Recent reviews by Vix

I'm writing this review as someone who has reached level 19 in both beta tests and has been looking forward to this game for many months.

There's no generative AI use disclosure as of writing this review, even though not disclosing it is against Steam's guidelines. AI has been used for some of the in-game assets (definitely at least some of the puzzles).

Monetisation is very mobile-game - many currencies, limited time passes and gacha. Gacha is obviously very expensive, especially if you want the non-default colours. There's also no pity to get new items, so you can not get some items you want ever, no matter how much you spend, if you're unlucky. And there's no way to get gacha pulls as f2p except for events, like the launch one- only cash money.

PC port still feels and plays like a bad mobile emulator - since the 1st public test. They really haven't worked on it much at all, I don't know why they delayed the Steam release as it clearly wasn't to work more on the PC controls.
✦ Horrible pop-in, assets load in roughly 5m in front of you. It's not as noticeable on a small phone screen, but even though pop-in doesn't bother me in most games, it was super distracting here, especially in areas with a lot of foliage.
✦ No way to remap key-bindings.
✦ No controller support. If anything, having a controller that's just connected can cause issues.
✦ Can't hide the jump button, it's permanently on the screen same place as the mobile version.
✦ Can't hide the cursor and have the camera follow the mouse, you have to click-drag to move the camera.
✦ In Advanced Build mode half of your screen is used to rotate the camera, other half to move around.
✦ Mouse isn't locked to the in-game window and will drift to other windows/screens when moving the camera.

You have to use your mouse and click to:
✦ Rotate the camera (as said above, you have to click-drag like tap-swiping on mobile)
✦ Rotate furniture.
✦ Talk to NPCs and interact with many things.
✦ Progress dialogue.
✦ Dismount (you can Jump to get out but the "proper" way to get out of a mount is to click the "Dismount X" button).
✦ Activate special tool functions (aiming with fishing rod/bubble wand, watering multiple plants with watering can).
✦ Access most menus, including settings and to exit the game.

I noticed they finally changed the Store page description, at least - it used to claim there's no daily checklists, even though your progress is literally time-gated by Daily Quests. And if you miss any, there's no way to catch up, you're just behind in level/exp forever.

I've been looking forward to this game ever since I saw it on kickstarter, but at the time I had no money to spare for it. I've been really enjoying the demo and I think the game is coming along very nicely! I've encountered a few bugs but not very often and nothing too major (mostly audio issues, like sounds of rain being very loud and playing even in clear weather), I assume they'll be fixed by release. I will definitely buy and play the full version.

Here's some things I noted down while playing for a fuller picture:

What I liked:
✦ The graphics, obviously.
✦ Being able to save basically anywhere, anytime.
✦ The ability to build whole premade houses is AWESOME - I'm an awful builder and I want to have a nice big home lol
✦ Houseboats!
✦ Building looks very detailed, there's a lot of different parts.
✦ The map is very big but imo it doesn't feel too empty, even though there aren't a lot of NPCs around.
✦ Villagers gift me back and seem to remember what I gifted them and mention it in conversation.
✦ Tourists frequently give gifts when talking to them too.
✦ The little "parkour" challenges around the map.
✦ Can pet dogs, cats, bunnies, squirrels, capybaras, pandas...
✦ There's a lot of modes of transportations - mounts, motorcycles, skateboards, rollerblades and more
✦ The little detailed animations and smooth transitions, like characters moving chairs to sit, putting down my watering can, actually using the water pump and picking the can back up, putting the skateboard on the ground and picking it back up... I could go ON AND ON, I really, really love appreciate all these little details!

What I'd like changed:
✦ There's currently no way to change key bindings.
✦ Limited character creation - all hairstyles and eye styles (there's different iris+pupil graphics) are set colours - like long black hair, short blonde hair with a headband, etc. I hope in the full version we'll be able to change the colours.
✦ I'd love if hats and accessories were separate from outfits for more mix & matching.
✦ I find the tool wheel too small, I hope we can expand it via an upgrade.
✦ Dialogue feels stiff/unnatural in a lot of places. Idk if it's AI writing or issues with translation/localization (like calling a stranger Auntie, then the stranger telling me to call her Auntie).
✦ I want more things to consume stamina, like pulling out weeds, gathering, crafting... I feel like I do a lot and I still have over 80% of my stamina by the end of day. There's so many ways to replenish and reduce stamina use and I just have no need for them so far. Maybe a difficulty setting?
✦ Getting money feels too easy too, I think partially because plants grow in a day or less even without fertilizer.
✦ Some NPCs look very similar and a lot of them have blonde hair. I actually confused 2 characters when doing quests. I think more hair colour/skin colour variety would help.
✦ Too few romanceable men compared to women. I'd also really like some guys with facial hair. At least a stubble.
✦ One of the characters, Zerine, got a MAJOR redesign and I liked her look from kickstarter WAY more.

I played the closed beta for quite a bit. I really wanted to love this game, but it's just not fun. My partner lost interest day 1, I kept trying to like it for 4-5 more days and failed. It's not good, imo (obviously). It's definitely targeted to the gacha/mobile crowd.

The best part was definitely the character creator and the visuals. Though I wish there were voices to choose from, every "body type" sounds very young and hyper.

Here's some of the issues I had with it in closed beta, they haven't changed for release:
✦ UI is confusing with many layers and so. many. red dots. all the time.
✦ Lots and lots of currencies.
✦ Rose orbs (paid) and bound rose orbs (free) look almost identical, which makes shopping frustrating as they're NOT interchangeable.
✦ No way to show full NPC dialogue, clicking just slightly speeds up text appearing.
✦ Life skills felt really boring with a lot of unnecessary wait times. 5s to gather, 5s to craft, no batch crafting. I know this can be shortened with skills, but to me it felt like creating a solution to a problem that didn't have to exist in the first place.
✦ "Social" events are just afking for long stretches of time, which is also boring. I thought they'd be more active, like social mini-games.
✦ You can auto-battle and auto-walk to quests. If you want to play this game mostly afk, you can.
✦ Main Story has on and off Japanese voice acting, what is voiced and what isn't felt completely random.
✦ Main Story drags on, is disjointed and isn't a good tutorial. Sometimes NPCs talk like they're introducing you to a new feature, but then there's no follow-up to it, the MSQ doesn't actually make you ex. enhance your gear. Every time MSQ made me go to the plains (Open World), it was for like 2 minutes and then it was back to talking to NPCs in town. The "adventures" were very quick and made for a confusing timeline and uninteresting lore so far, imo (I read quests and watch cutscenes). Not to mention the typos and spelling errors.
✦ Instead of going from A to B, many quests required me to walk a specific path for no reason.
✦ The plains themselves felt vast and very empty.
✦ The monsters are mostly very similar in appearance and attack patterns.
✦ There's a lot of movement skills (you can like 6-tuple jump, float, dash, etc etc) but there isn't much purpose to them. There's chests strewn around like in Genshin, but no real puzzles and with the ease of movement they're generally very easy to reach.

I really like roguelites but I tend to get bored about an hour into a run in other games and I need to take a break. NOT this one. I convinced my partner to try the demo with me and after sinking a few hours into it, I bought us both copies and we've been loving it - itching to play more when I go to bed and wake up the next day!

I think what Shape Of Dreams does better than other co-op roguelites we've played is how flexible and cooperative build customisation is. I think the only thing you're "bound" to is your character's passive (though I think it can get destroyed), everything else can be switched out, sold, destroyed OR given to a friend. I didn't realise how limited cooperation has been in other roguelites I've played until this game.

I've even tried playing characters that'd usually never interest me because unlocking new default abilities on them seemed like fun, and I did have fun trying to create builds on them too.

Some challenges can be more frustrating than fun (like trying to get to and kill a boss in under 2 minutes) but nothing bad enough to not make me love and absolutely recommend trying this game. At least check out the demo!

It's unfinished and abandoned.

Really fun demo! Lots of gameplay included and can be played multiplayer. I don't think any of us (3 total) encountered any major bigs. Only issues we had were stacks not stacking sometimes, no warning when picking up an already owned perk and sometimes items dropping in tricky to reach spots, but not completely unreachable.

I really enjoyed the perks having synergy with each other, made for some interesting combos. And the meta progression is really well done IMO.

I was going to keep my expectations low... and then I got the grappling hook and all the Worlds Adrift feels started flooding in. I'm SO happy Lost Skies is so reminiscent of WA - I've been missing it for years. Grappling around, flying, exploration - it's just as fun as it was in WA, but already feeling more fleshed out.

The islands have denser gameplay, with multiple animals and robot-enemies to fight, and many puzzles to solve. We FINALLY got the sky whales! And big scary subnautica-like flying monsters. That spooked me out.

I've only experienced minor bugs in the demo, like elements of UI getting stuck on screen and some lag when islands load or when starting a fight. I've been having a lot of fun though and I keep itching to dive back into the game, just like I did with WA. I can't wait to see how the game develops. I'm just SO hyped Worlds Adrift isn't completely dead anymore!

As a mouse+keyboard user the demo was a pain. The mouse doesn't work at all and by default the controls show primarily controller mappings. I don't own a controller so I didn't get very far.

I seriously can't recommend this game enough. At the time of writing, I've spent over 150h playing it in Beta. For me, it's the loveliest blend of Farming Sim, Life Sim and Survival game. It has:

✦ Very cute graphic style

✦ Calming soundtrack

✦ Simple and satisfying farming mechanics
Plant and water seeds, wait for harvest, different plants grow in different seasons.

✦ Other standard activities, like fishing, mining and foraging

✦ Crafting
You can make different meals, tools, workbenches, decorations, etc. Or you can buy them already made from NPCs.

✦ Survival mechanics
Tiredness, hunger, health. Adds another layer of complexity and challenge - can be switched off if it's not your jam.

✦ Character customization
You create your character at the start of the game and can choose your hair, skin color, outfit, gender, etc.

✦ Varied NPCs
NPCs not only have different jobs and different things they sell, they also have hobbies, different personalities (which affect how they talk), even facial expressions and idle stances.

✦ Aging and Generational gameplay!!!
Your character and nearly every NPC in the world can get married, have children, age and die. You can also adopt. It makes the game stay fresh for years and years. I find it incredibly fun to see who gets with whom, how their kids will look and what personalities they'll have.

✦ Deadly diseases
There's old-timey illnesses that can and will kill (unless you turn them off in the settings). It brings more challenge (you have to buy meds, which can be pricey, and not all are 100% effective) and can seriously reshape your town. When a lot of townies die, they get replaced by travellers.

✦ Magic
I won't say too much cause spoilers, but it's fun!

✦ Passionate and responsive devs
The game is developed by only TWO people, and they're seriously amazing. Over the beta they've been very transparent with us in their Discord, responded quickly to feedback and bugs reports.

✦ And more!

If you're interested, you should definitely give Echoes of the Plum Grove a try. It's worth its price and more!

I'm really enjoying this game and would 100% recommend it. I thought the dialogue menu would get tiresome, but it's probably one of my favourite features!

My only gripe are the NPC visuals. They're... very quirky looking. And often very ugly, to me anyway. But I can look past it, the game play is great. I love making my village, individual houses, managing my nobles' relations... Can't wait for the baby update!