Recent reviews by angel

I enjoy the game for what it offers but the egregious amount of DLC and the sudden price bump for various region is unacceptable, especially when the game is still very buggy as reported by multiple reviews/players.

The gameplay and the UI are very clunky at the moment and they haven't gotten improved ever since I bought the game. The only changes I saw to the UI is the constant update of the title screen, now updated to include advertisement to their DLC. You can also get extra advertisement for their DLC in the game if you chose to jump into the shipping bin gate.

The entire game very much feels like an incomplete port of a mobile game, I'd not be surprised to see the game on phone in the future with even more options for microtransactions.

It's a cute game with a really strong visual identity and some of the cutest character designs I've seen in farming sims. However, at this stage, I cannot recommend the game. If the developers make fixes during the Early Access that improve these problems, I'll be glad to change my reviews into a positive one, but as it is, the game needs some serious balancing to make it enjoyable.

The price in the game is abysmal for the seeds. Some of the seeds that reproduce new harvests every few days are multiple times much more expensive than the ones that let us harvest one-off. Tools like the fishing rod or the shovel require us to buy the most basic version from the store. You don't really get any indication that you need the shovel either. You also don't get any indication on which items would go to the museum from the get-go, my friend said there is a tiny checkbox that lets you know which is...? Both of us didn't get told anything about this during our playthrough, and even if it was told, it's very unfriendly game design to not make necessary information readily available.

The distance to travel between areas gets tedious really fast. With this running speed, it usually takes hours in game for the players to move between three zones. The maps shouldn't be this big when there are so many empty spaces in the different areas. Some of the crucial buildings are also in entirely different zones yet really far from each other. If you want to go to the beach right after the museum, it takes at least a minute of real time to get there.

This is a huge problem because the game time cycle of a day is only around 10 minutes or so. You can barely do anything before the day ends, forcing you to narrow down on exactly one activity you want to make good of. Not to mention the stamina is abysmally low, I usually run out of stamina fishing long before the day even ends. Adding to this is the fact crafting takes time from the actual day, locking your character in to stay there and craft while they craft instead of getting to run somewhere else to do other things.

The limited time also makes it very hard to engage with the characters, since I barely have time to interact with them. However, a friend who also plays at the same time points out that the characters feel very flat and incompetent. I feel the same about my experience playing because I try to talk with every character I come across. But they often feel very one-note and uninteresting, no one really has any turmoils or conflicts to draw you in, except maybe March whose delivery goes from annoyingly endearing to pretty corny really fast.

Conclusion: At this Early Access, FoM has a strong visual identity but it lacks any other identity that makes it stand out and fails at the basics of gameplay to make it engaging and user-friendly. If they can't improve the gameplay strongly, I at least suggest that they keep it simple while leaning into making the writing better, since that's what draws the majority of their fanbase in. Making the game more story-focused would help the game a lot in terms of solidifying its core identity.

Lovely style and presentable but ultimately fell victim to a poor execution that makes the whole game feels like a chore to go through.

I don't know about the game since I barely paid attention to it but the soundtrack is banger <3

Wake up babe the productivity tool ever has been released

...God?

Personal preference but I find it awkward playing the game at times. Grim's and MC's interests in each other don't have any natural draw beyond the basic physical attraction (from MC's side). A lot of the interactions feel inorganic, like they're trying to reinforce a dynamic but hiding it with the illusion of choices.

Since the focus is solely on each other without other characters to bounce off, we have to rely on the main two characters to make interesting situations. However, MC doesn't have much ongoing for them due to them being a player insert, which limited what the creator can do with the character since they can't tamper too much with the player's illusion. Meanwhile, Grim doesn't have that much ongoing with him or particular depth even with all of the reaper lore he has either.

I assume there'll be more the further I played on but so far on day 5, I don't really see why either of these people should be together. If I changed my mind once the game ends, I'll update the review but as is, I don't think I can genuinely recommend the game.

EDIT: Finished and I can't say my feeling has changed. If anything the confession makes the whole situation even more jarring. I'm sure the game has its own audience but for me, it just doesn't work particularly well in any area.

Amazing. Amazing. Gorgeous. Breathtaking. The game demonstrates how much Owlcat has grown as a studio over the year and as someone who had been supporting them since the days of Kingmaker, it's truly heartwarming to see.

Leave Haru to me, guys, I can fix him :')

Social anxiety is afraid of Herlock Sholmes.