Fae Farm Preview – Preview

Phoenix Labs shared with us a playable demo of Fae Farm during Summer Games Fest. The life sim looks to toe a line between farm management, relationship building, and dungeon crawling with a cutesy art style that suits the whimsical nature of the game.

In some ways, the word “farm” in the title is a bit of a misnomer. In our time playing the demo, very little farming was done, and it seemed mostly in service of other things. The crops were in square grids, and tending them required a spell that shot water in an area-of-effect spread. Doing your chores yields experience points.

The three dungeons are lighthearted affairs with enemies called Jumbles that, within the playtest session, were not difficult to handle. Dungeons have many, many floors with not only Jumbles but also minerals and other resources that can be collected. Some smart features include auto selecting the right tool needed for the action you’re trying to perform. For example, no scrolling between items is necessary, and it’ll change over to the pickaxe if mining a resource or the magic staff if fending off Jumbles. This feature keeps players from having to pause the action, which can interrupt the flow of dungeon crawling. Each floor also has a signpost displaying the resources you can find and the likelihood of them dropping. Most of the systems at play do serve the dungeon-crawling aspect of the experience, but fans of farming, home customization, and exploration will find something to do.

Another big piece of the experience is customizing and decorating your homes. Players can have up to three abodes to fashion with decorations and furniture. Each piece of furniture has several sections which can be individually color coded. This also serves the dungeon crawling, as the decorations each have a stat boost attached to them. For your primary house, a limited number of slots can be filled to affix those boosts. You can also find recipes along the way for furniture to decorate your home with or consumable items that can assist in combat. For example, you can make an invisibility potion that grants stealth if fighting isn’t your cup of tea.

Like any good farm sim, there’s a hefty bit of relationship building and romance options. You can also date and marry any of the folks in town. Small missions like finding certain items are scattered through a larger map, encouraging exploration. Fast travel locations cut down the time it takes to get across the map, and you can pin NPCs if, for instance, you’re wanting to know where the quest giver is.

Fae Farm is focused on easing in the player to the life sim genre in a way that is approachable to just about anyone, and seems to have the systems revolve largely around fashion design and dungeon crawling. This cozy game sprouts up on Nintendo Switch on September 8.