New Steam small hit is a disturbing answer to Stardew Valley. 97% positive reviews speak for themselves
Grimshire adds to the formula of a cozy Stardew Valley-style life simulator such elements as cute animal inhabitants and... the threat of pestilence.
More animals and unrest - that's what the new Stardew Valley imitator is betting on, which has hit Early Access on Steam.
Grimshire is another variation on the theme of "what if you enriched the relaxing gameplay straight from SV with some less pleasant elements." However, the independent work of the Acute Owl Studio team seems to be closer in atmosphere to the hit of Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone than to the strictly terrifying atmosphere of Neverway.
Cozy game?
The inhabitants of the titular village form a friendly, charming community, both in appearance (the settlement is inhabited by anthropomorphic foxes, lynxes, wolves, rabbits, etc.) and in character. When the game's main guy arrives in Grimshire, he easily finds a new home here.
However, this warm, friendly atmosphere is just a cover-up. As the "very positive" reviews confirm, Grimshire introduces a disturbing element to this seemingly cozy game. The game's protagonist comes to a new village for a reason - his hometown was destroyed by a mysterious plague. Now the player needs to convince the people of Grimshire to prepare for the plague before it consumes this isolated place too.
In this scenario, it's rather difficult to relax. Instead of peacefully farming, mining valuable metals, or providing small services to get rich (or just for fun), the player is constantly aware of the danger hanging over the village. Every quest, every activity, every resource may prove to be essential to save Grimshire from the impending plague.
Grimshire says no to relax
For now, the title is available in an Early Access, where the game is expected to remain for a year. During this time, it will include things like marriages, romances, and the "second year" of the storyline campaign. Nonetheless, it seems that the Early Access turned out great. Almost 400 Steam users reviewed the game and almost all of them gave it a positive rating. The current activity record is over 1.1 thousand players simultaneously (via SteamDB).
However, it should be noted that - as we mentioned above - Grimshire is far from being a relaxing, "cozy" title. Right now, as highlighted in one of the popular reviews, the game doesn't allow for a relaxed play - the player has to take all the actions if they want to protect all the virtual residents from the plague. So if you reach for "cozy games" to calm your nerves, Grimshire may not (yet) be the title for you.
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Author: Jacob Blazewicz
Graduated with a master's degree in Polish Studies from the University of Warsaw with a thesis dedicated to this very subject. Started his adventure with gamepressure.com in 2015, writing in the Newsroom and later also in the film and technology sections (also contributed to the Encyclopedia). Interested in video games (and not only video games) for years. He began with platform games and, to this day, remains a big fan of them (including Metroidvania). Also shows interest in card games (including paper), fighting games, soulslikes, and basically everything about games as such. Marvels at pixelated characters from games dating back to the time of the Game Boy (if not older).
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