Our farm is very, very, very Fae Farm.
I recently had the opportunity to attend a hands-off demo of Fae Farm, a farming and more sim that was announced at the September 2022 Nintendo Direct. Phoenix Labs’ Fae Farm, makers of Dauntless, looks like a multi- (or single) player entry in a much larger genre than when something like Harvest Moon on the Super Nintendo first released. The team member who took us through the demo emphasized the concept of “cozy”. You can’t help but understand that Fae Farm embraces the theme wholeheartedly.
A 15-minute demo shown to members of the media took us through the characters’ individual farms, nearby villages, and dungeon areas. One of the titles he recalled during the presentation was Hidden Gems Fantasy Life for 3DS. Inside the dungeon, you can clear out the resident monsters to give yourself time to mine resources. Outside of the dungeons, there was no shortage of people offering quests, which seemed to be the primary way the game was tutorialed. In addition to a robust crafting system to keep various meters filled, farmhouses have their own “cozy scores”, and sleeping in a cosy, well-rated space actually improves your stats. was one of the game’s most interesting features, given that it could encourage players to decorate and pad their homes through the provision of more specific perks.
We didn’t get much into Fae Farm’s story details, but there’s an overarching narrative woven throughout the game. Multiple save states allow you to create a file dedicated to solo play, or a separate file to dive into the world with friends and go on quests together. Freedom seems to be the name of the game here. If you want to build your farm and characters as efficiently as possible, go for it. If you want to host an in-game fishing trip with your buddies, make it happen. By choosing to prepare and craft less and always rush headlong into the next main his mission or dungeon, you are effectively choosing your own difficulty as well. Another minor but useful quality of life mechanic allowed characters to automatically switch to the appropriate basic tool instead of manually switching to it.
This Switch exclusive doesn’t look like it’s trying to reinvent the farming/life sim genre, but Fae Farm definitely has the potential to reinvigorate it. Framerate can be an issue, but based on the early builds shown, there’s a lot to do and you can team up with friends to tackle an activity of your choice, so watching Fae Farm If we haven’t learned anything else in the last few years, it’s that the quest for a comfortable space and experience has undoubtedly become a priority for many people, and games Seeing a title that’s familiar to play play with those specific elements makes me even more excited to see what’s next for Fae Farm. Spring 2023 release window.
