Kynseed (2022)

Of all the Stardew Valley-esques, Kynseed is probably my favorite.

The world is beautiful, the minigames are fun, the gameplay feels right and the combat is... actually quite interesting. The NPCs, while mostly shallow in personality, make the world feel alive with how they just go about their business. All that combined with an amazing soundtrack (except for that slightly annoying repetitive strings bit that plays when you're on the Willowdown Farm) makes for a truly magical experience.

One then has to wonder... Why would the developers sabotage all that? The game is littered with so many innuendos and pop culture references it makes me feel like it's actively trying to make me dislike it. It's hard to get immersed when you're constantly bombarded with sex jokes and Reddit references.

It's a great game (albeit a little repetitive, but that's life sims for you), but it could take itself more seriously.

There are many things you can do in this game, cooking, fishing, crafting, farming, running a shop, and adventure. At the beginning of the game, I felt almost overwhelmed with all the things I wanted to do. As the game progressed, I picked and prioritize one or two thing I want to focus on, and then that's when I learned that there's not much of depth in them.

The game is beautiful like a fairy tale. It lacks of customization unfortunately, which I believe they are working on releasing update for. I want to give it a try again when they complete the update!

Also, I'm not sure if it is only me or it is my screen setting. However, I was too blinded by the game screen at specific time of the day in game. Not sure this is weather effect but I had to stop playing the game several times because my eyes became so tired.

I'm pretty disappointed in this game. Their trailers, screenshots, and promo for the game made it sound AMAZING... and I bought it shortly after it came out. It said it was in early access, but... this is beyond early access. It's more like a small demo for how the game will play. It's not ready for players at all. They even have a screen when you load it up that's like "if you were expecting any finished quests, characters, farming systems, a game that won't crash on you.... sorry that's not what this game is yet."

I wish they had informed me of that on the store page, but they probably know no one would buy it were that the case.

I've filed this away on my steam list under "early access" and I'll check back in a year and see if it's playable... but I was really hyped for this one and feel super let down. :/