Magic, fae creatures, crafting, adventure, and relationships abound in the world of Azoria and its surrounding areas. In this poor, small village, magic has been taking over, but not in a good way. Dangerous fumes are leaking into town, whirlpools are blocking Azoria’s trade income, mystical vines have been sprouting and injuring people — and now you’re stuck there too. In addition to being a relaxing cozy game where you build a farm, there’s a great deal of adventure to dive into in Fae Farm as well.
Customization
While I expected a few more customization options, there are still a good amount of options overall including a lot for inclusivity. The customization offers options for physical appearance, pronouns, skin tone, and cultural headwear. Regardless of which of the four body types you choose, you can select from one of three pronoun options — she/her, they/them, he/him — and these didn’t limit your relationships with NPCs. An unexpected option was heterochromia where players can select one color for the left eye and another for the right. You can make these realistic colors or even have fun with some purples, pinks, and more.
Once I got into the game, I expected more outfit choices, especially as I got into the Fae area and others. At this moment it seems there are only a handful available. There is a point where you get wings that allow you to air jump (or double jump) and you can get new wings, but the resources to get the other wing options are difficult to find.
Main Story
In the beginning, you find a message in a bottle calling you to an island where you’ll be given a free home. On the way there you run into whirlpools that destroy your ship but happen to wash up on the island you were headed for. The first person you talk to is the Mayor who sent the message, and she tells you that the island is in trouble and she hoped someone could help. There are magic vines that pop up and attack and block the townspeople from specific areas of Azoria and whirlpools that block their trade industry as well as other magic-related issues that pop up as you continue.
Through your introduction to Azoria, you learn how to harness magic to tackle these issues. Eventually, you meet the Wisp Mother who tells you she has creatures across the island that share her task of looking over the island but they have been struggling to keep it safe. It then becomes your mission to help her and her creatures get rid of the evil creeping into the village. With this setup of how you learn to craft as the story progresses, I found myself much more tuned in to the main story than I usually am with similar games.
As you follow the main quest line in Fae Farm, it will take you through all the stations, farming crops and flowers, crafting, cooking, home decor, and other elements of things you can focus on. Each mission in the first few chapters allows you to get comfortable with how to do the basic aspects of the game. There are many moving pieces and I felt like I had a much better handle of how everything works once I got through the first few quests. It was nice to have this be part of your game progress instead of living in a tutorial space, or trying to figure it out without guidance as I feel you do with other games like this.
However, I noticed farming seemed to be less of a focus for me in this for the plants. It was more something I did when I thought of it instead of a daily task. As for animal farming, I couldn’t help but keep my furry friends comfortable in their home and care for them daily, but the items they produced I typically sold as is, except for the rare occasion where I’d need some Cottontail cotton for a new home decor piece. The cooking and fishing were also something I did less of as I focused on the story.
Continuing beyond the teaching areas, you get into a unique story that opens up more pieces of the world with their own unique aesthetics. As you get further in, you will largely focus on getting through the dungeons to find the Wisp Mother’s creatures and the magical sources attacking Azoria. This will include mining to make seals, battling small dungeon monsters, and continuing through the doors until you reach the end. I found it easy to follow along with the story and enjoyed all the new characters you will meet as you go. The difficulty is a slow climb that the preparation in the quests appropriately levels you for but it can feel like a bit much of a grind to get through from time to time.
Relationships
A feature you don’t see often in farming sims is the ability to not only build romantic relationships with NPCs but also build friendships. Many characters have options to pursue friendship quests and romantic quests to build whatever kind of relationship with them you’d like. The classic gifting mechanism is also here but saves you the guesswork you typically have in farming sims by listing the specific item they want that day when you speak to them. I don’t usually focus on the relationship aspect of these games, but felt more inclined to here because of how much more streamlined and simple it was made in Fae Farm.
You’ll also see a description of each character as you talk to them next to their name that helps you understand the person’s vibe before you get in too deep and decide you don’t like it. This saves you time investment. I personally went for Pyria for a relationship because she had a look you didn’t find in anyone else and I enjoyed talking with her about natural disasters with her unique perspective of the beauty in them.
The date scenes are my favorite part of the romance aspect as they catch the awkwardness of the early stages of a relationship, the comfortability as you get more settled in, and the scenery on the dates is a beautiful part of the game. As for friendships, I made friends with anyone I could, but focused on Alaric, the town’s local wizard who teaches you magic, first. It’s probably a good thing to have the wizard on your side, right?
The only thing Fae Farm didn’t mention that caused me to miss some opportunities is that the friendship and relationship quests expire the next day, so you have to complete them the day you accept them. The downside to the friendships was that the only benefit it seemed to provide was an additional friendship quest you could count on almost daily for another random reward.
Related: Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Review
Other Cozy Features
As with many other farming simulation games Fae Farm has a home you can decorate with different furniture you can craft, animals you can raise, flowers to uncover, relationships to build, fish to catch, and meals to cook. Some other farming sims have felt to me that success involves finding a thing you enjoy doing most and sticking to that for money or experience. In Fae Farm, it felt much easier to focus on all the different aspects and they mostly go hand in hand in that nothing seemed to be siloed as it was useful in other areas. For example, there are several water areas as you’re exploring where there are fish to catch, so it didn’t feel like I had to go to a specific area away from the other things I was doing to catch fish to cook or sell.
Going along with having features all well mixed in, Fae Farm also saves you a lot of time through its pedestal feature. You can craft the necessary seal for pedestals in the main areas and once you apply them, you will be able to permanently fast-travel to this location for the rest of the game. It was particularly useful for trying to get through dungeons quickly. For games that are all about time management with a dedicated bedtime, this was very nice.
The home decoration aspect was my favorite by far. It makes me think of Animal Crossing: New Horizons with all of the wallpapers, decor, and functionality of setting up your home. While it doesn’t do much beyond one main quest to do this, it is really fun to wake up to a home specially crafted in your style as you start each new day and your decor helps to regenerate your meters. It is simple and there are many wallpapers, furniture pieces, and flooring you can craft. Unfortunately, although there are many beautiful window options and some cute decor for the walls, you’re limited in the wall decor space.
Multiplayer Fae Farm
If you’re hoping to play Fae Farm with others, you may want to plan to start a separate world to play with your friends. As you have others join, they begin at level one and the progress is not synced up. The tools and items they have in their world will not carry over and all resources and money will be shared. I’d recommend only playing this way when you have a place where you only play together so no one gets left behind. For groups who like to pursue relationships, you’ll have to act quickly in a group if you’re after the same character as it won’t restrict more than one person to trying to match with the character but once they’re married, they’re taken.
The Verdict
Fae Farm has all the main elements of a cozy farming simulator that you’d expect and follows the formula pretty well. Where it stands out is in the cute story, direct relationship building approach, and easy entry into the game. The story progressing your adventure as well as your knowledge was a huge draw for me and it’s a mystical, beautiful journey. The many elements don’t feel so overwhelming and it would be easy for those new to the genre to learn.
I do wish the multiplayer worked a little differently for the more casual player and had hoped for some more basic customization choices like hairstyles and outfits. I’m not sure this is a game you’d play again after completing the story unless you’re interested in pursuing a new relationship as the story and other elements won’t change from play to play. But overall, this is a relaxing and magical game that will last you many hours if you like to build up your area and is worth a play.
