Japanese Rural Life Adventure
Note: This game is still in active development with regular updates, so some of the issues I experienced may have been addressed since I last played. The gameplay has reportedly been expanded with new features and improvements.
There’s something deeply appealing about the promise of a cosy rural life simulator, and this game delivers on that front with its meticulously crafted world and soothing art style. The relaxing gameplay genuinely slows you down in the most pleasant way possible—you simply can’t rush anything, and that paced progress becomes a meditative experience that eases you into its gentle rhythms.
But beneath this charming exterior lurk minor grievances that gradually chip away at the zen-like experience. The folk populating this world remain unnamed and impersonal, making it difficult to care about them. When you’re yearning for just a small story to maintain engagement or more dialogue options to breathe life into these cardboard NPCs, the game instead offers you the same repetitive experiences over and over and over again.
Some other tiny thorns in an otherwise smooth experience include everyday quality of life issues. Walking between distant locations becomes an exercise in patience. Cooking, which should feel like a cosy ritual, instead becomes a laborious chore with its monotonous sequences and stop-start music that breaks any sense of flow. Even the pottery addition, cute as it may be, falls flat. And why do different skills have different maximum levels? Why can’t your trusted pets occasionally surprise you with little gifts? These feel like missed opportunities in a game that’s so close to achieving that perfect slice of virtual rural bliss.