Plum Grove-ren oihartzunak berrikuspena (PC)

Echoes Of The Plum Grove is the latest in farming-styled, cozy games. Instead of delving into a deep town story, you work to grow your homestead over several generations. The game relies heavily on sim and survival elements, with a gameplay loop much like other farming games. You will make a character, get married, and then play as your child when your original character dies. You will watch the townsfolk do the same and watch vibrant NPCs make their own decisions. The only question is how well this gameplay system works, if it’s as addictive as regular farm sims, and whether or not the survival elements mesh well with a cozy game. 

Sailing To Better Waters

Echoes Of The Plum Grove starts off simple enough. You make your character and board a ship to a new land. On your way, a storm forces you to abandon ship, and you wake up in the house of a kind older woman. After a bit of talking, you learn that you are in a town called Honeywood, near the plot of land you and Timothy purchased together. At this point, the story takes you to your new farm, where you can peek inside to find some handy starting food and seeds. 

Once you’re done there, you simply head down to the town hall to sign your shiny new deed. This does force you to start paying taxes every Sunday in order not to have your land taken away. From here on out, how the story plays out is mainly up to you in the style of most cozy games. You can spend time farming, fishing, or making back decisions that will lead to the end of your lineage. The world is your oyster, and you can experiment with tons of different ways to play. There are also some quests to pick up, but most of them are random. You can even make enemies with other townsfolk and crash funerals. There’s a good variety of things to do and try out, so you don’t need to worry about getting bored too fast. The game even includes festivals, a farming game fan-favorite.

You can get to know the townsfolk and Honeywood as some secrets to uncover that we don’t want to spoil. You should think of Echoes Of The Plum Grove mostly as a great, own-adventure type of game. To give you a bit of insight, though, there is a magic system and several mythical creatures that you can meet. This time, the major twist is that you’re going to be making a story for generations. Keep in mind that at any time, things can take a turn for the worst, so keep plenty of saves to make the most out of your time.

Starting Your Lineage

izango aurkituko duzu Echoes Of The Plum Grove’s gameplay very familiar if you’ve ever tried out Stardew Harana. You start with a small house on land that has been overgrown. Inside the house are some old tools you can use to spruce up your yard and some seeds to get crops growing. You can venture out into the town to speak with various residents and give them gifts. Doing so will cause them to gain an affinity for you, and once you meet the right person and get them to like you enough, marriage is on the table.  There’s a carpenter’s shop where you can expand your house and set up extra buildings like a chicken coop, but you will need to gather supplies and money to do so. If you don’t want to farm, there are other activities like fishing or foraging. There are even skills for you to master and to craft to make new items.

This is where the similarities start to end, as Echoes Of The Plum Grove has a large survival element. The game largely revolves around a system of life and death that you will need to prepare for. Starting out, you will have a sleep and hunger meter. Letting them deplete means you will need to start with a new character. While this isn’t a huge issue during the first few months of the game, when winter hits, you will be hard-pressed to find food. This becomes even more of a chore if you have a family, so you will need to make sure to stock up on enough food to survive. This is while making enough money to pay taxes and upgrade your homestead. Luckily, you can check your taxes as you play, but they will go up as you increase your wealth. There are also diseases that you will need to watch out for and try to treat when they appear.

You don’t want to skip out on having a family, either, as this is how you play through the game. Once your character dies, you move on to playing your child. The rest of the village isn’t immune to this fate either, and villagers can randomly die. This makes each playthrough feel a bit different, but if you are unlucky, it can make things stressful. If the villager you are wooing makes the wrong decision, then you’re going to need to pivot to a new love interest as soon as possible. After all, the only way to ensure you can continue to play is to have a strong family.

Every Game is Unique

One of the most interesting parts of playing Echoes of Plum Grove is the ever-changing experience. The NPCs have lives of their own and change with each play-through. They can get married, have kids, and grow old. The town is always moving along beside you, and if you’re not paying attention, things can change before you know it. The game starts out with several prominent families. These families will intermingle and have kids. The NPCs will have randomized personalities, jobs, and looks. This helps to make every playthrough a bit different to keep things feeling fresh. For some players, though, this may be where they find the downside in Plum Grove. You won’t find deep character development like in some other farming sims.  While there are unique lines of dialogue, things like heart events and predetermined storylines are left out in favor of an ever-moving town.

This isn’t to say some of the game’s mysteries don’t help with having a sense of discovery.  You also have the ability to continue your last character’s progress when you inherit the body of your child. Honeywood is a wonderful town, but players looking for the character connections found in other cozy games will be disappointed. It’s best to think of Plum Grove as a mashup of The Sims Oregon Trail in playstyle, with only the gameplay elements from other farming sims added in. If you love the gameplay loop of farming sims, just minus the character development, then this will still be a very enjoyable experience. 

A Crafted World

Konturatuko zaren lehenengo gauzetako bat Echoes Of The Plum Grove is the art style. The game is heavily inspired by the Mario papera series with 2D characters on colorful 3D backgrounds. Even the dialogue boxes and the way the characters walk to pay homage to the title, and paper-styled games have been well received for their well-aging art style over the past few years. Even the dreary parts of the game feel lively with the in-game models, and the game’s character randomization adds an extra layer of creative fun. While this might not be for those who love realistic art styles, the game’s design is lovable and helps it stick out from the pack.

The music and sound effects are also on point. While they aren’t as hard-hitting as other games, they fit perfectly into Honeywood and are pleasant to hear on repeat. The gameplay controls are made to be simple, making the game easy to pick up and play even for younger gamers. There’s not much to complain about design-wise; everything feels pretty smooth. Even the tutorials are nicely done, and the menu has a tutorial section to refresh players on any features they might have forgotten about. There aren’t any bugs or framerate drops to sully your experience, just a nice cozy world to enjoy. 

Settling Down in Plum Grove

Echoes Of The Plum Grove is a charming, cozy game with a very unique twist. That being said, not all players may take well to the stress of a survival-based system. The game was easy enough, and balancing the food meters was easy. The first year of gameplay was conservative for me, so I had less fun with it as I overestimated what I needed to survive the winter. The second year flowed much better and really allowed me to spread my wings. Like most sim games, the characters can feel a bit repetitive after a while, and you’re not going to find a deep narrative in the town itself. The mysterious did give me something to work towards, and indulging in the different gameplay systems, especially with magic, was fun. If you don’t like survival games, then you may still want to give Echoes of The Plum Grove a shot. It’s a nice little change of pace that you may just find yourself pulling an all-nighter to play.