Verdant Village

This game is AMAZING. The pacing is whatever you make it, the quests are fun and not too difficult, and I absolutely love the music and NPCs in this game. It runs in a similar vein to Stardew Valley, but I feel it is stronger in points where Stardew Valley is weaker. I like the characters much better and the world is much, much bigger than Stardew Valley, which I always found frustrating. The cost is about average for an early access game at about $15 USD as of right now. I've seen early access games selling for $25 USD (looking at you, Sun Haven) that were not nearly as smooth or complete as Verdant Village, so don't let the price throw you off. I will note that there are several sections that aren't open yet. This game is early access, so that's no surprise. There are a few bugs - the background music comes on and off, sometimes there are glitches in the visuals, etc. I figure this game is maybe 50-70% finished? The regions that are open in-game don't seem to have many bugs to me, so what we do have is a developer that has spent time making sure what is available to the players is as good as possible. Some devs rush to put out all the content in early access and as a result the players get buggy, awkward sections that need tons of patches. That's not the case here. This is clearly a labor of love. Now, onto the pros and cons. Some spoilers ahead ..................................... Pros: - The NPCs. They have relatively unique personalities and the dialogue has made me outright laugh a few times. It's rare a game can make me do that. - Background music. 'Nuff said. - It is easy to perform tasks such as mining, growing crops, etc, though a bit tedious. - It is easy to forage, which is the fastest way to make money in the beginning. - The art is nice (I love pixel graphics) - The quests are interesting and not overly difficult. I will say you can get beginner quests and what I'd call intermediate or harder quests whenever you want, so sometimes the quest will ask for things you won't know how to do for quite a while. The benefit is that there's no time limit! If it takes you several days in-game to complete the task or quest, you still get the benefits. - Cons: - It is a little hard to figure out what to do, especially in the beginning of the game - there's not a ton of direction from the tutorials. I had to go to the wiki page to figure out some key things, like how to get a fishing rod. I figure this will get improved with time and updates. For right now, the lack of direction in a quest-based game is a major con for me. - Not a ton of storage either - you get one chest with about 10 slots, and your inventory fills up fast in this game. It costs about 30 wood or so to make a new chest, and wood plus iron bars for the bigger chest (20 slots). These cost 100 gold and 200 gold, respectively. However, it is easy to make money in this game via foraging, so this isn't an insane cost. - The map. While it shows location names, where you are, etc, the only map we have is the world map. The world in this game is huge, and very detailed. I think it would be useful to have the big world map and then separate maps for each region (ex. Amberglen). It can also be awkward finding entrances and exits in regions (not always clear). - Your stamina decreases insanely fast, faster than any game I have ever played. You need meals, snacks, etc or you have to sleep. It can be really annoying, especially in the mines when you have these stamina suckers that just take out your stamina point by point until you find them and turn them off. Overall, I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys farming simulators similar to Stardew Valley, Sun Haven, Kynseed, etc. If the early access is this good, I can't wait to see what the full-release of the game will bring!

After playing the demo for a day, I bought the full game despite typically avoiding Early Access because a) I really enjoyed the demo and b) I appreciate the frequent updates from the developer, including engaging with the Steam community via the discussion board. As a long-time Harvest Moon player, I've played quite a few games in this genre, including Stardew, Kynseed, Story of Seasons, etc.. While there are echos of these other games in Verdant Village, it does have its own unique feel and I think especially as more features are implemented, it will continue to gain its own identity. In addition to the usual farming, foraging, fishing, and mining, there is also alchemy, archaeology, and hunting. I particularly want to give props to the fishing system/mini game as fishing is usually my least favorite activity. The mini game has just enough interaction to be more enjoyable than 'cast and click' but isn't frustrating, like games that require you to hit the correct timing or lose the fish. There's lots to do, lots to explore, and much more planned as the game continues development. If you aren't sure, definitely give the demo a try.

Love this game. It's got a good start and looks to have more to come later. I've played for hours without realising.

Amazing game with huge potential. The progression is smooth & not too grindy. Plus, unlike most game of this type, you don't just drop unconscious at midnight & get dragged to your bed in the morning with a medical bill & stamina damage. You can keep playing till your actual stamina bar runs out & needs a good night sleep. Than you can chose how long you want to rest! The play hours just keep passing by, I'm having a blast & it's still only in early access. Add to that that the DEV is quick to answer & fix any bugs reported quickly.

i love this game a lot really fun to play i can't wait 4 more

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Dev made promises and then backed out of them and hasnt updated the game in 3 years

Very good game !

I really have been enjoying playing Verdant Village! It is fun to go around and discover things within the game. I did have the game freeze on me twice when opening my map today. I'm not sure why. It was disappointing because I had to shut down completely and restart to fix. Overall though, I have really been enjoying the game, and I look forward to continuing to play. Thank you so much for all your hard work!!!

honestly just a charming expirience