Grimshire

I feel like a lot of people will disregard this game thinking its just another farm sim with one gimmick to make it try to stand out, but they could not be more wrong. This is a completely fresh experience from the genre, where your primary goal is no longer "make money, get friendship, decorate farm". Instead, those goals are set aside for the primary objective of keeping the village alive. The game will keep you on your toes with disaster after disaster and force you to be flexible and prepare for all kinds of emergencies. It's stressful as Hell and a completely different feel from any other "cozy game" I've played... and I adore it. This is the farm sim for overachiever anxiety disorder girlies. Also Theo is my boy.

[h1]Farming Sim Where Everything Is As Bad As Your Anxiety Says It Is[/h1] I think my favourite thing about this game is that my anxiety actually worked with the storyline and not against it. Can things get worse? Yes. Always. As a longtime farming sim lover, I knew going in that Grimshire would be a fun take on a genre I already like. You play as an animal of your choice and you try to help a town survive the apocalypse. Each season comes with unique difficulties where the player must work with the villagers on town projects. As of writing this, Early Access stops at the end of Year 1. I do wish I had gone in knowing that I'd only be playing the first year. Other than that my biggest gripes come from things you'd expect in an early access game: small bugs, certain features remain when the associated character passes, difficulty with mining. However, there is much more that I enjoyed about the game than that I have to complain about. The story is well-written, the characters respond to the events as they happen and have unique dialogue associated with things changing within Grimshire. I found the endgame to be especially well-done; characters reference the dead, they respond with appropriate stress, [spoiler]and everyone loses it a bit when trapped together.[/spoiler] As well, I found the characters to be unique and I enjoyed seeing different characters express emotions in cut-scenes and I was invested in the characters relationships with each other. I found it fairly easy to get used to the mechanics. Farming, fishing, mining, and logging are all straight-forward. I do wish I would stop getting lost in the mines but that might be me more than the game. Looking forward to seeing what the devs come up with for year 2.

Just finished the first year and wow. What a ride. As a fair warning, this game has some dark and stressful moments. I knew this going into the game, but I wasn't entirely prepared for it. It's not like Stardew where you can take your time - everything is on a tight time limit, from obtaining enough food daily (and weekly) to some new challenge that tightens the squeeze. Save for Winter, it can be brutal. That said, the story and gameplay captured my interest and I blazed through it. I plan to play through again to do the other options to get the rest of the achievements, but I'm really looking forward to the next year (and full game).

Devs forgot that it's a video game and that you shouldn't be required to search steam discussions to determine if you've farted enough times before the sixth of June so that the cherry trees can produce enough fruits before some idiot from the village dies from feeding a lion sausages.

진짜 게임은 확실히 재미있는데 마을 사람들이 쓰레기 핵폐기물 짐짝같다. 대위기에 쳐했는데.. 업그레이드 비용 같은것도 따박따박 정가를 받고.. 어마어마한 대위기인데, 얘들은 위기의식이라는게 없다. 퀘스트들도 진짜 주인공을 하나 도와줄 생각도 없고 응애 훈제생선줘 응애 ㅇㅈㄹ 손까딱 움직이지를 않고 맨날 바에 모여서 술이나 쳐먹고 산으로 들로 산책나가는게 쥐어패버리고싶다. 이딴 쓰레기들과 로맨스, 연애라는 끔찍한 상상은 도대체 누가 한것일까?

This game is like Stardew Valley with high stakes. If you want to keep all the villagers safe, you must be efficient, balance your priorities, and always be making progress in resource production. This can be kind of stressful, but I couldn't stop playing anyway. The characters are unique and lovable, the mechanics are intuitive, and the gameplay loop is satisfying. This game is a gem.

I did not expect to fall as hard as I did for this game, but I had a really good time. Don't be fooled by the cosy aesthetics, the game is tough but fair. You need to pay attention and engage with all aspects of gameplay and you don't have the leniency of Stardew Valley where you can take it easy and do things at a casual pace (unless you select for a lower difficulty setting). The game will nudge you and let you know that it's time to upgrade your tools and start focusing on ranching, and if you choose to ignore those warnings then you'll have a stressful reality check waiting for you when the game throws you the next curveball. I really appreciate that you're more or less expected to fail some things the first time you play, it kills that need for perfectionism and I felt that it was a lot easier to engage with the narrative when your mistakes impact the plot without ruining your save file. The game also includes a lot of QoL updates from games like Stardew Valley, such as having a higher default walk speed, the locations being more inter-connected, being able to keep track of the location of the villagers and you can see when fish are in season. This makes you thankfully a lot less dependent on having a wiki page open while you play, as you don't have the luxury of wasting time on just finishing quests or filling out your collections. I also really appreciate that you can't accidentally re-water the same patch of dirt, making you waste less stamina. A lot of the perks you can get while leveling up are also really helpful and impact your gameplay a LOT. There is a really good balance between needing to do the basics (keep your crops alive to feed the village) and other side activities (mining, fishing, collecting specimen for research, upgrading tools). You NEED to do all of it, even if it doesn't seem important at first, and you will be rewarded with a lot of relief and convenience when you put in the effort to do so. Fill out your [strike]Pokédex[/strike] fish collection and donate every specimen you can find, you will need to get the rewards for farming and preserving food. Do all the optional quests, they will prepare you for the upcoming big quests that come with Consequences. Make an effort in expanding your irrigation as much and as early as you can, you will need it. Upgrade your pickaxe as soon and as often as you can, you will need it. Keep a steady source of building materials, you will need it. Get into ranching as soon as you can afford to, you will need it. Stock up on preserves and continue to expand your field of hay, you willl need it. Pay attention to when shops restock supplies and rotate where you sell off excess items because they all have a limited amount of money. The game thankfully doesn't revolve around money as much as many of its peers in this genre, but nevertheless, you will need it. The characters in the game are also great. Some of them get a bit bland and same-y and I initially had some trouble telling a couple of them apart, but they make the story a lot more engaging and enjoyable. Also, I super enjoy getting to pick what species you are. The character creation is fun and varied, and the different species perks are fun without throwing off the game balance. Right now the game is in Early Access so you can only play the first year, but you can get a solid 40 hours out of a single save file. It has great replay value as well, as soon as I finished my first year I immediately made a new save file to try again. And again. It's very compelling to learn what you could have done better, then try again with a more optimized playthrough. I definitely recommend starting out on a more lenient difficulty level the first time you play though, the game will be challenging enough on its own while you get your bearings.

This may be the most fun I've had since discovering Stardew or getting into the BG3. It's daunting because, well, the bad luck keeps coming and the stakes are high. I tried the third difficulty up for my first game, and it helped - and is one below the intended level. But yeah. This game wrecked havoc on my time and posture as only a good one can. Gameplay is very similar in many respects to the best of the small town farming sims, down to the nearly perfect balance despite it being in early access, but with calamity constantly unfolding. It works. I guess I need to try it again on harder mode now, though... and that I'm thinking about that tells you that the game is good.