Games worth discovering

Fae Farm is cute and cozy, but it has some annoying issues

1K View2023-09-11

Fae Farm

5.6

RomanceActionCozyFarming SimCraftingRPGFamily FriendlyLGBTQ+

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SHOULD I PLAY FAE FARM?

If you’re a big farming game fan, you should absolutely check this one out, but you might want to wait for a patch or a price drop. Fae Farm has an adorable art style and a lot of great ideas, but it has some frustrating issues. Ultimately, those problems didn’t keep me from having fun, but there are better farming games out there, and most of those games are available at a much lower price point.

TIME PLAYED

I spent around six hours playing Fae Farm, which gave me plenty of time to grow crops, redecorate my home, fight off magic thorns, and go fishing. I also got to pet a chicken, catch a few frogs, and jump out of a whirlpool, which was pretty freaking cool. Fae Farm has its issues, but it’s absolutely packed with content, and I had access to most of its features right from the start. I wasn’t able to check out its multiplayer, but it seems like it would be a blast to play with friends.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT FAE FARM?

• No time pressure. Time moves forward in Fae Farm, but the ticking of the clock never feels like a big deal. Shops are open all day long, and you can grow the same produce throughout the year. I like time management elements in farming games, but sometimes, it’s nice to play something where I can just chill out and relax without watching the clock.

• Fun exploration. I did a lot of running around in Fae Farm, but thankfully, getting from one place to another is really entertaining. Not only does it have a jump button, but I could use bouncy mushrooms to get extra air. There are paths to follow, but if I wanted to take a shortcut, I could climb mountains or dive into the water. Movement is fast and fluid, and that makes it really fun to get around.

• Streamlined gameplay. Fae Farm has sanded off most of the rough edges you typically find in farming games, resulting in a smooth, low-stress experience. Tools are selected automatically, so I never had to dig through my bag to find the right tool for the job. If I interacted with a tree, I’d immediately pull out my axe. When I selected my crops, I’d automatically use my watering can.

Even something as simple as going to bed is handled automatically. I could sleep in my bed at any time, but if I stayed out past bedtime, I was taken back home automatically. Removing these unnecessary steps saves a lot of time, and it makes the game feel much more relaxing.

WHAT SUCKS ABOUT FAE FARM?

• No automatic checkpoints. Like Stardew Valley, Fae Farm has a vast mine with lots of floors. Exploring the mine is awesome, but there aren’t built-in checkpoints that track your progress, which means you have to go through the same steps over and over again. You can eventually craft seals to mark your spot, but the process is kind of time consuming. It seems like an unnecessary step, especially in a game with minimal friction.

• NPC dialogue is really repetitive. I’m used to recycled dialogue in games, but Fae Farm takes things way too far. Characters don’t just repeat themselves; different NPCs will say the exact same lines. The dialogue pool is pretty small, and it’s not unusual to hear the same thing from two characters in a row.

Fae Farm has six romance options and plenty of characters to befriend, but I wasn’t really interested in chatting with anyone. The dialogue was so generic that the NPCs felt more like bots than people, and trying to have a conversation with one of them was a chore.

• You can’t name your character. When I started Fae Farm, I got to create my character and choose her pronouns, but I didn’t have a chance to pick her name. At first, I thought my character might have amnesia, but when I started talking to the locals, they referred to me by my Steam username, which was more than a little awkward.

If you create a Phoenix Labs account, characters will call you by that name instead, but that doesn’t seem much better. I get that multiplayer will be a big part of Fae Farm, but even MMOs let you pick out a unique name. It’s a strange decision that could be alienating to players that want to enjoy the game by themselves.

💬 Do you want to live a cozy, rustic life in Fae Farm, or would you rather stick to farming in a different game? Share some of your favorite farming games in the comments!