chronicallycozygamer

[chronicallycozygamer]

Wylde Flowers

Played on: iPad 9th generation, with 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth controller

Accessibility: ★★★★★

Storyline: ★★★★★

Game mechanics: ★★★★☆

If you love Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons and its descendants like Stardew Valley, Wylde Flowers is for you. It’s available on Steam, Nintendo Switch and Apple Arcade and offers several hours of cozy playtime for you to enjoy. It has won several awards already and for good reasons: Wylde Flowers brings an interesting and relatable female protagonist, a very diverse cast of characters and what it lacks in customization, it makes up in stellar voice acting and a wonderful soundtrack. And yes, just like most of these farming simulators, there are romanceable characters, but finding love is not a requirement - you can enjoy the entire game while staying friends with everyone if no one catches your eye. I personally chose to date however, because it’s something I enjoy in those games, and I’d like to suggest you wait until Summer to choose (not everyone you can pick is already in town is the only thing I’ll say).

As someone who’s dexterity is not the best, I was pleasantly surprised to find that every task and activity on your farm can be performed with a single button. Watering your crops, fishing, cutting down trees, splitting boulders - same button, no button mashing, no complex mini-game (looking at you Stardew), etc. The energy bar is well balanced and you can easily recover energy in various ways throughout the game. Also, there is no chance of you passing out due to exhaustion since if you try to perform an action that requires energy on an empty bar, Tara will alert you that she’s out of strength and that she should eat something. No more accidental axe swing that lends you at the clinic!

The storyline seemed a little confusing at first, what with being dropped in the game without the eternal “You have inherited a farm” prologue, but within a few in-game days, you should understand what’s happening. Tara (the name of your character) has come to Fairhaven for a reason, but it’s your job to find her purpose. The game has choice based conversations at many points, where you choose a little bit of Tara’s personality, priorities, and interests. Do you like the cold? Did you prefer the city to this little farm? It’s never anything major but it’s enough for Tara to feel more like you, if you choose to do so. These also influence how others react to you and how certain events play out, which gives this game a nice replay value.

The diversity in my opinion is some of the best I’ve seen in a video game like this. Sure, there might be the odd Black character in other games, but how many times have you played a game where the NPCs are not three limited shades of peach? From Damon Mthembu-Haas (South African) to Giva Joshi (Indian), the game has a range of ethnicities and religious backgrounds (save some beeswax for the menorah, thank me later) that are believable and not just forced diversity. Not only is the cast diverse in race, but also in gender and sexuality - nonbinary, gay, lesbian, plenty of characters are at least implied to be bisexual (yours included if you decide). The game has been a GLAAD nominee in the 34th iteration of the awards for its representation, so this isn’t just a personal opinion. The only unbelievable part is that everyone, regardless of their own identity, accepts everyone else for who they are, something that unfortunately doesn’t happen often enough in the real world.

Now, the only reason I didn’t give the game mechanics full mark is because of two things: time limits and confusing heart events schedule. While similar farm simulators have always had events, in Wylde Flowers, some things have very time dependent. Complete these specific quests before a festival for example, but these quests are given to you in quick succession and suddenly you have several crops to grow as quick as possible and recipes to make before a certain day. Or (slight spoilers) we must change the season quick or else everyone is in trouble and certain things keep going wrong. If there’s one thing I don’t like in life, it’s being rushed. I’d like to enjoy my days without wondering if my fennel is going to be ripe in time to save a life, thank you very much. For the hearts events, the characters aren’t always where you expect them to be on their schedule and it’s hard to find where you’re supposed to meet them without looking it up. If you’ve memorized that Lina is at her store from 8AM to 5PM except for Thursday and Sunday (where she can be found in the woods), it’s very possible that you’ll miss her standing in front of the school one day (during school hours!) for a friendship event.

However, the game itself is remarkable. If you have hours to spare and a need for coziness, give Wylde Flowers a try. Wishlist it and let Studio Drydock know that you enjoy their work, we could use more games like theirs!

[chronicallycozygamer]

Hi everyone! Thank you for stopping by!

You can call me Hex. I’m nonbinary transmasc and uses he/they/it (anything that isn’t feminine). I’m a disabled gamer who’s passionate about sharing my love for the hobby and this is where I’ll do it. As a child and teen, I would play for hours upon hours without breaks (is it a surprise that I’ve been since diagnosed as autistic and ADHD?) but unfortunately as I grew up, I developed a bunch of illnesses and conditions - some already existing but milder - that now affect my ability to play games.

My hands are pretty weak, my reflexes aren’t working right anymore and I get pains and migraines after a while, which means that I needed to change how I played, and what I played. This is how I started playing more casual games, more accessible games, more games that will not punish me for not being able to push A, B, A, X, left, right, in quick succession.

What you’ll find here:

Gaming rants, about games or gaming culture in general

Casual game reviews (I will focus on accessibility, storyline, gameplay, but you won’t hear about graphics, performance and all of that)

Health talk (both physical and mental)

Social justice

Games fanart, official art, cosplay, etc

I will not tolerate:

Ableism of any kind, including vilification of cluster B disorders like NPD

Any sort of exclusionary behaviour, gatekeeping, or hate towards the LGBTQIA+ community

Any racism, antisemitism, or xenophobia

Any right wing/conservative bs, I’m as far left as you can be.

“Git gud” attitude or “this paraplegic guy can play with his mouth, why can’t you?” sort of thing - disabled people are not all the same and it’s not because someone can do something that everyone else can (re:ableism).

Unsolicited medical advice - I’m chronically ill, turmeric and yoga will not cure me. Yes, I tried. Chances are I’ve tried everything you’ll suggest.

Please feel free to message me any game recommendations, suggestions, questions, etc!