Fae Farm Preview - First Impressions on the Steam Deck

Farming simulators have become one of the most relaxing types of games to play. While they have been around for a while, it wasn't until Stardew Valley that I realized how amazing these games can be with an engaging gameplay loop of farming and light combat, crafting, farm and home customization, and how you form relationships with unique personalities throughout the town. But, even though there are a lot of games like this that has released, Fae Farm, so far, stands apart.

From the moment I got into the game, I was captivated by its vibrant visuals and cute designs. I started by creating my character, and I got right into the game. In my preview, I primarily went through the tutorials and learned the game's mechanics. These include farming, talking to people, learning how to build relationships, taking care of animals, fighting in the mines, selling and buying, and upgrading my tools. While this is standard for these kinds of games, a couple of things make it stand out.

The biggest thing I loved, which is minor overall, is that the tool will automatically swap to the one you need to eliminate whatever is in front of you. Need to get rid of a log? The game will switch to the axe. Stand in front of a rock? A pickaxe will now appear. Fae Farm will do this with farming as well, and it makes just playing through the game feel so much nicer and easier to enjoy and play without constant swapping.

Fae Farm also has an excellent system to increase your health, energy, and mana. To do this, you have to build unique pieces of furniture in your house, with each one increasing one of the three incrementally. It is an excellent way to encourage building and customizing your home/farm. They also have an interesting teleport system where you need to acquire metal ore and create "Crests," which are used to activate teleporters.

The rest of the game feels streamlined and easy to play while still feeling challenging, like fighting enemies or catching fish. The rest of the mechanics feel pretty standard, like farming, mining, caring for animals, and crafting in general. Still, when paired with the fluid feeling of the game and automatic tool switching, it all feels significantly more refined. There's so much more to play before my full review, but I am left with excitement to see how the game will evolve.

Fae Farm on the Steam Deck

So far, my experience with Fae Farm on the Steam Deck has been phenomenal. I did have to change a couple of settings, but I can play the game at 60 FPS with a max temp drain of 17W. I will go into this more in my full review, but so far, I have had no problems, and playing this way has been a blast.

Fae Farm is one of those games where the looks can be a bit deceiving of the actual game. It has a childish, cartoony exterior, but inside hides an addicting gameplay loop that I love. With the minor adjustments and quality of life improvements, there are times when the game feels like a couple of steps ahead of the curve and makes collecting materials and managing the farm so much easier. If the rest of the experience is as good as it is, I will love the game.

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