Echoes of the Plum Grove

Echoes of the Plum Grove is honestly my favorite game in the farming sim/ town sim genre right now. While I may have more hours in total with other games, the depth of enjoyment I get from them doesn't have me coming back nearly as much as this game does. [h2]My favorite parts:[/h2] I really enjoy the artisan gameplay. There is a lot more legwork and effort that goes into upgrading certain things and it feels much more rewarding. It takes a lot longer to get from crops to artisan foods, then to animals into processed animal products like cheese, cloth, and meat. The expiration system is also really well done. The better your quality of food, the longer it will last. There's a survival reason to make good food as well as a financial one, and once you start making/ cooking better, more sustainable food, you start raking in more "dough". Might be an unpopular opinion but I ADORE the fishing mechanic in this game. It can be frustrating and challenging, but never do I feel like I should just "give up" on a fish because it's too difficult. I can always pull myself back up and catch the damn thing if I lock in. The pillars (the community center type mechanic for this game) is a breath of fresh air. Never do I feel rushed to complete anything but I feel super accomplished when I do finish a pillar ("bundle"). The only thing that might be a bit of a "rush" would be the lobsters (seasonal), and even then because of the generational gameplay, you can really do those anytime you want as well. Speaking of generational gameplay, that is also something that makes this game awesome and unique. It goes along fantastically with the "pre-revolutionary America" worldbuilding and visual style. (I am a sucker for era-revolution American history so that's another small pro for me) The children feel like little adults, working apprenticeships or on farms, and when, inevitably, your character dies, all those skills they learned as children continue into their adulthood and your playthrough if you choose them as your gameplay heir. And lastly, let me talk about that worldbuilding and visual style one more time. A lot of reviews you read will say the NPC's are flat and uninteresting and I will say that is KIND OF false. Yes, they are not very individualized however, they are all going to die and be replaced eventually if you play long enough. You cannot feasibly set up a system for individualized, unique NPC's every time they generate if that is the case. Taking that into account, they really do FEEL like live in the time and place that Honeywood is set in. They speak about impending war, struggles with taxes and government, the environment and other members of Honeywood. I get really attached to whatever NPC I end up marrying and the kids we have. What personality they do generate with are usually enough to set them apart from most of the town anyways in my opinion. (This is also something the dev's are actively working on. The personalities and moods will likely be a little more developed on full release.) Honeywood is just such a beautiful seaside town. The lighthouse, the town, the swamp, all of them are locations I can picture very clearly and very fondly in my mind. This game has such a strong visual style, the lighting is cozy, the characters are cute, the animations are smooth and funny. If you like the Paper Mario style I think you will love this game. [h2]My not so favorite parts:[/h2] I believe the festivals could be a little bit stronger. Initially they are really fun, and I still enjoy the fishing festival in spring a lot (because I LOVE FISHING) but because of the way the NPC system is, there isn't much "social" point in going to a festival. Which is what I usually think of when the whole town gets together for something. Usually you're rushing around doing things so there's little time (or inventory space) to gift villagers things while they're all gathered gathered up. The EXP gain and way you get the crafting recipes for things can be a little annoying. This is definitely more of a nitpicky thing but why is it so difficult to level up crafting and cooking? I don't necessarily want to make a million fences and a hundred preserve jars (overexaggerating for effect) to maybe get the smelter recipe when I level up... just for the blacksmith to give me a quest with that recipe as a reward the next day anyways. I just wish the way you got crafting recipes was a little more consistent so you're not just grinding EXP for 1 item. There are some other very small bugs or mistakes that could be patched out in future updates that I feel like would be unnecessary to mention. However, it is a little jarring when NPC's with they/them pronouns are spoken about by other characters and the dialogue hasn't been corrected around the pronouns to make them fit in the sentence. i.e. "Rowland is a cool NPC! They is awesome!" instead of "Rowland is a cool NPC! They are awesome!" something like that. That's the only mistake that I think to bring up in a review like this that would apply to someone's enjoyment/ immersion of the game without going "Oops weird bug lol". (Light spoilers for this next part) [spoiler]The potions and magic are not something I find myself using a lot. Unless it is a blood moon and I'm using a potion to make my character faster for the night, I haven't found a whole lot of use in spending the energy or time to get the sometimes rare ingredients to craft them.[/spoiler] All in all this game is really strong and has a lot of super fun elements in it already. I greatly look forward to what the devs do with it next (though I wish them lots of peace and patience with their new baby!) and am actively watching and playing through it's development every time a new update drops. Lot's of love to Unwound Games you guys have made my favorite farming sim of the decade.

muito bom, dar para deixa com tempo ou não o jogo de pescar e tem como desativar também, dar para parar o envelhecimento e como não ter doenças doenças! muito bom, até agora roda tranquilo na minha placa de vídeo Intel 4000... só desativei nevasca e abaixei a qualidade gráfica... continue assim, stardew valley parou de rodar no pc por conta da placar de vídeo e procurei outro jogo para lidar com as minhas crises de autismo... o suporte do stardew não ajudou e acho que o suporte deste jogo é melhor, espero

Of all the farming sims I’ve played, this one has truly stolen my heart. The cozy art style paired with the warm lighting creates such a comforting, inviting atmosphere. What really sets this game apart for me is the marriage, children, and generational gameplay. There’s something deeply rewarding about watching your family and homestead grow and evolve over time. I became genuinely attached to the villagers, formed meaningful friendships, and even felt sadness when characters passed away, which made the world feel remarkably immersive and alive. Few cozy games have made me this emotionally invested. What keeps me so hooked is the progression and sense of accomplishment. Unlike many cozy games where wealth comes easily, making money here is a genuine struggle at first. You have to work hard, learn the systems, and slowly figure out how to make the economy work in your favor. That challenge makes finally succeeding feel so much more rewarding. I love building a life and legacy from the ground up through patience, hard work, and generations of growth.

❤️

lack of content

Amazing game. So freaking detailed.

An adorable game with a craft paper aesthetic. Players familiar with farm sims will fall into the rhythm of this game easily enough. Resources spoiling in your inventory is a unique mechanic that changed how I usually play these games. No longer can you so easily hoard crops and foods, so you are incentivized to use or sell the items before they rot. The early game also incentivizes you to rely on the villagers around you to make quick progress rather than crouching at your farm for days on end like a hermit. If self-reliance is important to you, it can be done either slowly early or perfectly well by the late game. I had probably the most unlucky run of this game. In summer of the first year, small pox flooded the village. The entire final week of the season was nonstop funerals. Shortly after, as my character was pregnant with their first child, their husband (whose previous spouse died of the pox) died of consumption- not that I knew that was what I was at the time because I hadn't seen the symptoms before. My farm animals also had a rash of spontaneous deaths, not from old age, but somehow from lack of feed. I suspect that when I moved the barn, the stack of feed I had for them disappeared. Not suspecting I was out of feed, I did not even check the trough, nor did my animals have any kind of notification of their condition. One day, they just vanished, leaving me to piece together what happened to them. I do wish there had been some kind of unhappy moodlet or something that indicated they were starving without having to manually check their condition menu. This set me back on my farm pillar progress dramatically which resulted in me completing the game with the original character's son, the one who was born on a blood moon with a deceased father. Appropriately, I had named him Mordecai. Overall, this game is charming, and I will likely come back to it eventually, but for now I am ready to be finished.

I really love this game a lot. From the artwork to the gameplay. You can replay and do different strategies and make it as easy or as hard as you want! I really love this game