Kynseed

I played Kynseed four years ago in Early Access, and even then I didn't think it was as bad as some of the reviews here suggest. Now, the game is truly finished and it's great! The proverbs, puns and books are funny and I really felt like reading stuff that someone put a lot of effort and love into. I enjoy the crafting and fishing, and the cooking and crafting minigames are really detailed and work better than during EA. The fairy tale theme with the spirits and sometimes spooky otherworldly stuff feels cool and is something I hadn't seen in other "farming" games. I love how the prologue really has a bitter-sweet note to it and even a shocking moment I didn't expect. I like how weird it all is, from the post-apocalyptic worldbuilding "horses are extinct, so we ride pigs", to the wicker man statues everywhere... there is a lot to discover and I am enjoying that a lot. And then besides all this cool weird stuff you can, you know, just become a shop keeper as well and get married and stuff. As someone who played the heck out of Stardew Valley, I can safely recommend Kynseed. It is quite different in many ways, and it's so much bigger! Go and explore it.

Don't be fooled into thinking this is anything like stardew valley or similar games. This is a very shallow life simulation that while pretty is skin deep. All the mechanics are pretty unsatisfying (other than crafting, strangely enough). It really feels wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle when npcs are generic and you have no real goal.

I genuinely love this game's atmosphere and worldbuilding. You can do just about anything you prefer, I never felt forced into anything. Still updated often and they've done a great job. It's certainly worth the base price I paid, and on a sale I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who likes games in the same vein and/or is into fable and folklore.

I did not encounter any gamebreaking bugs, but the gameplay is rather repetitive - especially with the delivery-miniquests. Where to go to is mostly guesswork as NPCs are constantly on the move (like in Stardew Valley only on MUCH bigger scale). If you don't have a map and guide open in a second window, it's getting overwhelming and frustrating very quick, as the ingame tracker tracks people's homes instead of people. I also highly dislike the themes/presentation (this is spoilery): Devil's contracts, human sacrifices, cults etc. are presented as a normal thing of which you as the main character are approving of and without a choice for the player compliant in. At the end of the tutorial you sell off your kin to a Fae, because the Fae wants a favour of you, which is in itself an hilarious error of logic. The game even says that the Fae will steal an orphen for you to play as, should you refuse to birth children to uphold the enslavement of your lineage. What you get is basically an unendingversion of Nick Cage's Wickerman dressed up as Stardew Valley, including Nick Cage starring as your sibling as YOU are fully on board the cult-train. I'm at a loss what the devs were aiming for here. I honestly just find this game disturbing. It's a shame, really. Gameplaywise there's much potential and many good ideas here and I'm sure there are people out there, who will enjoy the strange story-vibes (or don't think about them). I personally would not buy the game it again. For parents: Stick to the PEGI rating (12). For a change it's right in this case.

The game looked amazing at first but it soon degrades into a lot of the same stuff. While this is a personal opinion, I don't like the silly jokes on the books nor some of the conversations with NPCs. There are some political agenda in the game (I'm not say what) and for me this is big downer; there are better ways to do it. But again, this is particular to me. There are many people who say this game is a 5-star. It had the potential to be superior to Stardew Valley but scope creeping and some political decisions made me drop it after the 14th game day. But check it, you might like it.