Grimshire

Most farming games I play, I can go "if you like cozy farming games like Stardew Valley, you'll like this! Here's what's different, here's what's bad, etc". This is not like one of those games. This game has stakes. It is a cozy farming game masquerading as psychological horror - or psychological horror as cozy farming - or... there's definitely a psychological horror aspect to it. Cute animal inhabitants that speak Animalese, like Animal Crossing villagers (which, due to my obsession with Animal Crossing, I find EXTREMELY charming to me). The villagers are all very lovely in my opinion and I adore all of them. They can also die. Death is a Thing in this game, and it WILL happen. Your second day in game someone dies. The beginning starts with the capital, your home, being destroyed. It sets in that this is a darker, more serious game. And Then It Gets Worse. But it's fun. It has the gameplay loop of most farming sims: farming/automating farming/making better food interspaced with foraging and mining. You can't (or shouldn't) sell your food, as you'll need that to help keep your friends and neighbors. Alive. In general. But you can sell other things! This is a game where it's actually bad to hoard (anything except unperishable food, which food that lasts FOREVER is extremely important in this game. Hoard the food that never perishes. Hoard it SO hard). ALSO hoard copper, iron, and nickel. You will need these. You will need SO MUCH of these. It is stressful but fun. I'm in early summer and I've heard that only the first year is finished so far, but it's an early access game and so far the content is good. DO NOT play this like a typical farming sim. Prioritize optimization. Easier difficulties allow mistakes, but if you're playing 'Grim' or harder you need to pull out your spreadsheets. A few issues: - I do NOT have enough coal to keep up with cooking all my ores. I mine for more coal and get a bunch more ores. There needs to be more coal & more sources of coal. - I play with a mix of mouse and keyboard. There are sometimes glitches and weird things that happen, especially in the mines (aiming gets... funky). You ARE warned about this in the mines at least though, so it did not take me by surprise. They're Working On It. - You are not told when you will pass out. You just pass out suddenly. It happens at midnight. The time DOES start to flash red, but it took me by surprise the first time, because I'm used to having some wiggle room past that midnight deadline. On the other hand, I wasn't punished for it, so eh? Things I like: - seasonal change is gradual. This is nice aesthetically and also nice with food. Just make sure you're paying attention to dates and times - I lost about 3 carrots to summer. :( - Food spoils. This makes the game harder, but I like the realism of it. And it makes food that DOESN'T spoil super duper valuable - Herbivores can eat meat in a pinch and carnivores can eat plants in a pinch. This is realistic and fun and I Like It. - I LOVE all the NPCs. They are amazing. My favorites are Jack and Poppy, the two children. Every time I dialogue with them I end up smiling (except when an Event happens). There are a few characters that I can see bugging some people, so taking "all the NPCs are great!" with a grain of salt (Theo, for example). There are also mods, but it's a bit complicated to mod (requiring the BepInEx plugin & a few other things) and without very many mods to choose from. It's plenty playable WITHOUT mods, but I'm at the point where it's more stressful than fun so I've grabbed some mods to help bring it back into the fun zone for myself. YMMV.