All posts tagged in Life Simulation
Oct 9, 2024
Spirit City: Lofi Sessions is a cozy productivity tool turned into a game. It features a warm, inviting bedroom that you can customize equipped with a fireplace, large bed, comfy chair, desk, and the best window for wistfully gazing out of. You have a character that you can also customize who will sit and complete tasks that you set. Like, gaming by the fireplace, or reading on the bed, or watching fat raindrops plop onto the ground below.
Even find and lure in adorable little spirit creatures to keep you company. Everything you do is accompanied by a wonderful soundtrack, too. Which is perfect, because that helps set the mood for a more productive work time for you! Spirit City has a built-in Pomodoro timer so you can structure your study or work day carefully or peak efficiency. There’s also a journal function so you can keep track of your thoughts and a habit tracker to keep you focused on being your best self. And the game is set to add even more fun!
Halloween Update
Spirit City has just released the Halloween Update that adds all kinds of fun new decor items. In fact, there are 200+ new Fall and Halloween themed items to customize your character and your room with. These include clothing for your avatar like a pumpkin shirt, slippers, and orange and black socks. There are rugs, hanging lights, wallpapers, shelf decorations, and pumpkins for your room.
You can choose one of 5 new window backgrounds to sit and watch. Some of the Spirit companions have new Halloween variations, you have two new hairstyles to choose from, new skirt options, and some of the Spirits take part in more activities now. There’s also a new Halloween soundtrack to get you into the holiday mood. Plus, grab the new spooky spirit companion while you’re at it.
Release Date
The Spirit City Halloween update is available now on Steam!
- Sep 26, 2024
Wanderstop features a narrative-focused story where you play as fallen fighter Alta. Alta doesn’t want to be here, and if she gets what she wants, the tea shop you run will be nothing more than a short, painful memory. Until that should happen, if it should happen at all, you must run the tea shop to the best of your abilities! Nestled in a magical forest, you’ll serve a variety of customers in a beautifully cozy setting. Make them tea and see what else they can teach you!
Each of your customers is a traveler who holds their own unique story. Listen to their stories and determine which tea is best for them. Even grow and harvest your own tea ingredients for the full management experience. And when you’re not running the shop and serving customers, there’s plenty for you to do in Wanderstop. Decorate the shop to make it more welcoming. Clean up the nearby clearing or even just sit and do nothing. Though, Alta can’t stand doing nothing. She’s not used to sitting still and just being, but perhaps that’s exactly why she’s here!
Release Date
You can find Wanderstop listed on Steam, but there is no release date available. Add it to your Wishlist to be notified, though!
- Sep 12, 2024
In Garden Witch Life by developer FreetimeStudio, you play as an adorable little witch who hails from the big city. Except you’ve recently lost your job so life isn’t exactly panning out the way you thought it would. Now’s your chance for a much needed change of pace, though! In fact, you move to a tiny island that’s full of possibilities and opportunities. In your new home you’ll get up to all kinds of fun things like gardening, decorating, and more.
Turn your new piece of land in Garden Witch Life from a depressing example of dead monoculture into a thriving, beautiful magical garden. Grow a variety of wonderful crops, and use those fresh ingredients in recipes. Use your magical cauldron to whip up tasty recipes you get your hands on from around the world. Then, share them with the villagers to build friendships. Creating a strong community bond with everyone is important, after all. Or go exploring and uncover all the secrets and mysteries the island has to offer. Plus, your tools have upgrades you can access and your home is your to decorate as you please!
And yes, you can pet ALL the animals. What’s better than that?
Release Date
Garden Witch Life drops on all your favorite platforms today. Pick it up on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, or PlayStation!
- Aug 21, 2024
Snacko is a super adorable farming sim where you and your friend venture to Snacko Island in search of a new life away from the hustle and bustle of the city. When you arrive, you find the island a little run down and empty. In fact, there’s only one resident who’s kind enough to get you settled into a new home. From there, it’s up to you to restore the town and the rest of the island. It’s not just some island, though. It features a deep, rich past full of mystery that you also get to discover!
Run around the idyllic island collecting resources, fishing, exploring, and farming. There are 4 distinct biomes for you to traverse, each with their own unique items to collect, plus 4 different shrines to encounter. You can fish up over 20 different types of fish across the island, as well as grow 12 crops and raise cows and chickens for produce. Then, restore the town! Use resources to rebuild the ruins of buildings. Set up a grocery store and other shops to revive the scene. Invite different characters to join you on the island, too. Those shops will need workers and people to sell to! There are 20+ different NPCs you can encounter, and a system in place to make re-inviting villagers easier so you can befriend everyone!
Quests and Villager Overhaul
There’s already some great stuff in Snacko. Being able to save during the day and sleeping wherever you can using beds and sleeping boxes you’ve placed. Talk about stress-free exploring! Of course, there’s a ton more in this lovely little game, but an upcoming update promises some equally exciting things. Buckle up for a lot of improvements and changes!
First up is the restriction on villagers. You can now have everyone all at once! The blueprint shop and other recipes are no longer all unlocked at the beginning. MIAO will act more like a guide, nudging you in the right direction of progression instead of unlocking everything. In fact, there’s now quests you must complete to unlock them. Some of these unlocks happen through Guild quests. However, you’ll encounter several different ways to unlock new dye recipes, cooking recipes, and crafting recipes. Of course, the Guild function is brand new too! Each Guild has its own representative(s) that possess their own personalities and will communicate with you through quests and deliveries. Some of the reps even have mini story arcs for you to experience.
Villager quests have also been overhauled in Snacko, and there are new ones added to the mix. These quests will unlock recipes like Guild quests, but also unlock new shop items. Plus, you can get to know your villagers more through these questlines! Villager dialogue pools have also been overhauled to make more sense and give you a chance to see them all. For example, Rejka will no longer be confused when you speak to him in the morning while dating. The idea is to move away from the mundane cycle of talking, gifting, and repeating to build a relationship. The developers want to give you more options to build your bonds, which is great!
UI Changes and More
There have been some UI changes for expanded dark mode, which includes a new quest and UI to accompany it. Dark mode has been expanded beyond the dialogue boxes, which is great for those of us who prefer less brightness. Dark mode tones down some of the bright green grasses and shiny blue waters. And I think the developers achieved a great balance without sacrificing the beauty of their art and color palettes!
Crafting recipes can now be tracked on the Snacko HUD just like quests. No more second guessing what you just read or keeping a thousand sticky notes all over your desk like me. Simply track the crafting recipe like you would a quest for better efficiency. You can even pin the recipe to match the quantity of items you want to craft. So, if you want to make 3 softwood lampposts, pin the recipe for 3 to track the total resources needed. You can also buy basic resources from the shops after they’re closed now, too.
Now you can charge your sword into a dash function. The dash can be used mid-air to achieve a type of pseudo flying. The distance you travel is dependent on the charge amount, but if you string smaller dashes together, you’ll stay airborne. The pickaxe can bounce you around, too. When you’re mid-air, like from a jump, you can use the charged pickaxe to bounce off things like cliffs. So, fly around or bounce around town for a fun new way to travel!
Release Date
This Town & Guild Update for Snacko is live now! So, hop on and get familiar with all these cool new features! You can find this absolutely adorable game on Steam.
- Aug 8, 2024
Celebrate the small moments in life with The Garden Path, a slice-of-life gardening sim developed by carrotcake. Designed to be picked up and played in short bursts, the game uses a mix of both real-world time and in-game calendar. Each game day follows the 24-hour cycle, but you’ll also get to see all four seasons within 28 real-world days.
Enjoy unique hand-drawn art as you wander around the garden choosing how you play each time. Meet a unique cast of vegetable-headed visitors that may become your neighbors. Then, complete tasks for them to grow your bond, and even compete in games against them. You’ll also get to encounter a traveling troupe who come and go, plus traveling merchants will appear with useful seeds, decor, and tools.
The Garden Path features some excellent original music, too. So, it’s easy to get caught up in the relaxing sounds and beautiful sights of your garden. You can even play with a second player with local co-op!
Release Date
You can find The Garden Path on Steam now!
- Jul 25, 2024
If you’re unfamiliar with the excellent Roots of Pacha, developed by Soda Den, it’s a beautifully designed farming sim set in the stone age. Play as your own customized character as you help your community and farm precious crops and raise adorable animals. Take some time to fish, gather resources, and learn new ideas to make life easier. Get to know your fellow tribesmen and work together with them to improve the tribe. The survival of your people hinges on teamwork, but making friends and falling in love can be just as important! Even explore the mysteries the world has to offer. You may even find some new powers that will help you in your journeys.
The 1.2 Update
Here in just a few short weeks you’ll be able to experience the excitement of the 1.2 update, too. This update adds more perks to bonding with pets. They will fetch items from different areas of the map, like red meat or herbs. You can even choose a pet to become a trusty mount so you can glide across the landscapes and reach destinations faster! Then there’s the new watering system. Early on, you can discover the idea for the “olla”. The olla is a pot that sits in a hole in the ground and can be filled with water. It will then water the surrounding 8 plants for up to two days before needing a refill. This early idea makes running your farm much more efficient sooner than before.
The Roots of Pacha update also adds in some new features for your children, making them far more interesting. A school is a new idea that lets you send your toddler off to learn skills. Enrolling a child in school also allows them to grow into school-age kids and become active members of the tribe. They’ll hang around the village and have unique dialogue interactions now. Plus, you can dress them in new clothing sets, change their hairstyles and hair color, and see them at festivals. Building the school also unlocks learning stations that will have your children do various chores around the farm. So, this update turns your children from just an event to experience into useful new NPCs!
The 1.2 update doesn’t stop there, though. Enjoy two new locations union ceremonies, plus you can kiss your partner. Once they move in, they’ll get up in the morning when you do so you can chat with them before heading out for a long day of exploring or farming, and they’ll have new dialogue. Or if you prefer not to date anyone and don’t want to sit through romantic cutscenes where the NPCs confess their feelings, you can turn that off! The setting will be located in Settings>Gameplay and can be turned off at any point in the game. You will also have the opportunity to save the game at any time instead of being forced to finish a day and sleep through the night to save. And then there will be several QoL changes to help make the game even more enjoyable and fun for you!
Release Date
The Roots of Pacha 1.2 Update is releasing July 31st on Steam, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch. However, that isn’t the only big news, as it’s also releasing on Xbox consoles the very same day! So, if you haven’t played the game yet, or are a returning player, there’s no time like now to start a new save!
- Jul 4, 2024
Princess Maker 2 is a classic simulation game where you play as a father who raises a beautiful daughter the stars gifted you. Raise your little girl over the span of eight years. She grows from a sweet ten year old child into a lovely eighteen year old woman. Her dream in life is to become a princess, but you’ll need to choose correctly and raise her right!
The Remaster
The charming Princess Maker franchise kickstarted the social simulation genre all the way back in 1991. Only a few years after that was Princess Maker 2 released for the first time. Now, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the sequel, a remastered version of the game is releasing. Princess Maker 2: Regeneration is a lovingly updated release. This redone version features some great new updates to bring the classic into the modern gaming sphere.
Princess Maker 2: Regeneration has beautifully redrawn animations with high resolution. Takami Akai, the original designer of the franchise, redrew several scenes. Additionally, these redraws are in a similar style to the PC-98 version to keep the original charm. This includes a remastered ending and also vacation art. Plus, there’s a brand new opening animation by Yonago Gainax to get you into the excellent raising sim’s story. There’s been a great improvement to the English localization.
So, the remastered version is the perfect opportunity for new and old players!
Release Date
Princess Maker 2: Regeneration releases on Steam, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation July 10th! You can add the game to your Steam Wishlist to be notified of its release, too.
Mushroom Musume is another cute daughter raising sim.
- Jul 3, 2024
Daomei Village by developer Gameparic is a charming pixel art farming and life sim with a more low-key color palette perfect for the setting. After committing a crime, you have been ordered by the emperor to restore Daomei Village. It was once a lovely little place that has now fallen into disrepair. Of course, nothing comes free! The emperor still demands you pay taxes, and the tax collector will be sure to come collecting. So, turn your farmland into a profitable space in order to generate the income needed to pay your taxes.
Start your new life with some really simple tools, 100 yuan, and a few seeds. Turn your new, run down farm into an income generator through hard work and care. Cultivate your fields to grow crops to sell. Grow different vegetables and flowers depending on the season. Take care of different types of animals, too. Each species requires their own dedicated spaces, so you’ll need to build pens that suit each one! You even get to breed the animals to help generate more income. As you get richer, you can implement automation to make your farming process even smoother!
Steeped in Chinese folklore and architecture, Daomei Village is a beautifully designed game that immerses you in Chinese culture and demonology. You even get to see glimpses of previous dynasties as you explore the game. As you explore the village, get to know your neighbors. Each one is there because they’ve committed some type of crime. Get to know them and help them with tasks to earn their trust and learn what their crimes are.
As you work hard to rebuild the village and increase the happiness of the villagers, you’ll be able to set out on adventures with the blessing of the emperor. These excursions take place in enemy lands occupied by the imperial army. There, you’ll face different challenges and combat situations, but you’ll also be greatly rewarded with new technology, seeds, and materials to further improve the village. The harder the challenge, the greater the reward!
Release Date
You can find Daomei Village listed on Steam, where you can add it to your Wishlist. There’s also a demo available for you to try. The game is set to release later this year!
Tales of Seikyuu is a another wonderful farm sim that sets you in a more unusual setting!
