Today I got an email from the illustrious Steam Gods, informing me that Pumpkin Days, a farming game that I've been staring at for quite some time now, is half price.
I was actually going to buy this the other day, at full-price, but jumped onto the Elden Ring Hype Train instead (before I got derailed by god-awful performance issues). So, I thought to myself, "Bugger it. It's half price. I'm going to get this now and hopefully by the time I'm done with it, that stupid souls game will have fixed its shit and I can finally enjoy it properly."
Pumpkin Days is a traditional farming RPG. Pick one of three towns to start your farming adventure. Farm, fish, mine, catch bugs, raise animals, and more. Help fill out the museum to stop a factory from being built on the island. Unless you wish to side with the factory. The choice is yours.
Pumpkin Days on the Steam Store.
What attracted me to this game was the fact that there are several towns you can make your home in, there are literally a hundred of NPCs of the romanceable persuasion, there are over 500 collectibles, and apparently the customisation -- both character-wise and home-decoration-wise -- is absolutely fantastic.
I'll be the judge of that!
There are many reviews comparing it to Stardew Valley, of course, as every game of this type is now compared. I have lived in Stardew Valley for over 500 hours and my hope is that Pumpkin Days can offer the same joy.
Apparently I should also expect not-the-best graphics and slightly clunky controls...
That, there, the alleged clunky controls that some reviewers mention, makes me want to zoom through the first hour and a half so I can make the refund window just in case it's really that terrible. 😬
The reviews I read weren't wrong about the character creator. It's definitely got a lot of choice! I didn't spend over an hour in it like I did in a more recent game 😝 but I spent a good 5-10 minutes going through the options and making a little avatar for myself and soon set out into this new world.
You get a choice of three different towns to move into. The snowy mountains is apparently more asian inspired, the beach more islander/maui inspired, and Pumpkinvale is more caucasian and typical. Because I'm pretty typical, I went with Pumpkinvale.
Apparently you can visit all of the towns later, make friends with all of the people, own houses in all three areas, etc, so it's not that much of a big deal.
Now, first of all; I had read quite a few reviews saying that the controls were clunky, that movement was terrible, and that they refunded the game because they couldn't get used to the movement controls.
o_0
All I can say is, "Wut?"
This game's movement is just like any other game. WASD to move your character and move the camera with the mouse. Standard. Very standard. I have no idea what people were complaining about.
My only complaint with the controls so far is that I can't press 'esc' to exit menus. I have to click on the windows' 'close' button or, say, for the map, press 'm' to open it and 'm' to close it again. As I am so used to just esc'ing everything it's annoying, but it's not game-breaking.
Once you go through a little movement tutorial, you're directed to go speak with the mayor and you have the option of three plots of land to buy.
I decided to go with the River lot!
I enjoy fishing in these types of games, and just having a river aesthetic in the background would be a nice feature.
Ahh, lovely!
Before we get to the farm though, we're directed to speak with a bunch of townspeople and introduce yourself and also learn how to do the basics.
So far, straight off the bat, I'm really liking a few things in this that Stardew Valley and other similar games just don't have.
You can choose how long you want to sleep for!
The Bar in town is open until 4am; thus, you don't need to rush into bed before 2am and hope you don't pass out in a cave somewhere. You can roam around at night as long as you have enough stamina! That's great.
You also don't need to sleep to save! Woo!
However, if you do labourious work after midnight, your stamina will drain super quickly.
You can also choose how long or short your days are! That's so great. I've set mine so that one day-and-night cycle is 47 minutes which I think is a good amount of time.
Each season you have a quota to fill, and if you fill it you'll get rewarded. I like that, having something to work towards every season if you choose. Or you can just plant what you want.
Another cool thing is that you can actually see that your character is exhausted! She's all hunched over, dripping sweat. I like that small attention to detail, rather than just "Oh, my energy bar is red. Guess that means I'm tired."
And if you have the money, which I don't xD, you can buy new clothes for your person! You can also tailor them yourself if you have the correct tools and materials, which I also don't, being a brand new person in the game.
Same with hairstyles too -- there is a salon in town so you're not restricted to how you first made your character, and there's also a jeweler in town so you can wear some bling!
The fishing minigame, however, is a bit of a struggle.
While it's much like Stardew Valley's one in that you need to click and keep the fish in the green zone to be able to capture it, it's a lot harder to actually keep in the green as it bounces around all over the place. I'm sure I'll get used to it though.
Unlike Stardew Valley also, you can't use fishing right off the bat to earn all of your money. That's my go-to when starting a new character in that game: getting the fishing rod, making thousands, then starting my farm. Can't do that in this with the crappy starter rod you're given!
Anyway, now that I've fulfilled the mayor's request that I introduce myself to all the craftspeople in town, and my very first crops that were just given to me have been harvested, I had enough money to buy a good amount of seeds and start farming proper-like.
I only bought 3 of each seed so I wouldn't waste too much of my daily energy. That'll get better later on as I get better tools, as is standard with these games.
I really like how I can just move stuff whenever I want. Like the well in the screenshot above. I can just pick that up and place it wherever I want, whenever I want. I don't need to go see the house builder person to move things around for me.
Once again I'd like to say that I really like the sleep system too. At 3pm, my person took a 3 hour nap and woke up with enough energy to keep clearing some more of the weeds on her farm which was nice, not having to just sleep and wake up the next day to continue onwards.
With my new seeds planted, I thought I'd talk to all the people I come across and try to make some friends.
And it turns out that you don't need to do any sleuthing around to discover what to gift these people. That's great. I hate having to stare at wikis to find out these things when it should just be in the game. Like, yes, it's "immersive" to discover their likes and dislikes, but this is just a nice quality of life feature.
It also turns out that pretty much every NPC you talk to will give you quests at some point, and you can also do little delivery quests to raise your friendship and get a few moneys or items.
And, of course, there's the bulletin board quests! Which updates every day, and a lot of the things the people are asking for this early in the game, are things you can just find on the ground and palm over.
Easy peasy.
The goal of the game, much like its predecessors, is to complete the museum before a giant corporation moves in and ruins the town.
That happens on Spring 1st, year 3... so I have two years to help complete the museum! Or not. And just let the energy drink factory take over. I do like caffeine and energy drinks..... 👀
It's a little bit ugly, but the heart is there. It's also very easy to get into and play, unlike that beautiful eastern farm game I tried during the Steam Demo Week.
The controls are not as clunky as I was led to believe in various steam reviews, though the fishing minigame is a bit whack. It's got a lot of people, all of whom seem to have different personalities so far, although there does seem to be quite a few Dude-Bros, brah. By the looks of things there is so much to decorate your house with and upgrade your house with. Overall, so far I'm quite enjoying this little farm game.
I've really only touched the surface so I'm looking forward to diving deep into this one and seeing how I fare. I reckon it'll be a nice distraction while waiting for Elden Ring to get patched already. xD
Looking forward to sharing my character's progress, and her farm's progress, in coming days! 😁
Until next time!! 😊🐷🌿
All screenshots in this post are courtesy of me, 