Spiritfarer

Spiritfarer is what I would call a comfy game. A place you want to go to for some warmth and welcome. Though there is also sadness, for you are the new Spiritfarer. You are Stella, the new person responsible for bring the souls of the dead to the Everdoor where they can finally move on. To do that, though, you’ll pretty much act as their personal cruise director, helping them, doing tasks for them and making them meals. Once the passengers are ready to leave, they will let you know. It is a slow-paced game full of wonderful animation and interesting characters.

Find it on Steam.

In Spiritfarer, you have a ship that you can customize and grow. It will start off pretty small, but soon enough you can get a miniature village on their! As you spend most of the time on the ship, it is really fun place that you can arrange to make your own. Have farms, orchards and more to grow your own food. Fish to gather ingredients. Have production facilities to make materials for new buildings.

Doing most tasks involve a simple minigame of sorts. For the most part, they aren’t too bad, but they can get repetitive. A good thing is that for the most part, you shouldn’t need to grind out too many materials, and there are building upgrades that help you make more stuff at a time. Sometimes, though, you just want to go and mill some logs while sailing around the ocean, and that’s alright.

Beyond that, there are also other more involved minigames for some of the advanced materials. Those are mainly touch things flying around, and they do get quite challenging later on. Again, the game knows a proper amount to do it, so it doesn’t feel like someone overstaying their welcome.

As for people that won’t overstay their welcome? Your passengers of course! Each of them have a unique style, likes and dislikes. Their animations and design convey a lot of personality. Eventually, when they have to leave, it is a sad thing. So while they are on your boat, why don’t you try to make them as happy as possible?

A great thing about the game? Within the first ten minutes, you learn you can hug the passengers. Go cuddle! But not too much. They do still like personal space, after all.

The passengers are all interesting characters to get to know. As they stay on the ship and you help them, you start to learn more about them. There is a wide variety of people you can meet. Go hug them all.

There are also several islands around the ocean where you can gather more materials, pick up some minor side quests and generally interact with other spirits that don’t need your help. The islands all have their mini-story among the people. They are all interesting places to look around as well.

The game also has local co-op, though I haven’t tried it. The best part is the co-op partner will play as Daffodil, your cat! The cat has fun and lively animations as well. The game is just charming overall. The world has a calming, comfy atmosphere that just invites you to have a sit and relax.

The music is overall solid, though some of the characters have annoying theme songs. Not your passengers, but the other people you meet out in the world. It does fit their character, but I always sail away from them once I no longer need their services to go back to my calm sailing music.

The game is pretty much do tasks for your passengers, keep them happy, harvest materials to make new things and reach further out into the world to do it all over again. You can go at your own pace and just spend some time relaxing. Enjoy the time with your passengers for they have to leave eventually. Along the way, maybe you’ll discover something about Stella as well. The story is filled with metaphors, so you might need to figure it out, but later on, there will be someone that will tell you more explicitly what’s going on.

Find Spiritfarer on Steam.