Video Games
Spiritfarer Game Review
Hello friends, and welcome to an adventure in Spiritfarer!
Spiritfarer is a story-rich adventure management game with a relaxing, atmospheric vibe. It has a female protagonist and can be played co-op with a friend! There is a lot of exploration and some platformer aspects to this game, along with building and crafting. It may make you shed a tear or two, and will definitely have you smiling and laughing at certain points.
In this game, you play as Stella, accompanied by her cat, Daffodil. You are chosen to be the next Spiritfarer and are given a glowing orb called the Everlight by Charon, the previous Spiritfarer.
As the new Spiritfarer, you must get a boat and use it to take care of lost spirits that you find on islands around the map. You will eventually accompany the spirits in your care to the Everdoor where they will continue without you on their journey.
Your boat will require upgrades to accommodate requests from spirits that you have picked up, and those upgrades will require materials from various islands. Gardening and cooking are possible on your boat, as well as fishing of course. There are numerous boat upgrades and tiers of materials for advancing in cooking and crafting. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of crafting content in this game.
I ended up doing two playthroughs of Spiritfarer, because it was just so sweet and enjoyable. The first playthrough took me almost 40 hours and that involved me taking my time and learning how to play the game. I’m still not completely finished with the second play through (about 20 hours in) but I estimate that if I finish it, I will spend about 30 hours total.
This game is certainly worth the original price of $29.99. Even someone who plays at a high speed will still probably get 30 good hours out of it, which is only around $1 per hour. However, this game is currently on sale for $9.89 on Steam until 7 July 2022.
If you want to know more about this game (spoiler free), keep reading below for some of my favorite parts, playing tips, and what I think could be improved.
LIKES:
❤️ Daffodil the Cat: I love Daffodil’s animations; they are so adorable. Having a cute kitty companion is the perfect addition. I didn’t have a chance to try it, but from what I understand, if you play co-op in this game your friend will play as Daffodil.
❤️ Music: The music in this game is so pretty and nice to listen to. This is a calming and soothing game that is perfect for relaxing.
❤️ Keyboard Use: I loved the fact that I could be kind of lazy while playing this game and only use my keyboard :). Temtem is the same way and it’s great.
❤️ Fast Travel Points: I’m so happy this game implemented fast travel. The map is quite large and fast travel points are such a great way to progress on quests, especially when you have to go from one side of the map to the other.
❤️ Map System: This game has a great map system where you can see what each island/location has to offer on the big map overview in terms of items to buy, spirits, shrines, sheep, etc. If you need raspberries or mushrooms or whatever, you know exactly where to get them!
❤️ NPC Side Spirits: The little NPC side spirits on the different islands are all so entertaining! I highly recommend talking to each one for a quick laugh. The dialogue is creative and unique, you’ll meet quite a few odd fellows plus pick up any side quests which will go under the Shenanigans Tab in your quest tracker.
❤️ Sassy Dialogue: I was slightly surprised that the dialogue uses some light curse words. I had assumed that it would be almost more of a child friendly game, but I am happy that it isn’t prude-ish at all. I would call it sweet and sassy!
❤️ Food Recipes: Have I mentioned how many recipes there are in this game? It’s fun and easy to cook and there are tons of food combinations and ingredients to collect. Plus, every spirit has a favorite food to discover as well as likes and dislikes.
❤️ Cooking: It is not realistic, but I appreciate that the food can’t overcook in this game (it just dings at you until you go and get it out of the oven) and the fact that you can cook multiple of the same dish at once (up to 5 of the same dishes).
❤️ Boat Editing: Along with being able to make all kinds of fun and cool additions and upgrades to your boat, the developers did a really good job making sure you could easily rearrange the buildings, which is especially necessary when you upgrade your space.
❤️ Traveling: There is a super handy travel timer in the top left of your screen that shows you how close you are getting to your next destination, plus a safe-travel mode where you can avoid any events you don’t need.
❤️ Fishing: The fishing in this game is fun, quick, and easy. If you are playing on PC, all you need to do is press E to cast the line and hold E to reel it in when you get a fish. If the fishing pole turns red, tap E quickly until it goes back to yellow and then continue to hold E to finish reeling the fish in.
❤️ Boat Vines: Your boat will change in a lot of ways as you add new buildings and get space upgrades, but one thing I especially loved was the vines near your personal bed. Keep an eye on them as you progress through the story for a sweet surprise!
TIPS:
❤️ Fishing: Be aware that you can catch different fish in different types of weather, such as rain and snow.
❤️ Side Spirits: Don’t forget to talk to all of the side spirits to pick up any side quests.
❤️ Extra Resources: Sometimes if you initiate talking to the spirits on your boat and they are in a good mood, they will give you extra resources that they are associated with.
❤️ Orchards: The best products to sell were from the orchards, so don’t put building these off. Once you plant a tree and it finishes growing, you will get infinite and passive harvests from it without having to replant, so sell your extra fruits and such to merchants.
❤️ Recipes: Don’t be afraid to experiment with your foods to discover new recipes. Just think about what would logically and tastefully go together and you will have no trouble!
❤️ Foundry: Once you get the upgrade for this, build it! It will double your production. Super useful.
❤️ Old Shoes: Just trust me and save them. They aren’t worth much money to sell anyway.
❤️ Flotsam: Best way to save money on seeds, stop at every bit of flotsam on the way to your destinations. This will also save you logging time since you usually get a few logs in each flotsam box.
❤️ Shellfish: Every time you stop for flotsam, check the sides of your boat for shellfish to get easy food.
IMPROVEMENTS:
❤️ Spirit Management Page: It would be so nice if there was a spirit management page where you could see a list of all the spirits on your boat and who was hungry or in a bad mood.
❤️ Island Name: A couple of times I found myself wishing I could open a map from my personal inventory to check my location and island names.
❤️ Mealtime: Another thing I think could be a good addition to this game is a specific mealtime bell that would bring all of the spirits down to the lowest level of the boat together. As you upgrade the space on your boat, there is just so much room that sometimes finding a spirit to feed/hug them turns into a scavenger hunt. I eventually started just feeding them whenever I saw them if they were hungry, but originally, I was trying to feed everyone every morning and taking a lot of time just running around the boat looking for everyone. I did discover that dinner time feedings were better because they all go up to their houses/guest house in the evening, but you have to catch them before they fall asleep.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this review and I hope it helped you on your gaming journey! You can follow me on Instagram here for daily gaming content. Happy Gaming!
