9/10

I played this game during Covid and it was a breath of fresh air, so relaxing but also complex to keep you playing for hours. The developer (yes SINGLE DEVELOPER) continually adds big updates as well - marking the game feel constantly new. Also, the modded support will of the game is great as I played 5 player with my friends this year on ‘Stardew Valley: Expanded’ and it made me love the game even more - the game became a completion with my friends for who could make the most money in the shortest time. Overall, what I am trying to say is the game has constant new elements making it almost impossible to get bored of.

My only critique with the game is that the first Spring/Summer can feel a little boring or tedious when doing multiple subsequent farms while you build or your wealth. This isn’t a massive detriment but compounded with the fact that most of the brew content is typically late game like ‘Ginger Island’ or the beginning of the game like a ‘Beach Farm’ this can be annoying.

8/10

Great highs, disappointing lows the video game. The OST, boss fights and world-building are really good however the characterisation, combat and side-quests (especially in the second-half of the game) feel lacking and never really manage to live up to when you do fight bosses in climactic moments. The game is consequently very jarring as one minute you will be fighting Bahamut in space, and the next you’ll be helping settle an argument in a village - it feels inconsequential and the lack of invested interest in a lot of the sidequest characters doesn’t help. As for the main characters: I love Clive, I think he is one of the best protagonists in the FF series and definitely one of the best we’ve had for a while but, Joshua, Cid and Jill who are all basically party meme bees feel under-cooked. Take for instance Jill, her mission to the Iron Kingdom felt like a nothing-burger to me, I had no vested interest there because they never showed me what happened to her, she only vaguely talked about it being an awful place. Moreover, throughout the story she never really develops - she isn’t awful just very bland and stays pretty static and in the background which is pretty crazy considering she’s a main and probably the part member most in the game. Joshua and Cid have their problems too but some of these can be excused because they do have actually quite a few emotional moments in the game and are in it much less, especially as party members.

6/10

For a free game it’s pretty amazing. However, that is about the best compliment au can give as although the character designs and setting are pretty good to be honest, the game lacks any challenging content and never really innovates on its self. Once you’ve played the game for five hours you’ve basically played in for 100 hours. All you’ll do is grind new artifices to do the same Spiral Abyss, and as for the story while it’s not awful a lot of it is meaningless dialogue interactions that don’t force the player to engage in anything.