- Relaxing, engaging, and polished gameplay experience.
- Appealing and nostalgic art style.
- Engaging and dynamic NPC interactions.
- Extensive and accessible character customization.
- In-game days feel too short.
- Frequent crashes and technical issues.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 97% · Negative 3%. Score: 3 / 100
Positives:
- The game offers a relaxing and engaging experience with a well-executed core gameplay loop, streamlined mechanics, and a wealth of content, even in early access. It improves upon familiar farming sim elements, drawing comparisons to Stardew Valley while establishing its own unique identity with quality-of-life features and a balanced approach to gameplay.
- The game features a visually appealing art style, often described as cute and reminiscent of 90s anime, with detailed character designs and animations. This aesthetic contributes significantly to the game's overall charm and immersive atmosphere.
- The game features well-developed characters with extensive and dynamic dialogue that responds to player actions and events, creating a lively and immersive community. NPCs have unique personalities and routines, making interactions feel meaningful and fresh.
- The game offers extensive and accessible character customization options, including the ability to change appearance, pronouns, and outfits at any time. This allows for player expression and personalization without limitations.
- The game emphasizes community building and town restoration, providing a compelling main storyline and a sense of purpose beyond individual farm management. The narrative and character interactions are well-developed, creating a strong sense of belonging and investment in the town's progress.
Negatives:
- The game suffers from technical issues, including frequent crashes, lag, and freezes. These issues can lead to lost progress and disrupt the gameplay experience. Many reviewers mention these problems are likely due to the game's early access status and hope for improvements in future updates.
- Many reviewers feel in-game days are too short, creating a rushed experience. This is exacerbated by a large map, slow character movement, and limited fast travel. Players struggle to balance farming, socializing, mining, and questing within the time constraints, leading to stress and the feeling of missing out on content.
- Fishing is tedious and unbalanced, with high stamina costs, slow leveling, and low profitability. Mining is also frustrating due to stamina depletion, low ore drop rates, and limited inventory space. These issues make it difficult to progress in these activities and acquire necessary resources.
- The game is in early access, leading to missing content, features, and language support. Reviewers note the absence of multiplayer, romance options, and translations for various languages. The game also lacks polish and optimization, which is expected for an unfinished product.
- Reviewers find inventory management cumbersome due to limited space and a lack of quality-of-life features. The inability to quickly move items between containers, stack items, or label chests makes organization tedious. The small inventory size forces frequent trips back to storage, interrupting gameplay flow.
Gameplay:
- The game blends elements from other farming sims like Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, and Animal Crossing. It incorporates familiar mechanics such as farming, fishing, mining, and social interactions, while also introducing unique features. The game aims for a cozy and relaxing experience, with streamlined chores and multiple ways to earn money.
- The fishing mechanic is often compared to Animal Crossing, featuring visible fish and a simple reel-in system instead of a minigame. Some reviewers appreciate this simplified approach, while others prefer the more engaging minigames found in games like Stardew Valley. There are also some reports of fish clipping through textures.
- Crafting is divided into categories and requires specific locations and in-game time to complete. Players can pull materials directly from chests, streamlining the process. Cooking and crafting skills unlock perks over time, and recipes often require diverse ingredients, encouraging exploration and diversification.
- A unique ranching mechanic allows players to breed farm animals for different color variations and tiers. This adds depth to animal husbandry, offering customization options and a time sink for players who enjoy collecting and customizing their animals. Players can also dress up and name their animals.
- The game features a magic system with spells that provide player bonuses, such as summoning rain and restoring health. However, some reviewers feel the magic system is underutilized due to slow mana regeneration and a limited selection of spells. Magic is tied to dungeon progression.
Performance:
- The game's performance varies significantly depending on the hardware. Some players report smooth performance even on low-end PCs and the Steam Deck, while others experience lag and crashes even on more powerful systems. This suggests optimization issues may be the cause.
- Several players have noted performance degradation during longer play sessions or when performing certain actions, such as using the shovel or interacting with villagers. Some suggest that rain particles or the number of objects on the farm contribute to the lag. Opening and closing the inventory temporarily fixes the lag for some players.
- Some players have reported save file corruption issues, leading to lost progress. One player also reported playtime disappearing after reconnecting to wifi on Steam Deck. These issues can be frustrating, as they can erase significant amounts of progress.
- Some players have reported issues with the game window minimizing unexpectedly or reverting to a small, unfixable size. This can disrupt gameplay and require workarounds to fix.
- Players report issues with animal behavior, such as animals clipping through the barn or stacking on top of each other. This makes it difficult to interact with them. Additionally, there are collision issues with fences and farm buildings, but only for the player character.
Recommendations:
- Many reviewers highly recommend Fields of Mistria, especially to fans of Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, and similar farming sim games. Reviewers praise its engaging gameplay, charming characters, and unique magical setting. Some even suggest it surpasses Stardew Valley due to its quality-of-life improvements and fresh take on the genre.
- Reviewers feel the game is worth its current price, especially considering the amount of content available in Early Access. Some even recommend buying it at full price to support the developers. This indicates a strong belief in the game's value and potential.
- Some reviewers suggest waiting for future updates or the full release before purchasing the game. This is due to the game being unfinished and potentially lacking content in its current early access state.
- Some reviewers express that the game is not for them and might not be for others, while others are on the fence due to instability. One reviewer states that you have to be pretty organized and not worry too much about all the options, or you might not really enjoy the game.
- Some reviewers use hyperbolic praise, calling the game "almost near perfect" or "the most perfect game to ever exist". These statements lack specific details and are not constructive feedback.
Miscellaneous:
- The game is in early access, which is frequently mentioned by reviewers. They acknowledge that the game is incomplete but express excitement for future updates, content additions, and improvements. Many reviewers are willing to wait for the full release to experience the complete game.
- The developers are actively updating the game and maintaining transparent communication with the community. Reviewers express excitement for upcoming updates, particularly the March update, and appreciate the detailed roadmap provided by the developers.
- Several key features, such as marriage, children, and complete romance storylines, are not yet fully implemented in the game. Reviewers note that relationship systems and character development are still in progress, with expectations for future updates to expand these aspects.
- While the game shares similarities with farming/life sims like Stardew Valley, reviewers find that it offers a unique experience. The anime theme and certain design choices differentiate it, although some reviewers express a preference for Stardew Valley's art style.
- The game has limited language support, with English being the primary language. Some reviewers are using fan-made patches for other languages like Korean, while others are requesting official translations for languages like Chinese and Brazilian Portuguese.
