Fae Farm is a very competent farming simulator in a sea of farming sims. It has tried and true elements and mechanics found in games such as Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley as well as the more casual social village sims like Animal Crossing.
I’ll get straight to the point. I think Fae Farm is actually a very competent farming sim and as an enjoyer of farming sims I had fun with the game. However, there’s nothing at first glance that sets this game apart from other competent farming sims. There’s definitely small things here and there that add different nuances to the game compared to others for sure, but the overall game play loop as well as the feel of playing the game is very familiar territory.
This isn’t a negative by any means. I love farming sims and a solid farming sim is a win in my book. I’ll go over what mechanics I’ve run across in the game so far and the few that I have not and let you guys decide whether or not this game is for you.
To start with, the game’s farming and harvesting mechanics are standard fare. You start in a neglected farm overgrown with plants, trees, and littered with logs and rocks everywhere. As with most farming games some trees cannot be removed until you upgrade your axe but thankfully this happens fairly early on in the game.
While we’re on the topic of the farming mechanics, one small quality of life addition to Fae Farm is that the game will automatically select the proper tool based on what action you are taking. For example, if you click on a rock, the character will automatically use the pickaxe. If you click on a pile of dirt, the shovel will be used and so forth. Not every farming game has this and not having to manually select your tool is a great time saver. You do still have to manually switch to your wand, fishing rod, and bug net however.
As you use your tools, the respective meters will increase over time. For example, every time you catch a bug the critter catching meter will go up. As the meters go up and you gain levels you will get bonuses related to the task at hand. The levels are also used as a requirement to unlock new and better equipment. The meters seem to fill up at a decent speed so progression should feel like it’s going at a good pace.
In addition to the standard actions of chopping down trees, reaping standing plants, breaking down rocks, and digging up piles of dirt, you can also fish and catch bugs and critters like in Animal Crossing. The bugs are actually used in the game other than being sold at the market. You can give them as gifts to people who like them as well as place them in the conservatory and collect byproducts used to craft fertilizer as well as other objects.
As for mining ores, there’s a mine in the village where each floor is separated by a series of doors that must be opened by finding a switch hidden under a rock. This may sound tedious and it is but thankfully you can craft a seal to permanently keep the doors open. This will allow you to speed through to the floor you want to go to. Other than ores, the mines will have crystals as well. As you go deeper in the mines, enemies will appear. They’re fairly easy to dispatch thankfully and they also drop rare resources such as peridot and iron ore.
To break up the tedium of farming, harvesting, and mining you can spend some time talking to the villagers and increasing your relationship meter with whoever you choose. Some villagers will also give you side quests to complete. These side missions usually relate to the mechanics in the game to help you familiarize yourself with them. One such mission will task you with increasing your cozy meter to five in your home.
Another small pleasant addition to Fae Farm is the way new cosmetic blueprints are unlocked. The blueprints are found in the game world as scrolls. This gives a reason to keep exploring the island other than for collecting resources as blueprints are tucked away in some sneaky corners of the map.
Some other mechanics I didn’t get a chance to get around to yet is getting rid of the whirlpool blocking boats from coming to the island and fulfilling shipping contracts. You can also upgrade your house and make it much larger and decorate it to your heart’s content. I didn’t get to upgrade my house yet so I didn’t get to mess around with too much interior decoration. There are also new biomes such as a cold region that I couldn’t access as of now due to the lack of proper clothing. There are also some regions locked off that require certain seals to unlock. There’s a fair amount of exploring to do in the world of Fae Farm.
As for the crafting, you have stations that let you smelt the ores and materials into ingots and bricks, logs into lumber, food into ingredients to be cooked, and etc. Everything is automated so you can queue multiple actions and go explore or farm to your heart’s content and collect the finished tasks later. This is quite convenient as you don’t have to manually complete each task.
Overall, Fae Farm is farmtastic fun. Yes, that was a terrible farm pun but that’s what I do. You could say I’m a punny guy. I apologize haha. Jokes aside the game is fun if you’re a farming sim fan. I can’t say that it’ll revolutionize the genre or provide you with a new experience but it’ll be a familiar yet enjoyable time. It has all the elements and mechanics of the classics such as Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, and Stardew Valley with some nice quality of life changes added on top.
Additional Info
Steam Store Page : https://store.steampowered.com/app/2230110/Fae_Farm/
Review Score: N/A as of this writing (08/31/23)
Developer: Phoenix Labs
Publisher: Phoenix Labs
Release Date: Sep 8, 2023
MSRP: $39.99
I received a key from keymailer. Thanks to the fantabulous person for approving my request!
Time spent: 8.1 hours
Achievement Score: 9/35
If you want to support me, this link tracks how much traffic I bring to the game, I do not get paid for this but it does help me out in getting future games: https://game.page/faefarm/archivers
Ducky Obrien 