Fae Farm Switch Review

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Fae Farm Switch Review

Fae Farm is finally here and many gamers have already taken the plunge to join the whimsical fairy world to farm, brew potions, and explore dungeons, but for those of you who haven’t, I’ve put in 20 hours to tell you exactly what my thoughts are on it. Full disclosure, even 20 hours in, there are plenty of things I haven’t seen or unlocked, but I will update the review when I discover more. Due to the nature of the game, I will be leaving some things out so they don’t spoil the surprise of the moments that I had the joy to discover. The mild spoilers in the review are things that have been shown in trailers.

For those who have been living under a rock, Fae Farm is a farming cozy game, set in a fantasy world of magic and whimsy. There’s a huge focus on decorating your homestead to improve your stats, planning out your farm, and creating potions and recipes to sustain you as you explore dungeons. There may be nothing groundbreaking here in terms of mechanics, but the gameplay is solid and has plenty of quality-of-life implementations that are a refreshing change to the standard gameplay tropes such as instantly switching to the most appropriate tool, and faster respawns on materials so you can keep focussed on adventuring and expanding.

The game is open-ended but is broken up into chapters which help guide you, especially in the early stages of the game. Things seem to really open up after chapter 4, which can be about 8 hours into the game. This pacing can be a double-edged sword depending on how much time you have. There’s a lot to do in Fae Farm, but if you want to play in short bursts, the first few chapters may be a bit of a slog to get through. Thankfully, progression is easily tracked, and an intuitive map design, allowing you to track NPC’s helps you find people quickly to achieve your objectives.

Farming is fun and upgrading your tools means infusing them with magical properties that allow you to water more crops at once, or chop down trees easier. Each tool you upgrade has its own magical properties and special skill that requires mana to use, including your staff which upgrades spells and attacks for when you start dungeon diving. Dungeons are varied and you craft special seals that unlock fast travel to floors, which is great, but also done in a different way. You have to use a seal to unlock every level before you can unlock the next. At first, this feels tedious, but thankfully when you select a level it has a breakdown of what materials are available, that allows you to gather and craft faster.

About 10-15 hours in, you will unlock a new aspect of the game which I won’t spoil here, but I will say it’s when you can start creating potions and artisanal goods that further enhance your income-earning abilities, as well as job and friendship quests. For me, this is where the game started to get really interesting, and once I have written my other reviews, I look forward to delving deeper into this aspect of the game.

All of this adventuring can be done via drop-in and out multiplayer that allows you to get things done faster with up to 4 friends. There are emotes to communicate with, and having 3 other people help out with the farm or dungeons really helps push the content through faster.

The art style of the game is pleasant enough, and you avatars and characters you interact with are full of charm. The world is fleshed out with its individual zones and environments and it looks and runs great. NPC’s don’t seem to add much to the game and while some wander around and go about their business, most stay in the same place with limited dialogue. It’s not a deal breaker, just don’t expect the characters of Fae Farm to have as much depth as Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley. The musical score and sound effects do a great job of immersing you in this magical world, and the animations of attacks and tasks are exceptionally well done, and I particularly was impressed with the tree-chopping animations and stance changes when the tree was felled.

All of this comes together to create a fantastic package that might be a little on the pricey side, retailing at $80 Australian. To me, it’s well worth the asking price, but for some, it may be a harder sell when there are a lot of Triple-A titles competing for what’s in your wallet.

Overall, Fae Farm is a whimsical adventure that can be enjoyed with friends. It looks and plays great, and for those with a bit of time to invest, there’s a lot of game here. The price may be off-putting to some, but for those not on a budget, Fae Farm is money well spent. Fae Farm would certainly be my favorite Cozy game of the year and for fellow fans of the genre, you can go wrong visiting this magical and engrossing world.

So What’s It Like?

Fae Farm is a cross between Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, and a bit of magic from Harry Potter.

Fae Farm

80% Score

Fae Farm is a whimsical adventure that can be enjoyed with friends. It looks and plays great, and for those with a bit of time to invest, there's a lot of game here.

Review Breakdown

  • Graphics and Visuals 0%
  • Sound and Ambiance 0%
  • Gameplay 0%
  • Content and Features 0%
  • Value 0%

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