Cozy games are such a wonderful delight to play. Whether it’s lazily fishing by the river, planting crops, or building your virtual dream home, there’s a cozy game out there for everyone these days. But what if you were to take the farming of Harvest Moon and add some small business shopkeeping into it? Developer Rokaplay asked this very question and came up with the answer in the form of Sugardew Island, a Cozy Farm Shop game that aims to deliver a dash of cozy commerce in your farming life. What’s it Like? Till your fields, balance your till, and put up your back in 5 minutes sign as we review Sugardew Island on Nintendo Switch.
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Sugardew Island starts with your character crashing their boat on a mysterious island. You are greeted by an old man who tells you the story about the Harmony Tree being destroyed and tasks you with restoring it. He then gives you a farm and a shop and you get sent on your merry way to restore the Harmony tree at your own pace. Gameplay is simplistic; You clear your fields, plant some seeds, harvest your crop, and sell it at the shop. There are milestones to achieve in restoring the Harmony tree which unlocks sections of your island and some new features, but apart from farming and selling, there’s not much depth to Sugardew Island.
When it comes to farming, controls feel clumsy and awkward, and I found I would hit the wrong area and fiddle around trying to get it right, wasting valuable stamina which seemed to deplete far too quickly. While you can clear your entire field eventually, the simplistic nature of the game means you really don’t have to. Conversations with the limited amount of NPCs in the world of Sugardew Island don’t add much to the game and clumsy mechanics make the game feel like a chore. The Shop section of the game was the feature I was looking most forward to, but the game will cement you in place behind the counter while NPC’s storm your shop gathering anything on your shelf with the occasion one needing some form of persuasion or encouragement to purchase something. This, in turn, boils down to 3 dialogue options in a repetitive mini-game that tends to become an exercise in boredom and frustration very quickly. Both Farming and Shopkeeping feel unfinished, and it feels like there’s a distinct lack of polish in the game.
I think the biggest problem with Sugardew Island is that the basic gameplay loop is well… too basic. Most Cozy games give you a handful of other activities to do like cooking or fishing, but Sugardew Island restricts you to just farming and selling, and unfortunately, doesn’t do either of them well. The upside is that due to its simplicity, it could be a great entry title for the younger ones looking to start in the Cozy genre, but seasoned Cozy gamers may struggle to stay entertained with Sugardew Island. There’s a request board to help give you some direction, and a basic relationship system in play, but it all feels rather superfluous and added as an afterthought. Sugardew Island just feels… incomplete.
Graphically, Sugardew Island isn’t very well optimised for the Switch, and despite opening with a stylish Anime style cutscene, my enthusiasm to dive in came to a grinding halt when my character’s facial features were so pixellated, I couldn’t tell what was going on. There’s still some charm in the visual style, and it reminded me of earlier Harvest Moon titles at times, but compared to modern games, Sugardew Islands’ visuals leave a lot to be desired. Animations are clunky, and there are no real animations for the crafting, which fails to draw the player into the game world.
For my Farmers and Shopkeepers looking into accessibility options, there are none to speak of, although the lack of time progression throughout the day means you can approach things at your own pace. At $25 AUD, Sugardew Island is okay value, but more as an entry-level cozy game for the little ones. There are other titles out there for adults that have a lot more substance like Stardew Valley, which weighs in almost $10 cheaper and offers countless more gameplay experiences. I really wanted to love Sugardew Valley, but between limited activities, awkward and clunky controls, and frustrating gameplay elements, I had a difficult time even just liking it.
So, What’s it Like? Sugardew Valley is like Harvest Moon, with some shopkeeping added in.
I award it 52/100.
In the interest of full disclosure, a review copy was provided by the publisher, but this doesn’t influence my score.
