Fantasy Farming: Orange Season vs Stardew Valley
Fantasy Farming: Orange Season
Fantasy Farming: Orange Season is a relaxing farming game and is an amazing new addition to the growing popularity of farming games like Stardew Valley and other similar games, such as My Time at Portia. Grow various crops and earn tons of money, go out foraging and sell what you get, and build relationships with a colorful cast of characters in town by helping them with tasks, giving them gifts, and simply talking to them every day.Being essentially a farming simulation game, you can expect to spend most of your playtime planting, watering, and harvesting a variety of crops. The game starts you off with a handful of them, but as you progress, more crops are unlocked and you’ll then be able to buy their respective seeds at the store at a price. Some seeds even require specific conditions to grow.
Considering there that crops take some time to grow and mature, you’ll likely be spending most of the remainder of your time trying to earn cash by foraging. Foraging here means picking up stuff that is dropped on the ground like sticks, fruits, flowers, etc. Once you can go into the mines and start mining for stuff, you can harvest a variety of valuable ores and stones as well.
You’ll also want to head over to the town as soon as you can. Here, you’ll be able to interact with a variety of characters, some of which have quirky personalities. You’ll need to help them with their requests from time to time and you’ll get something nice in return. You can also gift them presents and depending on what they personally like, they may or may not appreciate said gift.
Fantasy Farming: Orange Season has a gameplay that’s somewhat similar to another indie farm game, My Time at Portia, albeit with cute pixel graphics similar to Stardew Valley. And if you love that game, you’ll definitely love this one. The grind here is real though, so if you find grinding for materials on MMOs to be fun and relaxing, you might be able to enjoy playing this game.
Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley is an indie farm simulation/RPG that had surprisingly become popular mainly because of the beautiful pixel art, its heartwarming storyline and of its fun yet relaxing gameplay. In this game, you've inherited your grandfather's old farm in Stardew Valley, a place that was previously vibrant with life is gradually being worn-down since Joja corporation brought its Joja Mart chain to town. However, you saw the potential that this Valley has and are determined to restore it to what it could be - greatness... or you could just sell out and supply the Joja corporation with your produce... it's completely your call!Like most farm simulation games, you'll need to plant, grow and harvest a wide variety of crops as well as raise a plethora of farm animals. There are plenty of useful machines that you can restore and use to hasten your day-to-day, farm life routine. Interestingly though, being an RPG, you'll also get to mine for minerals, fight enemies, fish for... well, fishes and go foraging in the wild. These skills can be leveled up with use and as you progress, you can even unlock new recipes, places to explore and even pick up a profession or two. The best part though is that the game has some of the most interesting characters in a farm sim, some of whom you can eventually date and marry. You can also decorate your virtual home and customize the appearance of your avatar.
Stardew Valley reminds many of the game, Harvest Moon, and they aren't wrong. The game seems to build on the best parts of the latter and add in acouple of its own unique twists too. This is the sort of game that gamers, regardless of which type you are, will be able to enjoy.