Three Belated Video Game Reviews
I was a freshly divorced duck
I haven’t written much about video games in a while, but that is not for lack of playing them. I’ve fully embraced the Steam Deck I bought a year ago and consider gaming up there in my list of hobbies1. Since then, I’ve come to understand Erik’s urge to buy more games than he can possibly finish in his lifetime. When it comes to our family finances, we don’t budget; we just inform each other when we’re about to make a frivolous purchase. And I used to disapprove when Erik would want to buy a game because it was on sale or because maybe he’d get around to play it. But now, I get it. You’re not buying a game to play it necessarily; you’re buying the chance to play the game. Knowing that it’s there, in your Steam library, available to install at any time should the desire strike or the opportunity arise. So, I’ve since apologized to Erik for the hard time I’ve given him in the past, and our family now has two people buying more games than they can play instead of one.
Anyway, last year, in addition to completing Littlewood2, I finished three other games: Fae Farm, Ooblets, and Duck Detective: The Secret Salami. In hindsight, I could have written a “2024 in Video Games” blog post, but it didn’t occur to me. Not writing about them does bother me though, as if by not dedicating a post to them I am somehow doing them a disservice or leaving a loose end. That’s more a reflection of my own neuroses than anything else, but regardless, I am writing about them now.
Fae Farm
Played for 93 hours (85 in-game days)
Fae Farm experienced a controversial release due to its pricing, which put a damper on the hype it had garnered. I agree that it is not worth its retail price but enjoyed it for what I paid for it on sale ($44 for the Deluxe Edition). Fae Farm’s art style appeals to me, and in general, I liked the graphics and how it played on the Steam Deck, game mechanics (including some quality of life features such as automatic tool selection, infinite storage, and adjustable day length), freedom of movement, and overall gameplay loop. The loop is relatively standard for a cozy farming sim and consists of farming, ranching, fishing and critter catching, foraging, crafting and decorating, exploring dungeons and mining, and fulfilling NPC quests.
I found the three dungeons to be appropriately challenging, though more experienced players will likely consider them too easy. Fae Farm has surprisingly complex flower- and animal-breeding systems. I got relatively into breeding flowers but found the animal breeding to be too much of a hassle to explore very much. Another big feature of Fae Farm is that eventually, you gain access to a total of three farms. This will really appeal to players who enjoy decorating. I like some decorating but find the complete freedom overwhelming and daunting. But for those who like it, they will appreciate the variety of furniture, color palettes, and other customization options.
As many reviews have harped on, the NPCs and relationship mechanics in Fae Farm are quite shallow—to the point that I quickly stopped talking to NPCs altogether. Although fleshed-out relationships are a feature I normally want, it was also liberating to just ignore everyone and do my own thing. That, along with the negative sentiment surrounding the release, are the primary critiques of the game. Two DLCs were released, both of which were included in the Deluxe Edition. For the most part, they were just fine. The second DLC introduced more dungeon-like areas, but by the time that update came out, I was pretty much done with the game. And it seems like Fae Farm will not be receiving further substantial updates; the developer, Phoenix Labs, laid off a large number of employees earlier this year.
Overall, I think Fae Farm is a cozy farming sim that, while polished, doesn’t bring anything new to the table. It is a good game for newcomers to the genre, but the price is hard to justify unless it is on steep sale.
Ooblets
Played for 61+ hours (86 in-game days)
Ooblets is, in short, delightful. In more words, it is a wholesome, whimsical game that combines farming with creature collection and combat. Except the battles are dance battles, because of course. It is clear that Glumberland, the indie game studio behind Ooblets, had a lot of fun creating it, from the silly item names (e.g. Fartichoke plants, Beanjuice aka coffee, and Dribbly Can) to irreverent, bordering on fourth wall-breaking dialogue. The game backs up its cutesy art style and sly humor with a boppy soundtrack, solid—albeit straightforward—plot, good-sized world, and plentiful variety of crops and titular Ooblets. The dance battles are easy to get the hang of, but there is also some room for strategy and creativity. And, even after you’ve completed the plot, there is incentive to continue playing so you can collect all the variations of Ooblets, including the rare, shiny versions, called Gleamies.
Ooblets even includes some retro-style arcade games in one in-world location. As part of the plot, you need to achieve the high score on all six machines. There is the option of paying an NPC to hack into the software and put your name at the top of scoreboard, but I went about it the honest way. One of the mini games was particularly tricky, and I even roped Erik into playing a few rounds for me, though I think in the end I was the one who got the high score. I don’t have any serious critiques for Ooblets. I think it’s a lovely game and I had a lot of fun playing it. At some point, though, despite my incomplete Ooblet almanac, I was ready to move on.
Duck Detective: The Secret Salami
Played for 2.5 hours
Most of the video games I play have in-game seasons and days and can take me tens of hours to finish (see above). But Duck Detective: The Secret Salami is a little indie game that appeared in a cozy game roundup video on YouTube I watched. It caught my eye and I later bought it when I saw it on sale. Okay, what mostly caught my eye was the fact that you play as the Duck Detective, a recently-divorced duck with an unexpectedly serious and gravelly voice who really needs to crack (quack?) some cases in order to make ends meet. This short and sweet, fully voice-acted game focuses on one such case: that of a missing salami. It is your job to interview suspects, poke around for clues, and make deducktions (yes, that’s how it’s spelled in the game). It was lighthearted and fun and I also had to think a little bit. A second installment, Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping, is coming out later this month!
Other current entries include stationery, fountain pens, romance novels, and this blog.
Whose solo developer just wrapped a successful Kickstarter for Monsterpatch, a love letter to retro monster collecting games, that I backed