[dropcap]S[/dropcap]taxel was developed by Indie Studio Plukit. Staxel is a sandbox farming game. In this game you can tend to crops, raise cute animals, and build a village. The game is currently in development as the developer will be adding more features in the months to come. This preview was played exclusively in single mode, however you can also team up with your friends in the multiplayer part of the game.

Staxel Character Creation

Before you begin the game, you must create your character. You choose the gender, race (human or elf currently), and personality on the first step. The next step is to choose the hair style. From the screenshot above, you can see that I chose the steampunk top hat. The customization of the head piece is neat and gives you other options such as a Jack’O’Lantern, a wolf, and Egyptian themed hair and more. The next step is to choose the face of your character. The face determines the shape and the eyes. This is also the step where you change your eye color as well. The last step consists of you choosing the color of the top, pants, and shoes. You do not currently have a huge selection in clothing styles but this might be added upon later in development.

Staxel Gameplay

After you create your character, you begin the tutorial. The tutorial starts off in your home. It is recommended that you first go to your bed so that your “home” is saved (you will see why this is important later). The first character you meet is Farm Fan. She helps guide you through the tutorial and the basic mechanics of the game. She asks if you are a dog or cat person which determines what pet you will receive. The look of the animal is randomly generated. For the first time I played, I had a Dalmatian and the second time I had a Beagle looking dog, so cute!

The next part of the tutorial is to explore town and the various buildings. The first building you explore is the tavern. Then the tutorial recommends you go visit the various Merchants in the town square. The town square is also where festivals are held (similiar to Animal Crossing). The first merchant you will be visiting is Morgan as she sells seeds. The Supermarket also sells seeds as well as a variety of goods. In a later tutorial quest, you will be visiting the supermarket so that you can buy a pet bowl and pet food. One feature that I find is nice is that no matter what you select it will tell you the cost in petals (currency of the game) as well as what the object is. You get a decent amount of money fulfilling tutorial quests so it’s recommended you do them.

In the top left of the screen, you can see where there is an indicator that lists the date (Season, number) as well as what time of day it is. There are two cycles to the typical Staxel day: Day and Night. However, what I find is neat about Staxel days is that the Day and Night cycles are split into smaller proportions. This gives you a better indicator of the time passing and how close you are to nighttime. A typical Staxel day is about ten minutes.

The controls for Staxel are fluid using keyboard and mouse as well as a game controller (I used an Xbox One controller). The controls are listed clearly in the controls menu and there is no lag when switching between various items. I noticed that occasionally the game camera would move upwards when speaking with a villager but it was a minor annoyance. A neat feature that the developers added in was that by holding the default action button, you can increase the till size. For example, instead of tilling a field square by square, you can do a 3 x 5 field instead. It helps save time when wanting to plant a lot of crops.

Exploration

I took the liberty of exploring the world of Staxel instead of doing the quests. I found that Staxel is quite rich in pixellated detail but it was the vivid colors that really made it pop. It wasn’t before long that I found myself standing on a beach.

It is not clear yet whether standing on the water is intentional. Like other farming games, Staxel has weather as well. As you can see from the above screenshot, it is currently raining. Rain is neat since you don’t have to water your crops and you can devote yourself to exploring instead.

If you have played any open sandbox game, then you will know the importance of being able to fast travel back to your home base. As long as you get inside your bed, you will be able to “return to home” in the menu, no matter how far away you are. I went quite far into the ocean and instantly appeared back into my house.

Different playthroughs will not give you different areas to explore. This is subject to change as the Developers could add in a feature where the world you create is randomly generated each and every time.

Conclusion

Staxel is a neat mash up of Minecraft, Stardew Valley, and Animal Crossing. The developers have started off with a good platform to build off of. This game requires a lot of time but not a lot of effort. If you are looking for a game where you can have a lot of control and relax while doing it, Staxel would be the perfect fit.

For some Staxel Gameplay Footage, check out our article here. A special thank you to the developer for providing us with a copy to preview.