wheelchair as well. It warms my heart to think that this will be making lots of people happy around the world.

• Movement design: Since you don’t take any fall damage, it is awesome to jump and twirl around on the map. In a way, it gives a sense of freedom. Even jumping in the whirlpools in the water won’t get you killed. Try not to jump into lava or off of cliffs that are too high though.

• Music: I found myself singing along to the catchy tunes. When paying attention to it, you’ll notice that the music is beautiful with my favorite part being the strings that are used in the compositions.

Even in winter, we need to supply the city with carrots and tomatoes. Even frozen they are delicious!

Neither good nor bad

• Character customisation: It’s a pity that you cannot choose the name of your character, the game takes over your Steam name automatically. You are also limited to a set of predefined characteristics and body types. 

• Fast travel: Is not that…fast. It might have been intentional to give the game a more relaxed and easy-going pace, and even though the seals used to unlock fast traveling on the map are a great addition to the farming grind, it would still be nice to travel through areas a little bit more efficiently. 

• Sound design: the sounds in the game could be a little less annoying, for lack of a better word. For example the sounds the characters make, as my friend Amy said: “Once in game your character makes this weird ‘haha, hmm, hee, ho- sound every step you take, what am I, Michael Jackson?’”

My rain cloud comes in handy for vegetables. Less handy when I want to sleep, though.

Things I disliked!

• Relationships: all of a sudden I am flirting with characters left right and center and even going on dates? I didn’t ask for any of this. Maybe it is because there are no multiple choices in conversations, you’ll fall into relationships you do not want. And the dialogues feel a little unrealistic.

How long to beat the story? 60-70 hours
You’ll love this game if you like these | Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, My Time at Portia