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If you’ve played Phoenix Labsmonster hunting game Dauntless, you’ll be surprised to learn that the company’s next game is a farming role-playing game called Fae Farm.
You can still take a whack and stuff and fight them if you want, but this title is about fairy farming. I saw it at a Nintendo Indies event at the Game Developers Conference and it reminded me of Stardew Valley. Game director Isaac Epp and Andy Burt walked me through an abbreviated version of the demo.
You can play it alone on the Nintendo Switch or play local co-op or online multiplayer with up to four players. The title will come later this year.
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In the game, you can chop wood and mine rocks to get resources and then use them to grow crops on your farm. You can grow and sell crops and build a farm. That part should definitely put you in relaxation mode. But the demo also showed that there is much more to do on the enchanted island of Azoria. It is a colorful world with cute characters and beautiful landscapes.
You can explore the island and make friends with residents. You can discover fairy magic and enter dungeons, ruins, or do other things. The seasons change and you gain access to new equipment or crops.
You can customize your character and choose everything from your hairstyle to your pronouns. The game allows you to tend crops and craft items. And you can add magic to farming, fighting enemies or exploring the wilderness. As you gain resources, the game will automatically equip you with the right tools when you’re harvesting grass, chopping logs, mining rocks, or watering crops. You just press the A button and you don’t have to waste time changing tools.
Non-player characters can send you on missions, such as going out to catch butterflies. You just sneak up on them, press a button and they’re in your net. I met an NPC named Eddie on the other side of a bridge and he gave me a fishing rod. I cast in the water and did a circle with the joystick to lure fish. Then I pulled the stick to hook the fish. Sometimes they escape and sometimes you reel them in.
There is a market square where you can put your goods up for sale at night and then interact with street vendors to get things you need. You can go out on dates and develop relationships with romantic characters.
Before combat, we went after some mischievous characters and I used my fairy wings to maneuver around them. They drop resources when you send them. There was a dungeon in a volcano, but I didn’t have time to get through it.
In addition to building your farm, you can also create your house and decorate the inside. You can add multiple rooms and floors and make it as cozy as you want. If you make it fun, your characters will wake up in the morning with better stats with health, energy, or mana benefits.
Overall, the game is cute and relaxing, which shows that you can fight as well as farm in the same game.
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