Grimshire

Are you cottage af but still a little edgy and have an enthusiasm for history? Look no further; different difficulty modes make it possible to play with what ever depression level you want. Do you want to play the game and its excellent content without risking your emotional wellbeing on a friend who dies getting mauled? This is a safe place, no judgement from me. Do you want to savor each moment with your favorite character and laboriously overthink decisions in hopes that they don't get killed because of your vote only to have them die of plague? Have fun, Dostoevsky. On a more niche note, I am obsessed with the way seasons flow into each other and the variability of crop hardiness. My pumpkins saw me through a good chunk of winter like the little over achievers I raised them to be. OP ass lil gourds. Moving forward I'm eager to see more story content updates as the years go on. I'd love to see infrastructure get built such as larger scale mills powered by the river (which can be devastated in a year drought year prompting another decision tree), the introduction of refugee characters from the mainland and managing the logistics thereof such as quarantining or cultural differences (such as those who may horde resources and challenging the collectivist nature of the town), etc. There is SO much that can be done with this game that I am hoping the devs have fun in their research and implementation - but not get overwhelmed by perfection. Your niche loves you, keep going, Devs.

I discovered this game from watching a youtube video and let me tell you some days I regret finding it, as I’ll constantly find myself committing to just an hour or an 1 hour more, just to go over. This games strength and its only issue is just how well it captures that sense of urgency, through the music, the likable characters, the atmosphere, exc. It is such a fun unique experience that I have rest myself countless times to be better for my little town, especially after I finally experienced my first real loss. And each time I do reset the game does a great job making it feel like a new unique experience through seemingly randomizing all the random ‘messy’ stuff to clear and where your trees are all located within your home space. I actually rest once saying naww… rng screwed me I want less trees up top to build my rough usual plans. Your luck in the mine chests and the mine layout changing also adds to an almost rouge-like feel in each run, that makes restarting enjoyable and still fun. This game has soo much content already to do and enjoy, that my current run I’ve been playing for days. I recall my first ending a win on baby mode to test the waters, taking me days as well. So there is plenty here already, which is why I’m so excited and shocked there’s more to come within the Year 2, they plan to release. As I said above the only complaint if you could call it that, as it’s more my own problem, is just how hard it is to break away from it, as I constantly find myself saying one more thing before I save and exit. Otherwise I could not recommend this game enough, my father who grew up in the 80’s I shared this game with and he also finds himself sucked in and totally invested, playing until 2am some nights. He said it reminded him of some of the games of his days. My 9 and 6 year old are totally invested in my village as they watch me play, and have tried to play their own which has been great to see as it has them to practice reading as they desperately want to follow everything the characters say. So if you're considering this game I’d say do it, especially during its development these lovely folks fully deserve the $15 bucks they currently have it set at.

Not for gentle souls, unless you can face/endure certain themes. It's called Grimshire for a reason. But if you want to be the lifeline of a village, taking on that burden/responsibility and carrying it using your farming/logistic prowess, this is the game for you. There are deadlines and consequences of failing to feed the village too many times, or if certain town projects fail. The villagers (especially the bright young adults) will do something reckless to compensate, and it often ends poorly. Personally, I *love* this game. Being rich and successful can be fun, but it's this kind of purpose that drives me. The gameplay is Harvest Moon-like, but the vibe is completely different. Rune Factory also more or less gives you a purpose, but in this one, you're definitely not some sort of sword-wielding hero wizard farmer. You're just a farmer. (With a decent amount of customization. Some villagers will recognize your species too. Try be a Dog/canine if you want to see it for sure.) Also obvious bonus point for furry/anthro characters, at least if you're like me. Some are romancable, but nothing is implemented yet, as of Update v0.29.2. As of this review, there's only 1 in-game year of gameplay (still early access), but it still provided me with roughly 49 hours of play time. (And it's not impossible that I'll play it again from start and do better, and maybe actually make my farm look nice.) The gameplay is up to the Harvest Moon standard (at least the old school ones, the only ones I'm familiar with). The controls can be a bit finicky at times... Actually, there's a demo, so you're encouraged to just try it yourself, if the concept intrigues you enough. I actually encountered a bit choppiness at the beginning (where the screen freezes for a second when walking and your character is suddenly tiles ahead). I no longer experience it later on, but it's possible that changing the settings to fullscreen or something fixed it. Might have to quit and restart the game first. Also just to save some frustrations: When chopping trees, make sure to remove the stumps too, *right away*. Trees in the village will regrow on their own (no planting needed), but you *must* remove the stump. I believe there's some sort of bug that turns saplings into stumps if you leave the stump alone and remove them later. For trees in your farm, you'll have to replant them using a seed/nut. AFAIK, the stumps do not regrow. There's no reason to keep stumps around. (Unless you really like the deforestation look or something.)

This is just a maybe. There is a lot done well here but there are also a lot of things done badly or half arsed. If I am reading the messaging from the devs correctly they plan to work on year 2 events then release 1.0. If they do this without addressing some of the core game mechanics this will be a firm no. Lets start with some of they stuff that is great. The idea of a story and events to add interest to the usual farming sim is executed brilliantly. It gives the game purpose. The foraging system is the best I have ever seen in a game. The taming and keeping of animals isnt perfect but its is fun. The crops not being tied to the season also works well and adds complexity. There is a lot of game in here for the price point even with just a single year to play. Now some of the not so good bits. The mines are boring and apart from the pick axe and the axe there doesn’t seem to be much point in spending time collecting ore, processing and upgrading tools. Ore takes far too long to process. In fact they currently have a one fix fits all with machines and almost everything takes 1 game hour. Taking of machines you cant cover your driers which means that drying food to preserve often takes many days. That gets boring real quick. All of these games have a collector or museum that asks you to get them samples. Next to no thought has been put into this system in this game. Its just a chest you dump things in and a quest for progress. To make it worse a lot of important tech is tied to this system. You have to collect to unlock. Festivals are utterly pointless. Nothing happens during them and they steal time from you. Time is the single most important commodity in this game because you have time limited goals. IMO there are lot of other things that are half baked and need worked on.

Why can I simply not eat the smaller villagers? I laughed, I cried, I cried, still crying, 10/10

coolio game

This is NOT a normal farming game