Do what you wanna do
Everyone knows or at least has heard of Stardew Valley, the hit cozy farming/life sim game where players can build relationships with the NPC’s and even marry and build a family. I love Stardew quite a bit but the one thing it was missing was that feeling of going out on adventures. I am happy to say that Kynseed, developed by Pixel Count Studios; a team comprised of a lot of ex-Lionhead developers has taken it a step further and crafted a game that delivers the best in the life sim genre.
MSRP: $24.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PC
Price I’d Pay: $24.99
Kynseed couldn’t be more of a fairy tale if it tried, when players start, they will create their boy or girl and then their twin. Both of you are one of many pairs of twins who live with the Old Woman Who Lives In A Shoe; until your Uncle Bill comes and takes you back to his farm. Once there the twins start to have dreams about a rabbit creature named Mr. Fairweather and look, I am pretty sure this dude is the devil, but more on that later. Once you are moved in with Uncle Bill the prologue begins, and honestly, I feel like this is the longest tutorial ever depicted in a video game. It last two weeks in game time but as it turns out players can really give themselves a boost using that time wisely.
The prologue is designed to push players to explore the vail, complete tasks for villagers and more. I cannot understate how important making friends is in Kynseed. Unlike other life sims where relationships are a tool to end up finding a spouse, here they function in greater capacity. In order to perform any tasks in the game like building a bridge or restoring a home players will need to assign their friends who have the right stats. Making friends is easy, players just need to give gifts to people daily; and will quickly become friends. My first time I didn’t do this in the prologue, and I struggled because I had to spend a lot of time getting friends in order to do anything… Man, this is starting to sound like my real life.
Where Kynseed shines is in its freedom. Players aren’t given a list of things to do but instead can quite literally do what they want. There are six skill trees in the game covering areas like fishing, cooking, gardening, combat and more. Ony type of players could spend their time making money by farming, cultivating livestock and selling it at market. Players are able to purchase every business in the game, which means those of you that enjoy commerce and business can start an empire. Even hire and fire employees, adjusting the price of goods and even your staff’s pay. This amount of freedom will not be for all types of players as it can be a tad overwhelming with little to no direction. The game does have a central narrative that comes from the eponymous Kynseed and goes back to that devil-rabbit, Mr. Fairweather.
Kynseed isn’t a game that you ‘finish’ in the traditional sense though. It allows players to build an impressive family tree and continue playing through that family for generations. It offers a completely open way of enjoying its world, much like real-life players have freedom to do what they want and build or destroy relationships. I will also love Stardew Valley, but Kynseed offers so much more in variety than the latter; the sense of freedom is just something wonderful. I do wish it had spent more time on a few of the tutorials but for fans of cozy games with deep systems, Kynseed shouldn’t be missed.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
