Upon first seeing Fae Farm, it got me interested. A magical farming world would do that. Those magical elements were shown to help in tending the farm and exploration of this world, so it was certainly going to be a core part of the experience. As such, it became one that I wanted to get stuck into. Get invested with. Has Phoenix Labs managed to hook me with their magic and farming? I’d say Fae Farm has truly cast a love spell my way.

To start, you answer a call for help from a message in a bottle, sailing to the island of Azoria. The cutscene ends with you ending up stranded at the port of Azoria, having been unable to safely make it through the whirlpools that surround the island. The cutscenes are shown with painted stills that look lovely. There’s a nice charm to them, just as with the game’s visual style that almost seems to replicate the painted style of those cutscenes in 3D.

The first chapter of the story sees the mayor of Azoria introduce herself and get you settled into life on the island. That includes meeting a few of the townsfolk who reside here. The mayor also gives you access to the farm, introducing the easy-to-use farming and crafting mechanics behind the game. Tools will autoswap depending on the situation, so a log will always be cut by an axe while a crop will always be watered by the watering can.

There’s a lot of things that can be crafted, with various sections sorting everything into understandable categories. Everything that can be used for crafting outside of what is available in the menus – such as food, potions, and gem polishing – are all contained within one, while décor items all have their own section. Inside of the house, a new set of décor items become available. These are the cosy décor items, so named because they have benefits.

Three types of cosy décor items exist, with each type increasing either your health, energy, or mana. There are limitations to stop you from abusing it and becoming overpowered, such as only unique items placed in the house granting a bonus, along with a maximum limit on the bonuses you are granted. Non-cosy décor items can also be placed in the house, so you aren’t restricted in personalisation options.

With the first day done, the second chapter begins, and you are left to do things your own way. Following the story helps unlock more things, so it is wise to continue interacting with it. Otherwise, several core resources will be unavailable to you. Early on you’ll gain access to the Saltwater Mine, which gives the first few ore types and gems. These help to increase the options open to you on the farm, being used for most of the crafting stations.

A few chapters in, the real magic becomes available to you, with potion crafting, access to wings, and spells for your magic staff. A new, more magical area also opens up, bringing with it magical resources needed for even more crafting options. Those wings grant magical power, such as the first set you are given granting an air jump that will extend the height and length of your jumps. The vortex spell for your magic staff comes in handy for harvesting the fields of grown crops.

Within the mines are creatures called Jumbles, objects infused with magic that has brought them to life. They were all locked up in the mines, which is why no-one dares to go in them. So you, with your magic staff, will have to fight them as you venture deeper into the mines collecting resources. That three-hit combo you perform with the staff is effective, whether doing so on the ground or in the air.

The map screen shows where everyone is at present, with an indicator alerting you to any quests in that area. Selecting the area in question brings up a list of who is there, with an indicator for every person on whether they have a quest. You can then track that person to find their exact location.

Such comes in real handy even if the town is a small one. While most will stay in a single position (usually those who have a shop), others will be roaming around with their position likely changing even in the small amount of time you’ve been heading to them. As such, the tracker avoids the need to open the map more than once when hunting for them. But you’ll likely only be tracking them down for quests, as the focus of their writing seems to have been on them.

For quests, a small bit of their personality shines through. They feel like individuals with their quest chat. With general chatting, there seems to be a limited amount of lines these people can say, and several of them seem to be shared across multiple people. Even though there is a relationships tab to track how friendly you are with the townsfolk (or attracted to with the romance options), there seems little reason to engage. There seems to be no benefit to it, and you seem to become friendly with them way too easily.

Farming can also be a bit jittery with the autoswap of tools, as despite there being an indicator showing which tile you’ll be interacting with, the game will sometimes ignore that. The wrong rock hit in the mine, accidentally harvesting a crop instead of watering another tile (as crops will grow another stage instantly when watered). And even animals of your farm can get in the way at times, with petting them taking priority over everything else.

Despite those niggles, this is a great game. Fae Farm has everything that makes a great life-farm sim in the cycle of farm management. Feeding into the self-set goals to better your farm and progress that main story. That story will keep you going to unlock even more possibilities of exploration and expansion. As far as life-farm sims go, this is a fun and magical experience that I can easily recommend to all fans of the genre. Unless you want to feel a connection to those of the town where you reside.

Images Taken From:
Fae Farm | Nintendo Switch [Handheld]