The first new, full-fat Fantasy Life game in 13 years looks to have been worth the wait, with 92% of its more than 2,000 Steam reviews giving a thumbs up the day of its full release.
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is the sequel to the original Fantasy Life, first released in Japan in 2012 for the 3DS. The series blends life/farming sim trappings like fishing, cooking, and crafting with Zelda-like dungeons and combat, with this new installment delivering a considerable expansion of that original concept.
The key distinction, aside from having 14 unique jobs (classes, essentially) instead of the original's 12, is the new time travel motif that lets you move between vastly different settings that affect gameplay and progression. You can also change between multiple jobs more readily while exploring.
Otherwise, you're gathering resources, terraforming your island, decorating your house, dungeon-crawling, and exploring a vast and diverse open world, which seems to be scratching an itch for longtime fans and newcomers.
The Girl Who Steals Time released today on Steam, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch after three days of pre-order early access, and it's already managed an impressive peak player count of 34,318 on Steam, well above publisher Level 5's previous leader Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom (another good game). Reviews are similarly positive on the PlayStation and Xbox stores.
As pointed out by Wario64 on Bluesky, that beats out Doom: The Dark Ages' 31,000 peak, although that's a bit of a moot comparison given that the new Doom game is available on Game Pass where it's presumably getting much more traction.
It's also worth noting that the Japanese and Chinese market, a key demographic for Fantasy Life, isn't even fully represented in these Steam figures due to time zone differences, so there's a good chance it'll reach a higher peak when those folks hop on.
Even now, scanning through the game's Steam reviews, it's clear developer and publisher Level 5 have a hit on their hands.
"I've never written a review before and probably won’t again, but this game took over my life," reads one review that pretty well encapsulates the general vibe of the others. "I've already got 16 hours in and it just came out." This user adds that they "didn't play the original, so I wasn't even in it for nostalgia—still completely addicted."
"This is the first time in a while I can say I think a $60 game I purchased is worth the price, and I haven't even beat it yet," reads another glowing review.
One potential downside mentioned in several reviews is the apparently limited multiplayer implementation, which lets up to four players hang out on one island and explore dungeons.
According to many reviews, the multiplayer functionality is largely tied to endgame content and doesn't let you play through the main campaign or side quests together, which could be a deal breaker if you're hoping to progress with friends.
Only time will tell if Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time will join the ranks of the best farming sims out there.
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