Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition

The first hours were just beautiful, but after a while everything that was so great at first, becomes just grindy. It is the gameplay mechanics, yes, but it was not what I expected. But visually and concerning audio this is gorgeous.

The story, the emotions, the art, the music ... everything is so beautiful. You will lose track of time when you are in this. Easy 5 stars. Unfortunately there are game breaking bugs. Some mechanics are not working anymore, some give an infinite amount of goods, sometimes not even Escape is working anymore, so you have to Alt+F4 it. Hopefully they will fix those bugs soon, because it's quite annoying if you are in the middle of the story and you're not able to continue it.

The description makes the game sound like a cozy resource management game on a boat. It is not. It is a FEELS TRAIN! (with resource management). I was not prepared for this level of emotion nor the depth and development of the characters. In this game you will: Go fishing for dozens of different fish Explore the world Meet old friends Cry Cook many delicous meals Change the colors of your clothes (and the cat!) Milk cows Feed glue to a goat Learn about Stella (the MC) Try to not cry and fail Upgrade Stella's powers with things like double jump Fight an army of orcs Upgrade your ship (size, speed, buildings) Cut down trees with the help of a cat And cry PS the top critical review is from years ago. I only experienced one bug where I couldn't start or cancel an event which made it so my ship could no longer move, and loading the last autosave got me going again. It's stable.

While I had to sometimes put this game down and walk away for a few hours, I always came back until I finished it. It made me cry, not for the story it told, but for how that story resonated in me. This game will find that loss, big or small, and show how it matters. It does it by giving you your own space to experience the world and the characters who are there with you as the world changes. If you get nothing from this but sorrow, look at the moment at the arch. You mattered. Your love mattered. Just because there is loss is no reason to step away, and it's good to let yourself feel that sadness in loss. It's needed. I have never cried over a game this way. I was glad to, and I will gladly tell others that they should experience this for themselves, as only a videogame can make you do. This game was straightforward to play, but it made itself a true wonder in the message it gives. Take your time with it to remember that video games can take you so much further than a surface level amusement, and touch your soul.

There are some really nice aspects to this game. The characters, exploring new locations, performing new tasks for the first time, playing events for the first time. Unfortunately it's buried under a mountain of crafting busywork.