TL;DR: Fields of Mistria is more about romance than it is about farming, which is perfect for a lot of players! Just not me.
Fields of Mistria is a cozy farming game that instantly captured the hearts of cozy gamers all around the world. The game has already amassed over 3,000 overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam in its first 10 days after release. The cozy game is inspired by Sailor Moon, and brings retro 90's graphics and a 90's inspired soundtrack with it.
The cozy farming sim had been on my Steam wishlist since I saw the first announcement on TikTok last year, and I had been looking forward to game all of 2024! I am a huge fan of farming and management sims. The more grind, the better.
I bought Fields of Mistria within a half hour of it launching on Steam, and the intro to the game is incredibly charming. I mean, you have a jump button!
But after playing through the intro and about an hour of quests and farming, the 90's synth-pop soundtrack started to grind on me. Unfortunately, I didn't have a burning desire to pick it back up again, which I normally have with games that I'm really into! I was more interested in picking up where I had left off on my Stardew farm.
For all intensive purposes, Fields of Mistria is an adorable farming sim with a cast of dreamy characters. It's one of the few complete games I've played on release day. Most games release on Steam with game-breaking bugs or incomplete gameplay. It's rare and encouraging to see a game like Fields of Mistria release and become an instant hit!
I didn't really understand why Fields of Mistria didn't scratch that farming sim itch for me until I started reading all the reviews. One Steam reviewer fondly suggests that Fields of Mistria reminds them more of Rune Factory 4 Special than Stardew Valley because of the emphasis on community and dialogue. A Google images search for Fields of Mistria instantly pops up with fanart that's already been created in the last 10 days since release.
Fields of Mistria places more of an emphasis on community and relationship-building than it does farming. Although there are plenty of crops to plant and a large farm to till and expand, it feels to me that more time went into developing the romance and dialogue options with all the anime NPCs.
Personally, I'm one of those people that plays farming sims to farm. I remember the first time I played Stardew Valley and I figured I didn't actually need to give people gifts...until I needed to get into Marnie's bedroom for a quest. I've gotten married once in Stardew for the Steam achievement to have a full house.
I love getting lost in the farming, nature, and decorating aspects of farming sims. I really don't play games for romance.
The bottom line is that Fields of Mistria is a polished, cozy farming sim with heavy romance aspects that the majority of cozy game players will obsess over.
Should you buy Fields of Mistria? Yes.
Did I refund Fields of Mistria? No.
I plan on retrying the game at some point with a fresh perspective. Fields of Mistria is best approached as a romance game with some farming aspects instead of the other way around.
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