Developer: Mooneaters
Publisher: Qubicgames
Platform: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Tested on: Switch
Everdream Valley – Review
It seems like only yesterday since we took a look at Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, and we’re already back to plowing digital fields. A farmer’s work is never done! This time around, we’re taking a look at Everdream Valley, a new farming sim from Polish indie studio Mooneaters. The game definitely looks like an ambitious undertaking, especially since this is the studio’s debut title. How does Everdream Valley stack up against the veritable farmer’s market of other sim games available on the Switch? Let’s find out!
Story
In what is perhaps the biggest story shakeup we’ve seen in farm sims in years, your family is alive. Everdream Valley strays away from the familiar formula where a city dweller inherits a run-down farm from a deceased relative and returns it to its former glory. Instead, the player character is spending the summer on the farm of their grandparents. The farm has seen better days, and the player takes it upon themselves to help their grandparents to fix things here and there. However, things aren’t quite what they seem as there is a mystery afoot! The player starts having strange dreams involving the animals that inhabit the farm. It appears that these dreams have a direct effect on what happens on the farm. It’s now up to our budding farmer to figure out why they are having these dreams and what the animals want them to do. It’s an interesting take that is held back somewhat by the awkward and stilted in-game dialogue. The story might land a bit better in different languages, but the English translation leaves a lot to be desired.
Graphics
The bright and cutesy 3D models are befitting of the cozy atmosphere that Everdream Valley aims to evoke, although we couldn’t shake the feeling that the game didn’t quite live up to its full visual potential. We don’t mind a simplistic art style, but things end up looking cheap and dated here. This rings especially true when it comes to some of the animal models, which were abstracted to the point that they don’t really fit the style of the humans or the environment. On the upside, there are a number of options available to customize the appearance of things like furniture, character outfits, and even hairstyles. Performance-wise, the Switch version of Everdream Valley is definitely weaker than what we’ve seen on other platforms, but the visuals are still passable by comparison. The dated feeling of the graphics persists across platforms.
Sound
Music plays a very important role in the relaxed and cozy feeling that Everdream Valley aims to emulate. It’s a shame that the soothing music is often drowned out by the cacophony of animal sounds emitted by the various critters that wander around the farm grounds. Early on, this isn’t as much of an issue, but the more your farm grows, the more inhabitants it has, and they all cluck, moo, meow, bark, or whinny whenever you pass by them. It can often be a bit much. Given that there isn’t a whole lot to Everdream Valley’s soundscape otherwise, especially since the game lacks voice acting, it’s a shame that the developers didn’t get this right.
Gameplay
Although we’re not necessarily intimately familiar with the ins and outs of every farming sim out there, we do consider ourselves at least somewhat knowledgeable of the staples of the genre. As such, we feel confident in saying that Everdream Valley tries to do something different than its competitors, not just with its story, but with its gameplay as well. There isn’t a quaint little town with lovely marriage candidates waiting for you next to the farm here. Everdream Valley’s core gameplay still involves taking care of crops and raising a menagerie of different animals, with the focus here being more on animal care than growing produce. With a different approach to its gameplay, it only makes sense that the game’s goal is also different. The game takes a questline approach, with your main goal being to figure out the mystery behind the dreams. However, you can definitely do this at your own pace, and instead purely focus on farming if you prefer to do so. That said, progressing through the main quest line allows you to unlock new things like better tools, different kinds of produce, and the like. You’ll need these to be able to work the fields even better, herd animals more efficiently, or craft new items.
Our first impression of Everdream Valley was that the game offered a tremendous sense of freedom. The wilderness surrounding the farm is rather large, and there is plenty to explore here, provided you don’t run into angry wolves or geese, which will attack you and cause you to pass out until the next day if you can’t beat them with your wooden sword. That said, you’re better off not venturing too far from the farm anyway, as animals will get sick if you’re absent for too long, which in turn will also lower your friendship level with your canine companion. The illusion of freedom was quickly shattered then, even if the game avoided directly setting boundaries.
The biggest element with which Everdream Valley sets itself apart from other farming sims is the dream mechanic, which sees you take on the form of farm animals in your dreams. Here, you’ll be presented with a series of mini-games as well as getting clues from other animals about the mystery behind the cause of these dreams. Actions you perform in your dreams actually directly affect what happens when you’re awake at the farm. You might be tasked with finding a bunch of baby ducks in a dream, for example, only to wake up and notice that there is suddenly a full flock of mallards that inhabits your pond.
From a technical point of view, Everdream Valley leaves a lot to be desired. Input lag and game stuttering were obstacles that we encountered a bit too much for our liking. The game’s load times were often atrocious, and we had to force several restarts as we repeatedly ran into a glitch that caused some of our animals to get stuck. The game’s UI, and by extension, the in-game map is also a pain to navigate, and with no fast-travel available, we started dreading every time we needed to consult where to go next. Admittedly, developer Mooneaters is taking feedback from the community to add a little polish where necessary, but at the time of writing, specific updates that were already available on other platforms hadn’t arrived on the Switch yet, so we couldn’t fairly assess them. We’re also not quite sure about how well some of the game’s pacing was handled. Although the game throws quite a few tutorials at you, many of them only pop up after you’ve already figured out specific mechanics on your own.
Don’t let this deter you from giving Everdream Valley a spin, however. Despite some rough edges, the game certainly scratches that farming sim itch in a way that’s different from its predecessors. In some regards, Everdream Valley feels more like Animal Crossing than Story of Seasons, because you can tackle everything at your own leisurely pace if you want to. The relatively reasonable price point puts it in a similar league to Stardew Valley, a farming sim that is vastly superior in its traditional farming sim approach. However, the differences between Everdream Valley and Stardew Valley are so significant that outright comparing the two feels illogical, even if they inhabit the same broad genre. As it stands, Everdream Valley is a decent enough game in its own right, just not an outstanding one.
Conclusion
With its unusual approach to the genre, Everdream Valley stands out from other farming sims, despite the game’s overall roughness. The leisurely, carefree experience makes this a good game to enjoy on a lazy Sunday afternoon if you can look past the game’s lesser elements. Fortunately, it seems like Mooneaters is taking feedback seriously and the developer is actively working on making Everdream Valley a better game. It’s worth picking up already now, and we can only imagine it getting better as time passes. Given that this is a title published by QubicGames, your best bet is to wait for a discount as the publisher does this fairly often. If the game has received patches by then, all the better.
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