Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition

Maybe it has to do with where I am at this point in my own existence. All day every day, it's about providing for others - my kids, parents, co-workers and workplace superiors, the pets... seeing that their needs are met. That's just what life and duty are all about. And when I kick back with a cozy/chill game I want to build my own little empire. Like my own perfect little farm in Stardew. Spiritfarer is endless chores and fetch quests for your "friends," and boy, are they ever needy. Then you work towards improvements and upgrades so you can more efficiently meet their needs. It's exhausting. It certainly has charm, and the cat is great. I can understand the appeal but this is not my cup of tea. 8.5 hours in now and I'll probably keep chipping away at it here and there, whenever my kids have commandeered my Steam library.

Full disclosure, I won this in a GOG giveaway, it never would have been on my radar otherwise. I don't like most platformers (last one I enjoyed was Psychonauts) I don't like management sims (except Civ and Tropico, maybe Stardew Valley), and I CERTAINLY don't like visual novels (except possibly Pillars of the Earth). I should have really hated this game. Instead, it charmed the pants off me...literally, I'm typing at y'all sans pants. The sound, graphics, and gameplay are minimalism at its best. The philosophy of the game is distinct, but never preachy. It does get grindy at times, and some of the platforming is annoying, but it keeps you going with real gaming goodness. This is a one-off game that's almost impossible to describe fairly. If you mashed-up Stardew Valley, Firewatch, and Life is Strange, you might be in the ballpark. People looking for a serious platformer or management sim should look elsewhere. But if you are openminded and not afraid of the feelz, this game is full of delights. Highly recommended, appropriate for everyone, except possibly pre-teens. It is a game about death, after all, and has it's dark moments. Thanks, GOG, this is my favorite game of the year so far.

The graphics are great, the music is amazing, the exploration is fun, and the characters are enjoyable. Why only 3 out of 5. Jumping puzzles. If you don't like jumping puzzles this game isn't for you. You can't even save the game mid-way through, as you will start again at the start. The early ones are fine, the later ones are too much, for me. If there was a way to simply go around them then this would be a 5/5 game. However with the puzzles, I can not complete the game, so 3/5.

I spent 30 hours in this game, and I'd say the first 10 were alright. After that it turned into a slog of trying to figure out what to do, and very slowly travelling from point A to B after consulting a guide. I was essentially forced to just sit around and wait for things to happen for minutes on end. I'm a patient man, but this was too much. It also heavily distracted from the story for me since it took so long to get through it I forgot certain things. I ended up dropping off a lot of spirits at the Everdoor at the end, and it sprang a new one on me or gave me the option to end the game. I chose to end the game because I couldn't deal with spending another 10 hours slowly acquiring things to send off the final spirit. I can't honestly recommend this over an edited playthrough on YT, though I don't inherently regret my purchase. I just wanted to spend less time sitting around doing literally nothing just waiting for things to happen.

After 15 hours of gameplay i'm pretty sad that because i'm not a really skilled platformer gamer i got stuck in a cave with ziplines. It was a nice and relaxing experience and suddenly it became a stressful nightmare. It's not coherent. Anyway, try it out, it's great - for those who can play with platformer games.