Forest Spirit
by Aethyna
Nov 17, 2023 |
1
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37
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0
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8
rate
Genres:
SimulationGraphics:
2DLabels:
Pixel Art , Life Sim , Crafting , FarmPlatforms:
Featuring nostalgic JRPG-style pixel art, Forest Spirit is a 2D life simulation game where you play as a city-dweller who is tired of their job in the city and decides to drop everything to make a living in the countryside. Foster relationships with the locals, learn and hone new skills, and grow your farm!
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Summary
Featuring nostalgic JRPG-style pixel art, Forest Spirit is a 2D life simulation game where you play as a city-dweller who is tired of their job in the city and decides to drop everything to make a living in the countryside. Grow your relationships with the locals, learn and hone new skills, and turn your humble makeshift farm into a proper one in this quaint life sim!
Plotline
You start off as a city-dweller stuck at a dead-end job. That all changed when a weird pelican - or is it a seagull? - landed on your office window, and you realized that it could actually speak human language. Of course, your boss caught you “slacking off” and decided to fire you.
With nothing else to lose, you’ve packed up a tent, a sleeping bag, and some supplies to make a fire, and moved to the countryside with nothing else but the clothes on your back. Little did you know that your plot of land isn’t as isolated as you’d hoped. It is actually adjacent to a small town with plenty of townsfolk who are more than happy to help you with your goal of setting up a proper farm… that is, if you can help them in return.
There’s also a mystery brewing in the area. A gaunt fellow wearing noble regalia approached you, self-proclaiming as the king of the lands. He doesn’t seem to like you very much and is determined to chase you away with the help of his slime minions.
The game even has some environmental conservation undertones, which you'll quickly find out once you see the factory in town that is churning out waste and pumping it into the river, and receive the first quest from the very same talking bird who got you fired from your job in the first place.
Gameplay
Before you start, the game will have you create your character first. There are many options here, and the colors available are astounding for an indie title.
As a life sim, there’s plenty to do in this game as long as you’ve got the right tools. You won’t get your starter tools right from the beginning. Instead, you’re expected to introduce yourself to the locals in the nearby town. Some of them may have quests for you that will require you to gather certain resources, like wood (from trees), hay (from grass), and stone. This is when they will give you the tools for the job.
There’s no durability in this game, so the tools can essentially last forever, but naturally, you can upgrade them to get better versions so as to make gathering resources a lot faster. You’ll also get to catch fish here. Fishing involves a simple mini-game where the trick is to keep clicking the mouse button to keep the indicator within the green or yellow zones on the meter. There are even animals that you can rear at your farm, too!
Turning in quests will help you level up your relationship with the many characters in the game. Aside from turning them in as quest items, raw resources can also be used to craft a variety of other items, including cooking the fish you’ve caught over the bonfire to get more nutritious food.
Interestingly though, the number of resources needed can be quite shocking at first… that is, until you realize that by performing certain tasks repeatedly, such as chopping down trees, you’ll level up that particular skill. The more you level up a skill, the more efficient you are at the task, allowing you to, for example, gain more wood per tree felled.
Although you can get most of the resources you need above the surface, there are some, like coal, that require you to venture deep into the caves. There are multiple levels in the cave system that you can descend to, each of them filled with hostile creatures that will attack you on sight. However, I’ve found out that you can simply run past them if you don’t want to engage them in a fight, allowing you to quickly get to a level where the first boss awaits.
Boss fights are fairly simple here. You just need to learn the boss’ attack pattern and react accordingly, be it running away from anything dangerous or running towards the boss to land a quick few blows before dodging away from a retaliatory attack. Timing is important here, and much like in a souls-like game, you don’t want to be too greedy and try to squeeze in too many hits within that narrow window where you can actually harm the boss without getting any damage in return.
As fun as the game may be, Forest Spirit starts off quite grindy, requiring plenty of “resource-farming” just to craft a single item. Although this grind markedly eases off as you level up the corresponding skills, this start may actually put some players off the game.
There’s also no map in this game, which makes it crucial for you to remember which path leads to where. The NPCs in this game do move around as well, but even without a map, I am still able to quite reliably find them wandering around town, except for the witch, of course, since she lives on the outskirts of town, and am able to complete my quests without having to put in too much time just to find the correct quest giver.
I have another bone to pick with this game – why can’t I just click and hold my mouse button to, for instance, continuously hit a tree until it fell? Instead, the game requires me to click my left mouse button repeatedly. This clicker-like aspect frankly makes the resource-gathering part of the game more tedious than needed.
Graphics/ Sound
Forest Spirit comes with a gorgeous pixel art that reminisces of old-school JRPGs. The adorable sprites are all very detailed and varied enough so you won’t confuse one character for another. In terms of sound, the game opts to focus on ambiance, offering the relaxing sounds of nature, along with sound effects like the sound of your character's footsteps as he/she is running about, for you to enjoy as you toil away at your farm, clearing stones, grasses, and trees, while tending to your crops.
Conclusion
All in all, Forest Spirit is a cozy and fun, retro-style life sim where not only will you be trying to set up a proper farm and all, but you’ll also get to explore a gorgeous pixel countryside, craft a variety of items, and even foster relationships with the locals in the neighboring town. The game may start out somewhat grindy at first, but as you level up your skills, you’ll quickly be able to amass tons of resources, enough for you to build and craft anything you’d like. It's definitely a game worth checking out if you’re a fan of cozy farming-driven life sims!
That said, the game is still in early access, and there are some aspects of the game that may require some improvement, such as having to click less to gather resources. This is something that the developers can take note of when moving forward with Forest Spirit’s development towards its launch.
Forest Spirit Blog
New Game Added: Forest Spirit
by Aethyna
Nov 17, 2023
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