Everdream Valley Review in Progress
Everdream Valley in Progress
Publisher: Untold Tales
Developer: Mooneaters
Genre:
PEGI: 7
Comments:
So I was given an opportunity to get my hands on Everdream Valley a little early ahead of it’s May 30th release date. Now I have been a fan of games like Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons and such, so it’s hard to find something new and exciting on the farming adventure kind of games with all of the competition.
We do get quite alot of them honestly, but very few to the quality of the titles I just mentioned, however you should be paying attention to Everdream Valley, because it’s not the same old same old grow and sell some crops adventure.
Everdream Valley is a unique experience that mixes adventure with RPG and sim elements. If you dream of a life in the countryside and a break from the hustle and bustle of the city, if you want to recall the holiday time you’ve spent with your grandparents or simply try your luck as a Junior Farmer, this game is for you. In Everdream Valley you will get the chance to direct the actions of an 11-year-old boy spending his summer holiday at his grandparents’ farm.
By day, the Junior Farmer will have to help his guardians run the farm. This means taking care of your very own vegetable patch. Searching for parasites destroying crops, holes in the fence or broken agricultural tools, and reporting all issues to grandparents.
It’s also very important to make friends with the farm’s long-time resident, The Cat, so he starts hunting pests or chasing away the birds that feed on the fruits and grain. All while not forgetting to train The Dog that accompanies you to live in the country, herd the sheep or scare away wolfpacks threatening the farm.
By night, however, you will experience some fantastic dreams featuring original, animal-related minigames. And if successful in all challengers, you will be awarded with the materials, equipment, and furnishings needed to build your very own treehouse! And of course, you are still going to be crowing and selling crops. You will have plenty of other animals to find, raise, and build enclosures and such for. There is a hearty amount of crafting and repairing mechanisms in this game as well.
The game starts off with you being dumped off with your grandparents because your parents are too busy with work to accompany you, you a brought to their farm and you quickly just dive into it. While everything is pretty clear on what and how to do things, the game is really an exploration of trial and error.
You can progress as fast or as slow as you want to. Truly a gaming luxury, you can even do tasks in whatever order you desire, there isn’t really a linear path in this game, sure all roads lead to a certain thing, but you are free to do them as you wish.
If you want to focus on growing and harvesting, there is always stuff to discover, plant and cultivate whether in the garden or creating your own orchard. You can even then of course cook with the items you get. If you want to focus on herding and caring for animals you can do that as well, while exploring and finding other animals to bring to your farm (or purchase if you are rich enough) The graphics are nice and cute with a unique feel to them, they definitely aren’t going for ultra realism or anything but they have an amazing charm to them, the music also fits the very specific feel they are going for.
Controls are OK, I do find myself fumbling through the menus now and then, but I’m sure with more time spent I will get used to them. I did have an unfortunate glitch that caused me to lose some progress, but since that one time (thankfully it was early on) I haven’t run into anything else of concern.
I am unfortunately (not unfortunately) heading off to vacation, but I wanted to start bringing this game to your attention, because i truly think it’s something special. When I return, I will be picking this one back up and sharing my thoughts again as I continue my journey with Everdream. In the meantime check out Adam’s first look coverage to get a taste!
Trailer
Article By Kevin Austin
Kevin Austin has been in gaming journalism in one way or another since the launch of the Nintendo Gamecube. Married and father of 3 children he has been gaming since the ripe age of 6 when he got his first NES system and over 30 years later he is still gaming almost daily. Kevin is also co-founder of the Play Some Video Games (PSVG) Podcast network which was founded over five years ago and is still going strong. Some of his favorite gaming series includes Fallout and Far Cry, he is a sucker for single player adventure games (hence his big reviews for Playstation), and can frequently be found getting down in one battle royale or another. If it's an oddball game, odds are he's all about it.
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