Farmagia

Farming and monster taming come together in the epic Farmagia, conceived by the visionary director Hiro Mashima. The game takes you on a relaxing – though often unforgiving – adventure on an epic land where agriculture and grand adventures collide. Gather your allies and prepare to embark on a fresh JRPG with some rather unique ideas.

In a year that saw the release of some of the quirkiest RPGs I've played in a while, Farmagia comes along as a great way to end 2024 with a bang. After titles like Palworld and Metaphor: ReFantazio sought to reinvent the wheel, Farmagia invites us to ride a plane instead.

With its unique blend of action and strategy, Farmagia is one of those games you rarely see appealing to a broad demographic. Still, seeing how popular JRPGs are getting, Farmagia might be a great way to delve into the genre without being overwhelmed with complex mechanics or nuanced storylines.

Let's Save the World – With Farming!

In the game, you play as Ten, a young Farmagia. What's a "Farmagia," you might be asking? Well, in the world of Felicidad, Farmagias are the only ones capable of commanding armies of monsters, breeding and farming them as if they were crops. That's right: instead of catching your mons like in Pokemon, you'll have to grow them from seeds, as if it was a more extreme version of Stardew Valey.

The plot is fairly linear, with the main storyline revolving around Ten saving Felicidad from the forces of evil Overlord Glaza. Anime fans will surely recognize Mashima's style all over the game's design. The mastermind behind Fairy Tail and Edens Zero designed the world and characters of Farmagia, giving the game a vibrant anime-inspired art style.

Agricultural Tactics

The gameplay is essentially divided into two parts: farming and fighting. The farming portion is very self-explanatory. You'll have to till the ground, plant seeds, and care for your crops/monsters until they're ripe for combat. As I mentioned earlier, this part of the game is very similar to an action-oriented Stardew Valley, something surely nostalgic for Rune Factory fans.

Once you harvest your crops, it's time to battle. Combat in Farmagia plays in real-time, with your character issuing commands to your monster hordes. It plays like a combination of Pikmin and Ni No Kuni in that you have only partial control over your tactics.

At the end of the day, how you grow your monsters is more influential than your tactics – something that seriously triggered my Digimon World PTSD.

A Wonderful World

Thanks to Hiro Mashima, the world of Farmagia invites you to get lost in its vast wilderness. Though the level design could be a bit more substantial, the large open spaces are great to live out your anime RPG adventure to your heart's content.

Character designs are top-notch, and so is the game's audio. The soundtrack makes sure you enjoy your daily grind, whether it's in the fields or the battlefields. Farmagia is a unique anime adventure that embraces its Japanese inspirations to become the ultimate cozy RPG adventure.

Pros

• Entertaining and unique gameplay loop
• The story, though linear, is very entertaining
• Lots of monsters to collect

Cons

• The grind can get repetitive for some players