Fantasy Life i, the sequel to a life sim RPG that boldly asked 'What if Animal Crossing was a Zelda game?,' was more than worth the 11-year wait – it might be my GOTY

If you've also been holding out for years hoping for an unlikely sequel to a niche game you loved, I wish you the good fortune that has rained on Fantasy Life fans this month. After a disappointing mobile installment in the interim, we've finally gotten a full-fat sequel to this 2012 (globally, 2014) life sim RPG. Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is glorious. It's everything that made the first game fun – a mix of Animal Crossing coziness, Zelda dungeoneering, and class-based RPG progression – given a quality-of-life crash course. And somehow that's only the first half of the game.

I've put about 18 hours into Fantasy Life i since its launch on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, and PC. (I'm playing on PC, and the game has annoyingly crashed twice, but thankfully with no save or recovery issues.) Most of that was in the past few days. GOTY frontrunners like Blue Prince and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 were predictably enjoyable, but this is the first time since Monster Hunter Wilds that a game has well and truly consumed me. Every non-essential in my day has been sacrificed at the altar of Fantasy Life. Anything to squeeze in another hour of fun.

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Fantasy Life i presents itself with charm and color and comedy, and behind that is an airtight loop of systems and ideas that feed into each other in engrossing ways. You have 14 Lives to learn and master; these are basically classes focusing on combat, gathering, or production. Hunt monsters as a greatsword-wielding Mercenary, swap to Miner mid-dungeon to clobber a boss-grade ore vein, then take those materials back to your island base to refine them as a Blacksmith, Carpenter, or Tailor. Forge a stronger sword to fight tougher monsters and get rare materials to finish Life challenges to increase your rank and expand your skill tree. Craft a better saw to craft a better axe to cut better trees to craft a better bow. On and on and on.

The whole game is a daisy chain of serotonin. Every accomplishment sets off dominoes in your mind, and every grind is so straightforward and punchy that you never feel stuck in one place. Missing a material? Here's where to get it. Something fun and unexpected, whether a new side quest or a hidden collectible, will probably happen on your way there. You are never doing just one thing in Fantasy Life i. If you are, you're doing it wrong. It's the best kind of wanderlust.

This is what my average session looks like. I need to hunt this boss for a challenge to level my second combat job. And l mean, I'm here, so may as well hit these freshly respawned legendary trees and fish on the way. Oh, there's a hidden dungeon down this well by the fish's lake, which I heard about from NPCs because they're actually worth talking to. I'd better explore that first, and oh man, the ore down here unlocks a new tier of Alchemist items. Now I can make better potions to bring to that boss fight, which I'm going to have to do tomorrow because it is suddenly 2am on a work night.

It is hard to believe, and convey, just how much game is in this game. After 18 hours I feel 10% done, yet I'm never overwhelmed, just hungry for more. And there is, somehow, always more. You can find and level NPCs who give you specific buffs when you're crafting or fighting, and they all have their own friendship meters. There's an entire roguelike dungeon mode that creatively challenges you to clear encounters using different Life skills. You can decorate your house and terraform a big island filled with your favorite NPCs. A huge open-world section has its own progression systems, subplot, and quests. Plus you can do a lot of this stuff, particularly the roguelike dungeons, with friends in crossplay multiplayer. And I am still in the early hours of this game.

I couldn't ask for more. I wouldn't have thought to ask for all this. Combat feels great, the crafting minigames are fast and intuitive as ever, and this is hands-down the most fun you can have chopping trees or mining rocks in a video game. Every Life I've tried has been a blast, and figuring out how to work each one into this grand cycle of progression, from making new gear to clearing specific thresholds, just activates my neurons. So far, Fantasy Life i is everything I wanted twice over, and I love it more every day.

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is getting free DLC with new recipes and other cozy goodness due to "the game's global success and the warm support from players around the world."