Recent reviews by Keeper Of Monsters

"We're but a few particles of thought on the vast stream of consciousness"

That's a quote from one of the characters. And you will get many of those little philosophical tidbits throughout the game.
But it's not heavy, not at all.
There are tongue-in-cheek lines, funny dialogs, silly NPC's antics...
Spiritfarer is adorable - crisp and charming graphics, pastel and watercolors, cute animal passengers, absolutely wonderful soundtrack, and a beautiful story.
Gameplay is engaging and easy (for the most part).
No time restrictions or timelines to meet, flexible progression, and absolutely no way to fail (unless, of course, you try it on purpose).
At the same time - this game does emotional like nothing else.
You will get attached to those characters - and then you have to let them go.
Of course, you can choose to ignore storyline and just skip through dialogs, treating your passengers as just cargo - but then why are you playing this particular game?
And if you are getting involved with the story - be prepared to cry. A LOT.

This game is about death, and acceptance, and learning to let go.
It's all done in a soft manner, with a lighthearted tone - but it's still hard to part with your favorite characters (and even with not-so-favorite).
It is sad - but also heartwarming.
Absolute gem.

At the same time nothing is without flaws. So - what are the cons?

• Platforming. It starts easy, but in the later part of the game some quests approach rage-quitting difficulty.
  Sure, you don't have to complete all of them if you aren't going for 100% completion, but still...
  Take into account my level of skills though - I'm not very good at platforming or anything that requires fast reflexes or precise timing.
  
• Light flashes.
  Game doesn't have a warning, deemed safe for people with disabilities, but still - there are some smaller flashes throughout the game, and a very big ones at crucial cutscenes.
  Again, maybe that's my personal issues (as I have some degree of photosensitivity), but be forewarned.

All in all - I am very happy with Spiritfarer (fountains of tears notwithstanding). I fell in love with this game at the very start and kept this feeling all the way through so far (and don't see it changing!).

Would I recommend Spiritfarer?
YES! Absolutely!
Just make sure to have a big box of tissues right next to you if you are going to play this one.

P.S. Huge Thank You to my friend, who gifted me this gem.
And another one - to my son for proofreading and correcting my mistakes.

I'm writing this for EA version of the game, so if dealing with unfinished product is not your thing - stay away for now and wait for a full-game release.
Getting this out of the way from the start - let's see what we have so far.
Another Stardew Valley / Harvest Moon clone?
Yes... an no.
Coral Island has enough uniqueness to stand on its own in farming sims genre, but enough similarities so not to feel lost going in blind.
3D is a nice twist for me, other people will feel more in their element with this. Anyway - looks good.
Visuals are awesome, music is very nice (I keep humming along the main theme through the day). Story - enough is there already to keep player interested in getting to know more, and there's a promise of fleshing it out in the future.
Gameplay - very, very familiar in its basic elements, but with some new things thrown in here and there. You get to clear the land, plant, tend, and harvest your crops, raise animals, fish, mine, also - catch bugs and critters, and clear trash. Yes, there's an environmental awareness message tied in, and some people will find the way it's done somewhat (or very) controversial - I don't mind bad guys painted dark as coal in games.
A lot of areas to explore, tons of activities to do - you will find that days in-game are going too fast, even when you put it in "slo-mo".
As for NPCs interactions and dating aspect of it - did I say already about amazing visuals? Same goes for this part. Everybody is absolutely lovely and dateable (and many non-dateable) characters are just plain gorgeous. And selection is just delectable. Who needs Sims when you have THAT?
Now to the negatives...
Bugs, tons of bugs. And glitches. Also typos and other minor and glaring linguistic errors that even I (as a not-native English speaker who makes a lot of mistakes myself) find off-putting at times. I encountered game-breaking bugs once or twice, had to start another save 1 time and just restart the day here and there. Some other people have different experience.
A lot of features are not fleshed out, some are just hinted at. So many areas are not done yet, some are there to walk in - but just empty. Often you have no idea (without asking community) if something is not there yet, or not working properly, or something else entirely. Some aspects of the game (like fishing and catching bugs) are just frustratingly difficult at times in current state for people who don't have lightning reflexes or have older computers (or both). Missing textures, memory leaks, loading issues, stuttering here and there... But a lot of it is expected when you dealing with Early Access, and from what I see - developers are working on the game diligently, so hopefully all that will be dealt with in time.
So - bottom line.
Would I recommend this game - yes, even in its current state.
I've got over a 100 hours of play time out of it already, and there's a promise of more fun to come. And the price is not too big for what we have now, with (again, hopefully) a bigger and better product in the future.
This game has a lot of potential, and I would like to see how it will turns out at full release.
But remember - Early Access is not a full game, and not polished game.
If you are ready to deal with current (and possible surfacing) issues - go ahead. If not - wait.
If you get in - you also can have a say in how Coral Island will look and work in the future. Developers do listen to the community, so it's a chance for you to participate and make your voice heard.
I will definitely play more with new updates (not saying that I'm putting it off a the moment!), and very eager to see Coral Island's full release.

P.S. I did get the game as a gift from one of my friends - so here's a BIG THANKS to this awesome person - you know who you are! <3

Star Dew Valley - but darker. And without seasons. And no interpersonal relationship with NPCs. But with a plot line.
Lovely graphics and music, easy controls.
A lot of little details (like footprints when you walk) adds to the charm.
Be ready to spend a lot of time on the wiki (or just go with trial and error).
And be ready to grind - a lot.

I liked this game before - now I love it even more!
Wonderful update! <3

Can't wait for 1.6...

Perfection.
Just like Him.
;P

Well, what can I say....
Game is extremely short - just a bit over 3 hours to beat from start to finish. And I don't see much replayability here (except for maybe in-the-lift dialogs... but even those aren't that many after all).
People say it's glitchy but I didn't encounter any technical problems at all - works like a clock. I guess that depends more on your hardware/OS.
Artwork isn't bad, though in some places almost "not there". Animation - barely exists, walking is slow and kind of "robotic". And for a point-and-click game there could be more elaborate description to a lot of "points" that you click. And dialogs could be a bit more elaborate and with more choices...
As for the story itself - I've got enough laugh out of it to be satisfied, but oh boy it's all soooo cheesy... :D I don't say that it's a bad quality in a game though. ;P
All in all - not a worst way to spend a few hours of your life, I recommend it.
Though IMHO not worth $15 in the store (especially since it's already quite old). But on sale - sure!

And did I mention: Oh Yeah - red guards are HOT!!!

Inch by inch... Calmly
snail crawls around the pot. Zen.
Watching grass grow.
............

In real life I've killed more plants than I can (or would bother) count. In Viridi I can feel like an expert gardener, and without a stress of real gardening. Au contraire - it is an awesome stress reliever (and believe me - I know about stress!).

This game requires a really low level of skills, there's no steep learning curve, you don't have to spend hours trying to beat something or find some other-thing or figure out some puzzle. You just open the game once a day (or even not every day, or maybe 2-3 times a day - up to your liking), water your plants and pluck weeds. Once a week you get a free seed that you can add to your existing pot, or keep it for the future, or trade with other players.
There's a snail that goes around the rim of the pot: you can rename and water it (She is Wet! ;P he-he) and even pick and move - or simply watch it crawl.
If you remember to take care of those plants - eventually you will get Steam achievements. I'm far from it at the moment but it's something I'm looking forward actually.

As for microtransactions - well, you can spend your money to support developers (btw - check Eidolon) and get those seedlings faster, or you can just wait and eventually get all plants and achievements without spending anything but time. Yes, there are additional locations you can buy if you want to have more than one pot - or you can just watch and tend only one. There's no need to buy anything - it's not required to get a full experience.

Cons: yes, controls may be funky (clicking on a weed to remove it can be tricky sometimes).
Yes, there's no cycling through plants in the pot - so you have to manually check each one; same for your seedlings if you have more than 3 or 4 - picking one particular isn't quite possible. Actually, that was fixed - yay for QOL updates!
Yes, there's no tutorial and without forum and community it can be puzzling to figure out some things. And yes - don't expect existing bugs to be fixed soon (or ever). Actually, developers listen and fix some stuff, sometimes.
But hey - it's a free game, and with a quality that's already better than some (or a lot) low priced garbage in store.

All in all - recommended for people with affinity to this type of games. Not recommended to action seekers or adrenalin addicted.

TBH - I've picked up that game on Summer sale, quite cheap, thinking - dropped cards (yes, I'm a collector, guilty as charged ;) ) will pay for that anyway even if that is crap. But what do you know - while getting those drops I've actually started playing - and got so hooked it's not even funny!
That game stands next to Artist Colony, My Tribe, Gemini Lost, Wandering Willows (well, sort of), and Virtual Villagers (sans starving and otherwise meeting their demise villagers). If you ever played any of that - you will feel right at home from the very start. And yes - I've played all of those (and more).
Pluses: really nice appealing art, easy to learn, easy to master, there's no sensitive controls or time limits that you have to meet to progress further in game...
Minuses: if you are looking for high-octane action - that game is not for you. If you don't like resource management - that game is not for you. If you don't have patience for micromanaging and otherwise keeping track and ordering around 50 "loyal subjects" - you probably will not like it much (but I might be wrong).
Now if only they add Steam achievements to that... ;P

P.S. It took me 15 hrs to beat from start to finish - no skipping puzzles, no guides or tutorials, but not getting high scores in mini-game either. As for replay value - idk, not much challenge here for me... but still might get back to it some day.

It's hard to say if the game is good or bad if it simply doesn't run. I was waiting for it to load, looking at black screen for a few minutes, and then realised that it will not work. But Steam says that I'm in-game - ok, at least I will get cards... Nope, they aren't there... Try to turn it off - ha! Steam still "see" me as in-game. I had to restart computer to fix it.
So all in all - don't waste your money and your nerves on that one, save for something that would be worth it.
P.S. Now actually game drops cards, so if you are collecting them - game might be worth buying it on sale. As for everything else - I stand by my opinion. Second attempt to run it didn't change anything...

Pretty much everything about that game was already told by others... I have nothing to add exept that game caused my comp to crush 2 times even before I was able to start it... Yes, I have an old notebook, but other games either work - or not, without freezing whole sistem. I got it practically for free from Tremor Games - and still concider it a waste of time. Really, really disappointing and sad...