Fae Farm

Fae Farm is a farm life simulation video game with role-playing elements. After being shipwrecked on an island, players are rescued by the mayor of a friendly farming community and given an unused farm. Farming and crafting are major aspects of the game. The island has four seasons with 28 days each.

Players can grow crops, provided that they get watered regularly, similar to Stardew Valley (2016). The player can also craft items from a loom, food prep table or gem polisher.

The player discovers a message in a bottle that invites them to an island called Azoria. After encountering a whirlpool, the player is shipwrecked on the island where they meet Merritt, the mayor of a town located on the island. Merritt reveals that it was she who sent the message that the player found. She then provides the player with a house and a farm. They also meet a wizard named Alaric, who gifts them with a magical staff to help eliminate the thorns on the island, which appear from the beginning.

During their stay on the island, the player meets a mystical dragon-like sprite named Neppy, who created the whirlpools for fun. Upon learning that they are threatening humans out at sea, he helps the player stop the whirlpools in exchange for a meal. The player also meets the Wisp Mother, the island's guardian, who provides them with wings and opens the portal to the Fae Realm located in an alternate version of the island, where magical creatures live. Humans used to interact with those from the Fae Realm, but a dangerous mist called miasma has forced them to evacuate and the Wisp Mother sealed off passage to the realm to protect them.

Fae Farm was developed and published by Phoenix Labs, running on Unreal Engine. A demo was released as part of the Steam Next Fest in June 2023. Phoenix Labs later released Fae Farm for Windows and the Nintendo Switch on September 8, 2023, the studio's second title after Dauntless (2019). The first downloadable content (DLC), Coasts of Croakia, was released in December 2023, adding a new area to explore and creatures that can be befriended.

A second DLC, Skies of Azoria was released in June 2024, featuring new content, such as quests, character customization and new wings. Both DLCs are free for owners of the Deluxe version (on PC) or the Switch version. The game was later ported to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, as well as the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on October 22, 2024.

Fae Farm received generally favorable reviews according to the review aggregator website Metacritic. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received strong approval, being recommended by 59% of critics. It is considered to be a cozy game by several critics, although some also criticised the game's $59.99 price tag. The game was nominated for Family Game of the Year at the 27th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards (2024).

Katie Wickens of GamesRadar+ called it "a low-stakes, inclusive, and supremely cozy farming sim". She praised the lack of grinding, but said it "maybe too chill for some". RPGSite's reviewer Scott White said that it is "one of my favorite relaxing games of the year". Sam-James Gordon of RPGFan said it "can flip-flop from feeling new, fresh, and polished to an Early Access title that needs some refining".