For the third time in less than two years I have COVID-19. Whenever an illness has forced me to stay in bed, my comfort food has been gaming. In 2009 I played all the Assassin’s Creed II in a swine flu-induced feverish haze. When I was sick with COVID for the first time, I jumped on Red Dead Redemption 2 Blind and found a story about human illness and mortality. Now, during one of the most charged years in recent video game history, I find myself under the covers, not with star field, spider man 2 or any of the other big fall releases. Instead, my go-to companion is a little Apple Arcade exclusive called Adventure in Japanese rural life.
I discovered this gem through a x Account that tweets about upcoming indie games. I took a look Adventure in Japanese rural life and I knew I had to play it. The game features a beautiful pixel art style and pastoral setting that evokes anime classics like Just yesterday and wolf children. What she didn’t expect to find was a moving experience about the importance of community.
During its opening hours, Adventure in Japanese rural life develops in a very similar way stardew valley or, in fact, any other farming simulator created in the last two decades. When the game’s protagonist first arrives at the countryside, he finds his new home in disrepair, almost every inch of the surrounding fields overgrown with weeds. But after a predictable start, the game shows his true character.
Almost uniquely among other games of the genre, Adventure in Japanese rural life It does not include any romantic partners that the player character may pursue. Almost everyone you meet is older. They complain of bone pain, back problems and a bleak future where there are no young people to carry on the traditions of their community.
“I was born and raised in the city, in a big town. I have no memories of playing in rivers, climbing mountains or anything like that,” Takeo Fujita, founder of Japanese rural life adventure developer GAME START, told me via email. “I don’t have any older relatives who live in the country. In other words, one could say that the “peaceful and simple field” found in Adventure in Japanese rural life “It comes from a sense of longing I felt from watching and reading Japanese manga and television dramas.”
The longing for a simpler life is something that permeates Adventure in Japanese rural life – not only its environment, but also its mechanics and the scale of its game. In all the time I’ve spent in the game, I haven’t become a farming tycoon. At most, it is possible to plant and maintain four fields to grow rice and agricultural products, plus some fruit trees. In fact, your character has a limited amount of “work” to do in a single day. And the days, compared to those of stardew valley or the recent Harvest Moon entries, are long, adding to the sense of a slower pace of life.
Adventure in Japanese rural life It constantly pushed me to slow down and appreciate everything it had to offer beyond farming: fishing, catching bugs, cooking, and photographing wildlife, all of which have their own fun mini-games associated with them. Sometimes I would just let my character rest on the front porch to watch a cherry tree leave its pedals or enjoy the glow of fireflies at night.
First of all, Adventure in Japanese rural life limits players to the small area around their farm. Most of the time, advancing the plot or opening a new section of the game involves helping others. Before I could buy seeds to grow my first batch of cucumbers and daikon radishes, I first had to build a bench so that an elderly saleswoman could sit and rest. After completing some of the game’s early objectives, including partially restoring a local Shinto shrine, the nearby town is unlocked.
The city is in a sorry state when you first visit. The roads are full of weeds and potholes. Almost all the buildings are collapsing. The young people are no longer there. It is one step away from becoming a ghost town.
It turns out that this city is the heart of Adventure in Japanese rural life. After exploring it for a while, I meet the village chief, who tasks my character with restoring the decaying roads and buildings, including a Buddhist temple and school, all in the hopes of attracting tourists to help the village. revitalize the local economy.
I didn’t expect this from Adventure in Japanese rural life. In Japan, declining birth rates and one of the world’s oldest populations threaten to erase rural life as the country knows it. A 2019 Bloomberg articleCiting data from the Japan Policy Council, he frames what is at stake succinctly: “If current trends continue, by 2040, 869 municipalities – almost half of Japan’s total – will be at risk of disappearing.”
Fujita says GAME START didn’t set out to create a game about the plight of his country’s cities and towns. “When we develop games, we don’t consider difficult topics like disappearing rural communities or aging populations. We believe that games should be something you can enjoy and forget about everyday life,” he stated. “‘Growth’ and ‘development’ are elements that can make a game attractive to potential players. That’s why we adopted ‘village regeneration’ as one of the game’s themes.”
To some extent, all games like Adventure in Japanese rural life share an interest in the community. After all, it’s safe to say that part of the reason so many people love stardew valley It’s for Pelican Town and all the strange and wonderful characters that inhabit it. However, in directing almost all of the player’s actions towards the improvement of his nameless city, Adventure in Japanese rural life It puts community front and center in a way I haven’t seen before in the genre. It’s also that approach that makes the game feel fresh and engaging.
Take for example the restoration project I mentioned earlier. The village chief compensates the player for completing tasks he assigns, but I found that the money he earned was often only enough to cover the costs of the next repair he needed to complete. More rewarding was seeing the results of my efforts. The project culminates with a summer festival that requires a significant investment by the player, both in time and money invested. Before I could even begin to prepare for the event, I first had to repair and repaint the torii gates of the temple where the city planned to hold the festival. It was also up to me to produce the 21st chochin lanterns necessary to illuminate everything. This task consumed a few hours of my time, but the reward was a beautiful evening celebration that felt like the culmination of everything I had done up to that point. The fact that I won a young koi fish to release in the pond in front of my house was a bonus.
Often, Adventure in Japanese rural life It doesn’t have much mechanical sophistication. Watering plants is as simple as a single tap, and most other tasks involve foraging for food or purchasing the right items, but what you have a lot of is heart. That was something I needed.
Adventure in Japanese rural life It is currently available on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-arcade-exclusive-japanese-rural-life-adventure-review-170006419.html?src=rss
