Spiritfarer

There are a lot of games that intrigue me the moment I see them. Usually, they have something different about them from what is currently trending, and other times, they just have a very appealing style, and it draws me like a magnet. For me, both of these things happened when I first heard about Spiritfarer. I was not expecting the sudden release of the indie game, and I bought it immediately, (somewhat) setting aside Animal Crossing to delve into the world. Developed by Thunder Lotus, Spiritfarer explores a topic difficult for most to swallow—that of death.

You play as Stella, the new "spiritfarer." The reason for your new position is kind of unexplained in the beginning. You're tasked with this job by the former spiritfarer, Charon, and given a special item known as an Everlight that becomes pivotal throughout gameplay. Despite ferrying spirits to the afterlife, you have plenty to do that keeps you busy—namely farming, fishing, cooking, exploring, and questing. 

The residents aboard your ever-expanding ship are what give Spiritfarer such a strong impact. Each character has traits from the developers' real family members, and they feel like real people—well, anthropomorphic animal people. In addition to giving Stella unique nicknames, each character also interacts with her in different ways, and deals with different internal struggles. Most of these are not explained throughout the game itself, but gleaned from the art book, which is a digital Steam purchase reliant upon having the Steam copy of the game. Thunder Lotus seems interested in bringing the art book to more platforms, and I really hope that is the case. After helping to fulfill the spirits' requests, there is a very heart-wrenching goodbye when they are ready to move on. 

I played through the entire game in approximately 45 hours or so, but it is a really fulfilling game. There are some achievements you can work towards in game, and plenty of secrets to uncover. I think that overall, I have little issue with the gameplay. It would be kind of nice if you did not have to rely upon daytime to see the map. I often wanted to choose what to do the next day, since the boat cannot move at night time, but I was unable to view the map until night ended. Additionally, there comes a point when a slightly quicker travel method would be nice. They implement "bus stops" where a really adorable sea lion can warp you to another bus stop, but then you have to chart your course again. Lastly, the game did glitch out a few times for me. For one spirit in particular, I missed a lot of their dialogue and my game crashed several times while they were on board. To that end, I kind of missed the chance to really feel much for them during gameplay, but I have a better grasp of them in retrospect.

In conclusion, this is not a game for everyone. For those who enjoy time management simulation games, slice of life gameplay without any life or death consequences, and interesting storylines, you may want to pick this up. It does have a definitive ending, but the game saves before it, so you can always go back and search for hidden items and clear up quests you did not necessarily focus on before. There are a bunch of great places to sit down in game, which is an underrated feature, if you ask me. The art is also very beautiful. I would say it is on the same level as Gris when it comes to detail at times. I really enjoyed playing Spiritfarer, and I am very interested in hearing what you think of the game! Let me know your thoughts in the comments.