News
Jul 13, 2023
I wrote about Gourdlets back in November when I first discovered the game. It’s an absolutely adorable little city builder game with no challenges, no quests, no resource management. You just unleash your creativity and build little cityscapes!
Since November, developer AuntyGames has added some great new features to the game. You can now enter buildings and decorate them! Build cozy homes for your Gourdlets and sweet little cafes for them to frequent. This adds another level of customization for players to create the cityscapes of their dreams.
Fences are now more intuitive to build, too. It’s easier to form corners and make enclosures with them. So, if you had been wanting to create tiny zoos or farm pastures, now it’s much easier! What’s also easier is placing land tiles. Gourdlets has a paint bucket tool that lets you create islands without the hassle of all the individual clicking. And my favorite addition is farming! Place tilled dirt tiles, plant seeds, and the Gourdlets will water them and pull weeds. They’ll even pick the mature crops!
You can find Gourdlets on Itch.io, as well as Steam!
- Jul 12, 2023
A Cute Colony Sim That Takes Place Over the Ocean
Havendock is a resource management and colony sim where you find yourself on a single square of a pier. You need to gather resources as they float by in the ocean’s current in order to expand your living space. You’ll also build new facilities to help make your life on this pier more comfortable. Arrange your facilities where you wish, catch fish and grow crops for food, and even manage new settlers as they arrive. You can assign them to specific jobs to make operations much easier, but make sure you have enough food, water, and shelter for them!
And it’s recently received a great new update!
Cows, Birds, and More!
You can now visit Cow Island and speak to Josh to add the adorable cow to your list of animals. Feed them to receive milk, which can be turned into cheeses and desserts for your settlement to enjoy. You can also visit Bird Island where you’ll find Mother Kewi, a large bird who will help repopulate Bird Island. Once you rebuild her nest she’ll appear, and you can customize her colors, complete quests for her, and feed her. She’ll repopulate the island with tiny Kewi, who will carry resources back to your island. You can even take a ride on Mother Kewi!
There’s even more to enjoy, too. You can now access an abandoned fishing village. It was once a village full of life, but now it’s up to you to revitalize it. Rebuild necessary buildings and recruit new fishermen. You’ll need their services to create a sustainable way to feed fish to the birds, after all. When you’ve done that, hop into the water to discover the mysteries of the crash. Use your bots to clean the area, drill for minerals, and investigate the wreckage. Even attract a new doctor NPC by shooting off a flare.
Havendock now has The Cave, where you can explore and fight slimes. To access The Cave, visit Bird Island and find the door. Fighting slimes will reward you with slime bubbles, which can be used to make desserts or combat gear. This portion of the update is bare bones at the moment, and the developers are looking for suggestions on equipment, upgrades, etc to improve the area.
Find Havendock on Steam now! It is in Early Access, but receives great updates regularly. For another colony sim, check out my review of One Lonely Outpost.
- Jul 6, 2023
Research Story is an adorable pixelated addition to the farming sim genre. Exotic plants and animals have been spotted near the quaint town of Shimmerbrook, which has attracted a lot of new settlers. In fact, the Violet Archive is there to keep a record of development of the area, and they’re looking for new researchers. That’s where you come in!
You’ll explore Shimmerbrook to discover new plants and animals since it’s up to you to help the Violet Archive. Grow crops to learn about what environments they thrive in, and plan your farm layout to support their growth. You even get to raise a variety of animals, who will give you perks to help in your farming. And of course you’ll get to befriend the townsfolk and craft items and decorations to build your perfect home.
v0.3 Update Brings A Lot More Fun!
This morning, PetalCatGames released a pretty big update for Research Story which is undeniably packed full of fun and helpful new additions.
The Automation Features:
- Sprinklers
- Sun Lamps, which can be placed in the same space as sprinklers
- Auto collectors
- Upgradeable bell tool to herd creatures with
- Fishing tools: nets, bait press, and auto tapper
There are also new decoration items:
- Snowman
- Mini Fir
- Chestnut Furniture Set
- Cherry Furniture Set
- Maple Furniture Set
- Fir Furniture Set
- Rugs: maroon, cherry, honey, forest, and cream
- Flower Baskets: Chamomile, Wild Violet, Sunflower, Eggbloom, Starburst, Caffodil, Hydranbear (Coral), Hydranbear (Pink), Hydranbear (Lilac), Pitch Lily
- Barrels: Covered, Potato, Carrot
v0.3 introduces all these wonderful decor items, as well as new items you can catch in the fish nets, a new NPC, new music, and a list of bugfixes!
Research Story is currently in early Access and you can find it on Steam. It’s also on sale until July 13th!
Want more pixelated farming games? Give Moondrop, Cornucopia, and Pixelshire a look!
- Jul 5, 2023
About Coral Island
If you haven’t heard of Coral Island, it’s a beautiful farming sim that I think everyone should give a play. You leave behind the hustling city of Pokyo to start your new life on the laid-back island. Be who you want to be with character customization, farm a variety of crops, tend to farm animals, create the perfect homestead, and help revitalize the town and its coral reefs. Also, you can fish, mine, dive, and get to know over 70 different villagers, 28 of whom are dateable!
New Character, Festival, And More
Stairway Games will release an update for Coral Island that introduces some great new content. At last, we’ll get to meet a brand new Merfolk villager, Semeru, the Merfolk Kingdom’s Guard Leader. He’ll be joining Denali the gatekeeper and Princess Miranjani as the dateable Merfolk, rounding out the total list of dateables to 28.
You’ll be able to own llamas and collect llama wool from them. Plus, you won’t have to run around all day to pet, feed, and collect products from your animals anymore. The update will introduce auto petters, auto feeders, auto collectors, and temperature machines will be available to make caring for your animals even easier.
Perhaps the most useful part of the Coral Island update will be the addition of the Architect’s Desk. This handy tool will give you a helpful bird’s eye view of your entire farm. Build your perfect homestead even easier with the desk by rearranging crops, fences, decorative items, and even the logs and rocks that are scattered across the farm. Just be aware it will cost money to move each item!
Last but not least, and perhaps what I’m most excited for, is the addition of a new festival! Taking place on Fall 28, you’ll get to experience the Spooky Festival! Explore the wonderfully decorated festival grounds, and participate in some fabulous activities. Run around and play Bonk the Skeleton, take part in the Ring Toss event, and enjoy watching the vibrant Ogoh-ogoh Parade, a traditional Balinese procession meant to ward off evil spirits.
Coral Island is Available Now
While this lovely update isn’t available until August, you can pick up Coral Island now on Steam! It’s also currently on sale until July 13th.
If you’re looking for even more farming fun, checkout Litchi Town, Big Farm Story, or Kitaria Fables.
- Jul 3, 2023
I love cats. I also enjoy both mystery and adventure games. In the upcoming Peace Island, we get an alluring combination of all of these things. Currently in development by Eric Blumrich and a small team of experienced devs (known for games like Prune and Grand Theft Auto V), this game is already gathering attention online.
About Peace Island:
You’ll play as cats! Starting out, you’ll be playing as the cat named Elizabeth. The day before, she was was coaxed into her pet taxi and dreading a trip to the veterinarian. She never sees the vet, though, instead falling asleep. When she awakes the next day, her human is nowhere to be found and the door is open.
Throughout the game, you will meet 8 other cats. You’ll need to gain the trust of these cats and eventually gain their friendship. At different points, you will control each of the different cats. Each one has unique strengths, weaknesses, and roles.
The world of Peace Island – outside from being Peace Island – is an open-world based on real-life Maine. Inside the island are 4 defined communities. These are Peace City Landing, Greenwood Farms, Ellison Heights, and LaFlamme Fishworks. These are settlements, farmlands, coastlines, woodlands, and more!
The story of the game is that the humans have all gone missing. The mystery is plentiful. There are an invasive species on the islands, artifacts and documents left behind, and 200 years worth of alternate history to unravel. Not only do you have to figure out what happened to the humans, you have to use the divergent storylines to decide if they are worth bringing back.
Game Features:
- Cooperate – You’ll have to gain the trust and build friendships with the other cats. You’re going to need them!
- Discover – It’s up to you to find and piece together all the evidence.
- Explore – The open-world is huge and scattered with lots of details.
- Infiltrate – To solve the mystery, you’re going to have to get inside the buildings. It may take more skill to find a way into some of them.
Peace Island is currently in development for PC, Mac, and Oculus VR. There is no set release date, yet, but a beta should be coming soon. You can check out more and support the game on Patreon. You can also see daily screenshots on Twitter.
Don’t worry – I have your fill of cat games! Take a look at The Good Life, Another Sight, and Calico – just to get started. I also have mystery game suggestions – like the newest iteration of Layton’s Mystery Journey and the kooky Lord Winklebottom Investigates.
- Mar 29, 2023
Uncover Clues in the Search For Your Missing Best Friend
in Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories, you play as Honeydew, the bunny headband-wearing protagonist and melon soda factory worker. Recently, her best friend has gone missing, so Honeydew is on a mission to find her. Is it really safe to travel in a town where melons are illegal, though? And why is a hamster that’s trying to sneak into Kitten King’s castle?
Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is a short, but full little game with a fun callback to the green-tinted retro games of the past. Meet a variety of fun characters with unique personalities and some with tragic backstories. Unravel additional mysteries as you meet them, too. Collect clues about the disappearance of your friend. Sneak through the seedy underground of Hog Town. Use your quick wit and keen eye to put together the pieces of the puzzle to solve the mystery before it’s too late.
Along with the green-tinted monochrome pixel graphics, Melon Journey has more than 90 different electronic and jazz-inspired tracks for you to listen to while playing. It also includes an optional prequel game, called Melon Journey Pocket, that introduces the main characters.
Available April 6, 2023
Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories will be available April 6, 2023 on pretty much all platforms! Find it on Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PS5, and Xbox One and X|S.
For some more pixel graphics games, check out this wonderful list!
- Feb 22, 2023
Welcome to Violet’s Boutique!
Wylde Flowers is a beautifully crafted farming sim (and you can read my review here) where you play as Tara. She’s a city girl who arrived in Fairhaven to help her ailing grandmother with the family farm. It needs a lot of restoring, and Grandma Hazel just can’t do it alone. Plus, Tara’s a witch! Grandma Hazel is too, and teaches Tara about her new powers. So, Tara’s got a full plate. Learning to be a witch, restoring the farm, building relationships with the townspeople, and solving the mystery of Fairhaven is a full-time adventure.
Developer Studio Drydock even continues to impress the fanbase by actually listening to their criticisms and wishes. The first free update was released in December 2022, and gave players the ability to continue changing the seasons for continuous farming fun after the story is over. They also added more dialogue and the ability to go on dates with the person you married.
And come February 24th 2023, Studio Drydock will be releasing another free update! Violet is getting to live out her dreams and is opening a brand new boutique. You’ll be able to craft new outfits for Tara, from other dresses, sweatpants, overalls, and more, you’ll get to dress for any occasion. No more farming in heeled boots and a short dress! There will also be a Photo Mode, so you can capture special moments with friends and save memories from Tara’s life in Fairhaven. There’s even a special wedding to attend, and several more secret treats to discover in-game.
Coming February 24th!
In just two short days we’ll have Violet’s Boutique! If you haven’t played Wylde Flowers yet, you can find a demo on Steam, where you can also Wishlist the game. It’s also on Apple Arcade and Nintendo Switch!
And if you’re looking for more farming fun, then check out the upcoming Cornucopia, Coral Island which is in early access, or the fully released Harvestella.
- Feb 8, 2023
SunnySide is an upcoming game published by Merge Games with a mix of farming and a dash of dating sim. The graphics are reminiscent of the Lake so it really has a relaxing vibe. SunnySide is inspired by the Japanese countryside and will have you fermenting your own soy sauce and slicing tofu, and gazing upon cherry blossom trees!
Much like My Time at Sandrock, SunnySide has more of a modernised take on farming by giving you access to solar panels, electric water pumps, and other such contemporary machines. You’ll be totally self-sufficient when it comes to growing and cooking your own food and generating your own power. There will be no shipping boxes or other tedious tasks!
With that extra free time, you can really get to know the locals. Moreover, form friendships or romantic relationships, join groups, attend events, and more! With the use of technology, like your in-game smartphone, you can keep in touch with new friends, access online shopping, and store your favourite farm fresh recipes.
Coming Soon to Switch and Steam
The developers behind this beautiful farming JRPG plan to release it on PC and Switch in 2023, with PlayStation and Xbox to follow soon after. For now, you can Wishlist SunnySide on Steam here.
