As the summer fun is slowly replaced by autumn’s cool and cozy atmosphere, players begin to search for games perfect for cuddling up with a controller on a windy day, mirroring the changes in the season.
Officially released on September 8th on the Nintendo Switch and PC, many, including myself, eagerly purchased a copy of Fae Farm. As of now, it is currently priced at $39.99 for the Standard edition and $59.99 for the Deluxe edition, which includes 2 DLCs (extra downloadable content.)
Artistically, Fae Farm is phenomenal. The art style shows off a symphony of pretty, vibrant colors, beautifully designed landscapes, and unique character designs.
When I created my first save file, I was pleasantly surprised by the abundance of inclusive character customization options, which, unfortunately, tends to be a rarity in this genre. Fae Farm’s character customization ranges from body types, skin color, hair types, voice tones, and pronouns. Fae Farm went above and beyond in its effort to include everyone, and they deserve plenty of praise for it.
After creating my character, I was taken through a stunning cutscene introducing me to the world of Azoria, a seemingly normal island riddled with secrets. I was placed on a farm and tasked with carrying out various quests for the residents of Azoria, helping tackle and solve various problems around the map.
While the NPC designs were unique and inclusive, the NPCs themselves felt lifeless, recycling the same few lines over and over. Almost all of the dialogue in the game felt extremely disappointing for the $60 price tag. I had almost no reason to talk to any of the NPCs aside from storyline quests.
From all the hype I had seen on social media, I was under the impression that Fae Farm would be an entertaining, cozy, and relaxing game. However, in my opinion, it was severely lacking.
Fae Farm advertised itself as a farming RPG, but the actual farming aspect of the game felt non-existent to me. Selling crops was one of the least profitable ventures I went through, only ever utilizing the farming feature to complete quests.
I personally believe that Fae Farm should have been advertised as a crafting simulator instead, given how there are 18 crafting stations and only three crops available in the early-game phase. Not to mention, the crafting stations themselves are tedious to work with as they require constant monitoring, which resulted in me running back and forth across the entire map.
I was constantly fighting with the time mechanics in Fae Farm, as one in-game day is equivalent to only 20 minutes in real-time, which is insanely difficult to work with, given how many of the menus do not pause time, meaning that the 20-minute timer was constantly ticking, whether I was teleporting, or even just emptying out my inventory.
While Fae Farm’s visuals outclass many recent releases, it is difficult for me to praise its actual gameplay. Not only did a majority of the mechanics feel half-baked, but it was riddled with bugs and glitches.
While the developers did announce that they were working on a patch to fix said bugs, I feel that for its price, it shouldn’t have had so many bugs to begin with.
On another note, the two DLCs I had paid for in the Deluxe edition will not be available until December and June. While I admit I should have read more carefully about what I was buying, I think that the Deluxe edition should not have been sold if the extra content wasn’t already available.
It is honestly difficult to say that the steep $60 I paid was worth it when games like Stardew Valley, considered one of the best cozy farming simulators of all time, are only $15 and have far more content and enjoyability.While Fae Farm offered plenty of fun, fresh, and unique takes on the usual RPG formula, it felt messy, almost like the developers were unsure of where to direct the game and what they wanted their game to be. I do not recommend buying it at full price, but if it ever goes on sale, I’d encourage others to try it, just for the experience.
