Is Mirthwood Worth Buying Now? My Thoughts After 30 Hours

[@southparkfirefly]

I love all these "Are/is worth it" videos~ I didn't mention it before but I watch them even if i'm not interested in the game because I just love your dry sense of humour.

[@shelbybuttimer1397]

I hate these “full release” games that have major game mechanics added later on. It’s not really a full release then, is it?

[@Lyzander911]

This is clearly early access but calling full release solely so it can go on switch now instead of later

[@gazer3713]

yea, at first it stand out from other early access farming games because it labeled as full release. but obviously it still need works to be done. At least we get a proper roadmap though. will totally hold it off for now.

[@Dante1282]

Thtas why i refunded it.

[@OGoblinKing]

To be fair its a two person dev team and buying it now helps support them. Honestly I really like the game.

[@Lyzander911]

@OGoblinKing I won't take the excuses anymore. It'll feel early access for 2 plus more years and if I play it now there is little chance I'd go back to basically auto complete the additions vs possibly enjoying the real experience which can only happen once

[@Ninja40K]

It's not a complete game, it's an ea release meant to generate revenue. Coral Island also released an unfinished game, which undermines players' trust and is a cheap way to earn money.

[@anderramsey7880]

How is it undermining trust when it clearly states it's unfinished and ea? It's just a way for indie devs to finish their game with some financial help. Coral island is a bad example, they did ea and full release very poorly but most ea games are worth the support. It's just another way to crowdfund it's the same as gofundme

[@Dryskle]

​@@anderramsey7880the problem isn't with early access, the problem is this game was released as a full release but is actually being treated by the devs as early access as it is incomplete with a roadmap of future features over the next few years

[@sidhawker]

I was super excited when I played the demo, and even did it twice, but when I did the beta playtest last month, I ended up underwhelmed in similar ways. I loved the idea of the sims-style conversation tree, but that means I have to put in so much of the effort to make the npcs feel like characters. The art is stylized in a way where NPCs don't really feel like individuals, so I had a hard time caring about them. I much prefer written NPCs that have intentional personalities, I guess

[@revannia]

I played the demo and it's on my wishlist, but it sounds like it needs more work so I will hold off on buying it for now. Thanks for the review!

[@friedeyeball]

For what it's worth, the reports are that the steamdeck/handheld version of the game also runs terribly. I'm sure they'll optimize it in the future, but as a primarily steam deck player I'll also have to wait. Excited to check it out when it's running better.

[@howtotobat5931]

Thank you for the review! It's certainly interesting, but I don't think I'll buy it for the time being... especially when it said "full release" but then some cool feature will be implemented later... I notice this pattern in "farming sim" games for a while now, they put the game as "full release" but have missing features and said it will be implemented later. It just, I feel tired to play unfinished games :( I hope they don't rush to release their game, or the very least put it as early access

[@SimuLord]

It's almost forgivable if they're using semantics to get it onto the Switch (because Switch doesn't allow early access games). It's when they've already been in Early Access for a year and they still release a rushed, massively incomplete experience as a 1.0 "full game" that they do something indefensible (looking at you, Coral Island.)

[@empressofkingfishers8656]

I love love Fields of Mistria but I probably won't resume playing it until marriage is implemented

[@Vold91]

Technically looks interesting, but certainly not in this state. It's apparently the up and coming trend for more and more indie devs to rush-release a so called "full release" (instead of being stuck in early access hell for X number of years). Then there are "promises" that it will be patched and updated afterwards - which may or may not actually happen - to catch up to a standard that actually could be called full release. Personally, if a game isn't actually finished and working as intended and advertised (at least for the most part), I'm simply not interested and I'm certainly not dropping any money on it. Guess I'm getting old.

[@unib4324]

Your getting old

[@TonyEjerJiang]

Nothing to do with old or new. You just have a standard for your reason, and it is a standard that will keep the game market quality high imo.

[@officialcryptobanter]

Well if you like indie games and devs doing something different, the sometimes they might need to release in a ‘decent’ state to get some cash in to do next fix/work. Don’t expect AAA behaviour of a small team trying to break the mold

[@MiguiMonkey]

I was so excited with the renown and relationship system!I think I'll wait it out a little more unless there are improvements on launch. I gotta watch your stream then! 😁

[@mikayamada8276]

These videos are so helpful! I love the elder scrolls vibe since Skyrim is my favorite game of all time. I do hope they are able to expand the game and fix those bugs soon! Thank you for always being honest about your experiences

[@Tribdinosaur]

No wonder Josh played for 30 hours, he didn't use fast travel! (Just kidding; he explains in the video that it was also rewarding to explore. Even though he did miss that there was a fast travel option.)

[@CazLikesGaming]

I've been really enjoying playing so far! Love the freedom it gives you not being tied to your home and crops 24/7. The travelling merchant will also show up highlighted in blue on your map 😊

[@Vatoloco4834]

they have update twice now since its release, creators are listening to evryone and fixing bugs on the spot

[@chadwolf3840]

I’ve been waiting for this one. Can’t wait to play it. Great review.

[@pandaonsteroids5154]

Thanks for the very transparent review. It seems the game is ambitious and accomplishes a lot but for now has many bugs and not fully-realized systems. So this is definitely going on my "watchlist." Maybe I will play it later when it's more ready.

[@rulo5462]

Wow this is a very good review with your coments it really shows you played the game. Like the part saying at firt you think it was like fable but then you discover that it really dont. Other reviews are like if stardew valley, fable, and sims have a child... Good job Josh. I think I will wait for a future update.

[@msemma4316]

Thank you as always for this honest and fair review Josh! I love these videos and they have helped me so much over the last few years in making decisions on what games to buy and play. Always love all of your content! I missed a Gaming Garden podcast this week? Have they moved to being fortnightly?

[@countrygamergal]

How was the decorating aspect? Was there alot to choose from?

[@helenjones1533]

Fantastic informative video as always. I've been debating getting this but think i may wait to see how the next updates go

[@chelseabighetty4722]

Thanks for always being so in depth with your reviews. You can feel the love and passion for gaming in your voice. I love your channel ❤ Hoping this comes to Switch soon and by then hopefully will have some more updates and patches. It looks super unique and fun! The dark theme is something to keep us interested and the art style looks amazing.

[@ThePaulineu]

I just wish the had a separate animation for going upwards and downwards on your horse, rather than always being sideways!

[@jenniferwatrous1896]

The art style is gorgeous but the human characters don't match it at all, it's really jarring. I wish they looked more like the hand-drawn medieval manuscript characters in Pentiment.

[@jumbo4billion]

The artwork in Pentiment is very beautiful, so much thought and care put into it

[@marks7502]

good review, thanks

[@Jhud69]

I like everything about the game except the style of how the characters look... I'm not super fussy about game art style usually but this one just doesn't mesh with me sadly.

[@solid_2077]

I find it unique tbh.

[@Easasera]

oh, this looks unique!

[@kallmannkallmann]

Thanks for review, a bit sad there aint more

[@100millioneuros]

travel merchant is at blue cloud on map :) And north-immediately west of farm i found fruit trees and lots of nice decoration which made me very happy

[@PixxiePlays]

Thanks for everything Josh

[@Le0byn]

I played it for a few hours. It’s ok so far. I’ll continue playing

[@ampersan3]

So it's like the Coral Island situation, got it. I'm not making another mistake this time.

[@Jasta85]

Given the post launch content it looks like a good game to pick up on sale next year, glad it's gotten a positive reception though.

[@zimm2295]

Really hoping they're able to fix the major flaws that were present in your playthrough. The atmosphere and tone are 100% my jam, but I'll be waiting until it's complete/a genuine full release before considering picking it up

[@Steph11e]

A lot of recently released farming games are either really underwhelming upon release or questionable scams lately... So sad.

[@watershinefarm]

I'm glad I didn't buy it. I hate it that so many of these farming games are now getting a full release with the most important farm-sim features missing. Sun Haven didn't have proper marriage and kids when it went into 1.0, there was another game that was similar... I understand if things like kids growing up or additional heart events are only implemented later, but from the get go? No thanks. Instant deal breaker for me (unless I've so much faith in the project I wanna support it early on). Now waiting 14 more days for Luma Island, I've been looking extremely forward to that one ever since I tried the Demo. ♥

[@elly1433]

how is marriage and kids one of the most important farm-sim features? it has literally nothing to do with farming. yes, it's fun, but id hardly say it's one of "the most important farm-sim features"

[@watershinefarm]

@@elly1433 It is for many a must-have feature. Harvest Moon (now Story of Seasons) as well as Rune Factory have established marrying as a core feature of this Genre for 20 years (from 1996 to 2016, when Stardew Valley released). Players love to make polls who the best marriage candidate is and curse over all the ones that you can't marry (Robin from Stardew Valley comes to mind here instantly, as many don't think that Demetrius is a good Husband and Robin deserves better). Marriage also just adds more things to do in the game. Dating, sweet unique dialogue with the one you're in a relationship with, additional heart events after marriage exclusive to the one you married and of course all the steps you need to take to even be able to marry them or how fast you can manage to woe them. Most core Farm-Sim Players are not interested in Farm Sims that have no marriage. I'm part of several FB groups around Farm Sims, one that has 20k Members, and whenever I share news about an upcoming Farm Sim and mention there's no marriage in there, it won't take long until a comment rolls in saying: "No marriage? Then I won't buy." And that comment gets quickly upvoted. One could argue... if a Farm-Life-Sim has no marriage.... how's it different from Games like say Minecraft? Besides graphic and story, that is. Farming Sims are still mainly played by females who love to play "house". According to a poll from 2017, 70% of the people who play Farm-Life-Sims are female. And females tend to lean heavily towards content that has romance, dating, family, creating, nurturing, caring etc. - like the Sims, which is also mainly played by females - according to a report from 2021, 60% of the Sims 4 players are women aged 18-24. So it is not to surprising that many of the core audience of these Games is not interested in those that don't feature these mechanics (or at least don't feature them right away). That being said, Mirthwood intends to go the same way obviously. Just not on Day 1, which is - in my opinion - a missed opportunity, since more Games that will have these features right away, are on their way and by the time Mirthwood gets a marriage system implemented, people might have already turned their attention to another game. Personally I don't need marriage in every Farm-Sim. But I too count among those females who prefer romance being part of it. My interest in Farm-Life-Sim rises and falls depending on if that feature is present. There's only very few Farm-Life-Sims (like the upcoming Luma Island) that tickle my interest even though they have no romance. But they're exceptions. I much prefer those where I can live my imaginary perfect-fantasy-marriage life with a hot and sweet guy and get butterflies from all the sweet dialogue he's throwing at me (Rune Factory, Sun Haven, Roots of Pacha, Coral Island, My Time Series, Stardew Valley you name them).

[@SimuLord]

They get points for originality with the art style, but there's just something about the character animations that I find really off-putting, like your character is doing the Groucho Marx exaggerated walk whenever they're trying to run around on the map.

[@CHESShireCat]

It’s just too… sideways for a 3D map Like it’s the same perspective as Stardew valley but the assets are more 3D but still 2D at the same time

[@SimuLord]

@@CHESShireCat And not even in a way that makes sense (I think specifically of Don't Starve for an example of that hybrid art style.)

[@CHESShireCat]

@ Yeah! Don’t Starve still has a 2D style since it’s cartoony so it works. This is like rendered with a depth map as if it’s 3D but then everything is actually 2D when you look at it from any other angle.

[@BlingBlingDubuLove]

Was there an accessibility option to increase size text? I played the demo on steam deck and found the text almost illegible but maybe I overlooked a setting option…

[@billythao8669]

just got this game and man, farming for stuff is a PAIN.

[@JesseKerson]

Been burned too many times buying a game early to support its development only for nothing to come of it. Its not fair to these devs, as not buying it could cause a self fulfilling prophecy where the lack of funds causes the updates to slow down or stop. But after playing the Demo, and watching this video I do believe I'll wait and look again around spring or summer 2025. Thank you for your opinions

[@Lemonrollcake]

I wanted to get this, but I guess I wait for half a year and check back then.

[@СанжарМаден]

May I ask what the author's accent is? It sounds interesting and a bit unique

[@plasmodesma7569]

Game needs a hearth stone. I can live with the limited fast travel, but it's so annoying to not be able to "go home" when I want - even on a long cooldown it would be fine.

[@argonaut_jay]

This game has so much potential but after playing the demo and watching many videos the things about it that is keeping me from buying it are • No classes which i believe would improve the combat from feeling so meh • The systems appear to be really cool but i imagine they're more shallow than they seem and will end up becoming very repetitive • The animations moving diagonal need to be added as it looks cheesy when the character/house is sideways but moving diagonal • The cost even at a discounted price is asking too much for what they have to offer at this point in development

[@flowerpixel]

This has a lot of potential but needs so much work. Id rather dump my time in fom. Also i really hate fishing mini games 😄

[@Teknopuls3]

I dunno if I'd called this a Farming Sim...though it DOES have farming in it, you can do pretty much ANYTHING...which is an RPG if you're looking to classify it. If you're looking to farm though, it's DEF got farming down...as well as Brewing, Blacksmithing, and many other trades.

[@marydanielle7183]

The only thing holding me back on this one is that it looks odd how you can either run left or right. (How the character looks) Not my cup of tea, may try it later when it’s more complete and goes on a decent sale.

[@fortheloveofking]

It looks like it could lend itself well to mods.

[@Boznete]

I would love to be able to become a werewolf or a vampire since it already has them, but I guess not. Can you have children and play as them when you die?

[@i_would_but_i_wont]

I tried the demo and it's really unoptimized. My system is low end, but even on the lowest settings and lowered resolution this game ran at roughly 25-30fps.

[@Dante1282]

wait its a full release? i though its EA

[@Abyss_Cat]

It's hard to call it full release when a lot of gameplay features will be implemented later

[@Ollidor]

Yeah when a game is released as a “full release” but still has a huge development roadmap ahead, it’s BS. Same thing with coral island. I’m always skeptical to support those until it’s clear the entire roadmap is implemented into the game

[@jikal9032]

@@Ollidor Coral Island has been dangling multiplayer (which STILL isn't implemented) like a carrot on a stick to keep people interested. Bought it mainly for the multiplayer and seeing the updates being "worked on multiplayer a little bit lol" in the dev logs sucks

[@benimaru0]

Just playing this game today and its good tbh, even tho the battle mechanic is awful

[@CaidenPlayzPc]

I really don’t like the combat in the game, I’ve bought it and played it, and the combat really lets it down especially with its graphic style

[@JazneoGaming]

Medieval

[@kintarricrawford4638]

DOESN'T LOOK EXITING ESPECIALLY WITH THAT QUIRKY MOVEMENT🤦🏾

[@Drewppp]

You didn't even review launch version though.. ..

[@JoshGamingGarden]

I reviewed the version they sent me to be reviewed... And I did play after launch, all of the points in my review still stand.

[@LOLchemmy]

Play drova, much much better and it already full release

[@JoshGamingGarden]

I had never heard of Drova before but it looks like a lot of fun, thanks for the recommendation!

[@LOLchemmy]

Give it a try, you wont regret it

[@hishamshahar]

watching the video, the art looks washed out for my liking. maybe i was wrong.

[@maiasim1560]

I have to be honest - I play games to have fun. Mirthwood from what I have seen is a bit too dark for my tastes.

[@dbrowne1931]

The combat looks too hard and dark for me so unfortunately won’t be playing it after all which is disappointing. I don’t get why so many games have to have combat anyway.

[@100millioneuros]

Ty for the video. Again with the crazy pricing why do devs throw away money by thinking they are smarter than Stardew ($500+m) or mistria ($12m) devs. And then they even announce dlc already? This chasing every $5 poverty mindset makes them LOSE money!). Anyway its a very unique game i quite enjoy it. But suppose theres no fruit trees? I see an orchard skill but cant find any so far to plant. No interesting items for your farm except those animals? Thats a little disappointing! Also as for "EA" launch. It helps. Because basically you have 2 release windows which always helps sales numbers.

[@Moose0fNorway]

So it's a reskin of stardew valley with a slightly more fleshed out combat system... I'll stick with stardew valley in that case

[@Kenthereum]

hard to please you lol

[@AHH_monsturr]

😑🤨🫤🙄 smh