The magical Fae Farm does many things better than other farming simulators, but love is neglected

MeinMMO editor Jasmin feels most at home in the world of farming simulators. So it’s no wonder that the colorful Fae Farm on Steam immediately caught their attention. After eight chapters and a little over 25 hours of play, she can tell you why she was convinced by the fairy world and what weaknesses there are.

Farming simulators have been experiencing a real boom in recent years. With pioneers like Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley and Story of Seasons, newcomers have a hard time asserting themselves against the giants of the genre.

Fae Farm is one of the games that stands out from the crowd. The title immediately captivated me with its first trailers: Instead of dry, everyday farm life, there is magic, fairies and friendship.

Fae Farm immediately piqued my interest, especially when it came to optics. So I couldn’t avoid testing the game. I had a lot of fun diving into the game world, but there were a few weaknesses that dragged me out of the immersion of the fairy world.

See for yourself in the trailer for Fae Farm:

Cute, cute, Fae Farm

At the beginning of Fae Farm we are warmly welcomed to Azoria. As soon as we arrive, we get a piece of land and can do what we can do in other farming simulations.

With our character we create fields and plant vegetables, fruits and flowers. From raw materials that we find in nature and in the dungeon on the beach, we craft different furniture or produce resources with which we can, for example, unlock fast travel points.

The first third of the game runs roughly as we know it from many other farming simulators. But as soon as we reach the fourth chapter, a whole new world opens up for us: the realm of the fairies.

The realm of the fairies can be entered through a magical portal through which dangerous miasma flows. It’s up to us to rid the world of the toxic gas. Once we have succeeded, the inhabitants of the fairy world will return.

And this is where the real start of the game begins for me. I was completely fascinated by the fairy world and couldn’t get enough of the bright colors. Imagine a beautiful fairytale kingdom with mythical creatures and magical plants – that’s exactly what the fairy kingdom in Fae Farm looks like.

Instead of the plain rabbits and cows as stable animals, there are two other cute fairy creatures that we can keep in the stable. The “beetles” that we can hunt here are not normal insects either. The fairy world is full of blobs, more primitive fairy creatures and other cute creatures.

Instead of normal fir and oak trees, there are trees with purple trunks and crazy mushrooms that could come from an alien planet. Entering the fairy world is an overkill on the eyes that I totally enjoyed.

No wonder then that I quickly moved my headquarters to the realm of the fairies. The game lets us move into three different buildings, of which I have expanded the house in the fairy kingdom the furthest. Because this is where I felt most comfortable.

Even the residents look like I would have imagined them in a magical world. They all have pointed ears and wear fairy wings on their backs. The characters seem more complex and interesting than the people waiting in the rest of Azoria.

But the big trick is yet to come: when the fairy world is unlocked, we also get our own wings and can use them to perform a double jump. This allows you to explore the world even more freely.

And as if that wasn’t enough magic, there’s even a magic wand with which we can cast four different spells. Not only do they help us in battle, they even support us on the farm.

And I would have preferred a world like this for other farming simulations. It brings a certain freshness to the outdated genre and shows some innovations that other genre representatives can learn from.

The work does not have to be done alone

Another big advantage that not all farming simulations offer is the multiplayer aspect of Fae Farm. There is both a co-op and an online mode in which up to three other players can support us in the farm work.

One player is the host and makes his world available to the other players. The progress is only saved with the host.

But even if the multiplayer is a special feature, it lags behind the modes from other games.

When my colleague wanted to join my game world, he couldn’t use his character and ended up back in the character editor. So he wasn’t allowed to use his own character to visit me.

What remained, however, was the state of his equipment. I actually planned for my colleague to act as a slave and mine ores for me in the dungeons. But he wasn’t as advanced as me and could therefore only mine the cheapest of all ores. Annoying.

In Stardew Valley, for example, each player has their own hut and is counted as a full individual. This means that every player can, for example, marry an NPC and have children with him. Players can even marry each other.

Unfortunately, a guest player in Fae Farm does not have such a status. From the trailer, I was hoping that every player would be counted equally and could decide whether they could take their loot with them into their own world.

But despite all the criticism, I was happy that there was a multiplayer mode at all. The farming genre is ideal for several players to collect resources together in a world and go about everyday farming. Nevertheless, only a fraction offer this option.

With these three features, Fae Farm becomes the perfect fairytale vacation:

Love is one-sided

The biggest thing that disappointed me in Fae Farm is the relationship system. Love life is like in many other games: In order to conquer the heart of our true love, we have to talk to her every day and give her gifts.

Every now and then a little date springs up, but it ends up being very careless. Our date gives a monologue and either tells us what he thinks is great and why he is also interested in us. There are no events in which, for example, we are given several possible answers and thus get the feeling that we have conquered our loved one.

The everyday dialogues are also rather loveless. The characters usually have the same things to say, even if we’ve already married them.

The strangest thing is yet to come: After the wedding, our sweetheart doesn’t sleep in a double bed with us, but spends the night outside in a hammock in front of the house. Even outdated titles like Harvest Moon do this better, where our partner at least doesn’t have to spend the night outside in wind and weather.

In general, I noticed that the characters are only introduced casually and don’t have as strong a personality as in other titles. Would you like an example? One of the candidates we can choose as our great love is Argyle. He’s a nerd who has a thing for frogs. It hardly has any other unique selling points, which made it immediately uninteresting for me.

For example, in games like Rune Factory I really like that the characters have their own intro when introduced and sprites in dialogue windows. I get to know many of the characters better through my own quests and find out what problems they have to deal with in everyday life and what backgrounds they come from.

I don’t get that feeling at Fae Farm. All candidates have no character depth and are just characters who are supposed to make the game world look populated.

By the way, during my run I chose the fairy Pyria, who likes to read books and make depressive comments. She touched my heart at least a little.

Fae Farm is a magical game that lacks the magic of love