June’s Nintendo Direct introduced us to a brand new game concept: Farmagia. It involves farming monsters and adding them to your team. The game was also designed by Hiro Mashima, the creator of Fairy Tail.
Game Name: Farmagia
Platform(s): PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PC (Reviewed)
Developer(s): Marvelous Inc,
Publisher(s): XSEED Games, Marvelous USA, Inc., Marvelous
Release Date: November 1st, 2024
Price: $49.99
Farmagia takes place in Felicidad, a fantasy underworld where monsters and humans live in harmony. Farmagia are humans who can give orders to monsters as well as grow them on farms. The five main islands of Felicidad operate in peace with the Magus ruling over all of them, until the Magus disappears and leaves the islands in the capable hands of the Oración Seis. The Oración Seis are Farmagia generals who are stationed on each island.
Glaza decides to take it upon himself to assume command as the Magus. Only one of the Oración Seis disagrees with his nefarious methods: Nares. She gathers the help of Ten and other Farmagia from Avrion to defend against the threat posed by Glaza.
Being A Farmagia
You start as a Farmagia named Ten, with a little friend, Lookie Loo, who is a floating eyeball. The gameplay loop has you visiting mazes all around the islands of Felicidad. After each area, you can select a teleporter to take you to another maze section. Some sections feature fairy fruit or item vines, while others are larger areas known as monster nests. These nests have multiple waves of monsters you can defeat to obtain stronger fairy fruit or item vines. Fairy fruit adds a rogue-lite element to the game, randomizing the color and ability of the fruit for a specific monster type or your player character. You will start to gain allies in your party that you can swap out before the maze begins. Each party member adds a new passive ability to the party, and the active character you select also provides their unique boost to the monsters you have under your wing.
In combat, you can have up to four different monster types equipped: a melee attacker, a long-range attacker, a supporter, and a formation monster. Pressing the specific face button will have that monster type attack whatever your cursor is pointed at. Each enemy monster has weaknesses against a specific monster type. For example, if you attack a flying-type enemy with a long-range attacker, it deals more damage. If you hold the face button down, it makes all the monsters of that type in your arsenal attack.
If a monster attacks you and you press the guard button, you will perform a perfect guard if it hits at the exact moment. This results in no damage from the attack; normally, guarding only mitigates the damage you receive. It is ideal to perfect guard as much as you can.
Combat itself wasn’t bad, but I do think there isn’t much impact from your attacks unless you use the Unite Blitz attacks from your arsenal. Unite Blitz attacks are special moves that, if you hold the right trigger and press the face button of the monster, will unleash a powerful attack that can deal serious damage. These attacks can also stun bigger enemies, allowing you to execute legion attacks.
Outside of combat, you can build your bonds with elemental spirits as well as curate your farm. All elemental spirits have unique tastes regarding what they like and what they want to talk about. If you talk to them about the right topics or give them items they like, they will grow fonder of Ten. If they like Ten more, you will be able to increase their bonds and enhance your passive abilities.
On your farm, you have a limited number of actions you can take in a day; this includes tilling the ground, watering plants, weeding, and destroying obstacles on the farm. Luckily, planting and harvesting monsters do not count against your actions. Each monster has a different number of days it takes before it can be harvested and placed into your party or storage.
Hiro Mashima
One of the best parts of Farmagia is the monster and character designs. Hiro Mashima did a fantastic job bringing his designs to the game world, and it was a great transition from Marvelous’s role in adapting his designs to the 3D engine of the game. You get designs like Fang Wolves that can be basic but still have a charming quality in Mashima’s style, as well as the giant fusion monster designs that feature moving parts. The characters he designs look like they could be straight from the Fairy Tail anime, showcasing Mashima’s unique aesthetic.
I spent all of my time playing the game on my Steam Deck, and it ran at about 55-60 fps pretty consistently. The only downside was that it would sometimes stutter during the transition from gameplay to visual novel cutscenes at the end of the mazes. Otherwise, the game looks and runs like a dream.
Being In Felicidad
Overall, Farmagia is a unique idea that combines farming, monster training, real-time action combat, and visual novel storytelling into an interesting package. It offers an experience you can’t get anywhere else. If you are a fan of Hiro Mashima’s art and designs, then this is a must-play. I do wish some of the combat and areas were more polished and impactful, but it accomplishes what Farmagia sets out to do: provide a unique game in a unique world.
Farmagia is available for PS5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Review Disclosure Statement: Farmagia was provided to us by Marvelous USA for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.
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Summary
Farmagia is a unique cross between a farming simulator and monster battling. The art and world are fun to be in and explore, though I wish you could explore it more and less of the mazes.
Pros
- Addicting gameplay loop
- Once you understand the systems it expands the game by a lot.
- Great art and world designs.
- The voice acting is great.
Cons
- Combat doesn’t feel as impactful with lots of spamming.
- Mazes can feel tedious for longer play times.
- If you aren’t maxing out your day, you can keep yourself from getting stronger monsters.
