While Stardew Valley has proven to be the definitive take on the farming RPG for the modern era, years of lovely Harvest Moon sequels taught me that there’s always room for more takes on a digital simple life. Indie developers have learned the same lesson, and the latest entry into the genre is Fields of Mistria.
It’s got a striking pastoral anime aesthetic, and has all the features you’d probably expect. Around 30 townsfolk whose stories you can follow, ten eligible spouses, a customisable main character, and a host of options farming, fishing, monster hunting, crafting, and mining. You’ll also be helping to rebuild the town of Mistria and defending it from local monsters.
The developers list some clear inspirations on the official site, including Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, and Rune Factory. The latter’s focus on action-RPG combat seems to be a special focus here, with all the talk of adventuring, ancient ruins, and monster battles.
Fields of Mistria is still very early in development, so further details are still light – and you probably shouldn’t expect a release date any time soon.
In the meantime, we’ve got plenty of the options in the ‘Stardew Valley but with’ genre. Stranded Sails is Stardew Valley with pirates, Dinkum is Stardew Valley but with Australia, and Atomicrops is Stardew Valley but with murder. The world of farming RPGs is robust indeed.