Nothing could be better than a bit of farming fever. And for me, there’s been quite a bit of it over the last year. Whether with machines, magic, or dinosaurs, there’s a lot to enjoy with the life-farm sim genre. The sci-fi stylings of Lightyear Frontier from Frame Break is the next on that list for me, and it is another enjoyable one. Though it’s in early access, enough of the core is here that a great time can be had.
Starting the game, the opening cutscene sees a ship come in to make a drop-off at a planet. The drop-off being me and my mech. Which… wasn’t the best drop-off, considering I get chucked from the rear cargo hold with little time to make a landing. Cutscene over, I’ve been ejected from the mech, and a robotic voice is making contact. This is PIP-3R, the satellite orbiting the planet, who informs me it has been quite lonely until I arrived.
PIP-3R is the main voice of the game, providing helpful hints and a morning wake-up call. Out of my mech, I’m not exactly in any state to do farming. Fortunately, it’s not a long walk to find it. But, it is without its attachments. No tools means no farming. Just as well they were also dropped off, though scattered around this world. At present it’s not a huge world, even with the areas that need to be cleaned up, but it is large enough for what I’m here for.
A new life, away from what Earth has become. So upon finding my tools, I hunted down the nearest beach and put a tent there to mark my territory. Which soon expanded with a small farming plot and a few constructs. These constructs help to craft further resources from those I’ve already gathered. And soon enough, I have the upgrade depot to start making this mech a better piece of kit.
Across this world are several other areas. These areas have a specific tier of resources that require certain level of upgraded tools to remove the noxious weeds and slime that infect them. The next day upon clearing them, that area will be restored and its resources will have returned. A new tier of resources means even more things to craft, and access to more upgrades for the mech.
In terms of farming, each area will have a crop that grows. Using the harvesting tool, the seeds are pulled from them. Using the farming plots to plant the seeds, as long as they are watered, the crop will have grown in a few days. Using the harvesting tool again, this time the crop will be gathered along with the seeds. That crop can then be used to make oils. Or be sold.
What’s interesting with Lightyear Frontier is that money at present is a secondary objective. There is no reason to care about money, and in fact no way to earn it, at the start of the game. Once the landing pad for the travelling merchant is built, money enters the picture. What’s available to buy is cosmetics for the mech, new recipes for decorations, and seeds for crops that can’t be found on this planet. With the core loop focused on resources, the merchant can and often will be ignored on the quest to restore the land.
Lightyear Frontier is a very helpful game with its systems. Any craftable item can be added to the mission tracker so that the resources needed to craft are always on hand. A resource will also give a list of all known things it can be crafted into (or upgrades it can be used on). The controls to use the tools are always displayed, with easy access to the full list of them in the menu.
Other systems in play include the ruins in various areas. Finding all the artefacts at one will provide information on what that ruin once was. Other treasures also exist in these areas, such as bug fossils, whose only existence is to be found and sold. Animals exist in this world, though there’s not much that can be done with them at present. They can be fed individually to dig up resources, or fed at a nest to increase the amount of resources appearing at that area the next day.
Overall, this is a great start for Lightyear Frontier. The core of the game so far, restoring all the areas and finding out what mysteries await once you, is worked well to keep interest. This being a life-farm sim game, the pace you do that at it entirely your own. Though there is a day-night cycle, there’s no need to go to sleep to start the next day. It will cycle automatically once night transitions to day, allowing you to continue exactly where you were in the world.
The visuals look stunning, especially as daylight fades and the other nearby planets can be seen in the sky. Even back down on the planet, the colours are vibrant, with each area looking distinct in visual identity. It’s simply a joy to wander around, even without the mech to get close to the wildlife. I can easily give Lightyear Frontier a recommendation. Will be great to watch this one grow until it leave early access. And then beyond.
Images Taken From:
Lightyear Frontier | Xbox Series S
