You NEED to play Wylde Flowers | Game Review (2024)

Ever wished Stardew Valley had actual magic and was a bit more witchy? Wylde Flowers is an excellent choice for your next game.

Wylde Flowers Game Features

• Release Date: 20 Sep, 2022
• Developer / Publisher: Studio Drydock Pty Ltd
• Platforms: Steam, Nintendo Switch and Apple Arcade (iOS)
• Genre: Farming Sim, Life Sim
• Coziness Rating: 5 out of 5* The storyline and thematic elements of this game make it extremely cozy

*This is how I rank cozy games

In Wylde Flowers, you’re Tara Wylde – a girl who left the big city life to move to the island town of Fairhaven to care for your grandmother, Hazel.

Wylde Flowers sticks pretty closely to the usual formula for a life simulation game, but its main selling points are the relationship building, storytelling, and magic.It’s rare to find really good voice acting in life sims too!

What is the story of Wylde Flowers?

You join the game as Tara Wylde, who has moved from the big city to the island town of Fairhaven to care for her grandmother, Hazel.

With that, you’ll have to learn how to live the small town life. You’ll spend time learning how to plant and grow fruits and vegetables, planting trees, fishing, crafting, mining, baking, and selling items from your farm.

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As the story progresses, you’ll find the main difference from similar life sim games – Tara discovers her grandma is a witch, meaning Tara is a witch as well. These are, unfortunately, not the kind of things that happen when I visit my grandmother.

As part of the coven, you must learn to master spells, ride a broom, brew potions, and other witchy activities.

The main storyline of Wylde Flowers takes place in a year’s time and is mainly about the town’s fear, misguided of course, of the local witch coven.

It brings up plenty of relatable emotions and real-life experiences via a touching and bewitching story about magic.

Relationships are one of the main selling points in Wylde Flowers

One of the main pros in Wylde Flowers are the game’s characters and the fact that the game is fully voice acted.

The mechanics for building relationships are basically the same as other similar games. It relies primarily on conversation, giving gifts, and quests.

What is more unique compared to similar games is the depth of the characters and their stories. Tara may be the main character, but Wylde Flowers does such a good job of making other characters relevant.

As these relationships get stronger, you start to gain insight into deeper topics, such as grief and discrimination.

What are the main downsides of Wylde Flowers?

While I found the game great overall, there are a few negatives I found.

If you love customizing your character, then I, unfortunately, have some bad news. There is zero character customization in Wylde Flowers. Tara just is who she is! I guess we can’t fault her for that.

Similar to myself, Tara also runs through her energy supply very quickly. Particularly at the beginning of the game, Tara can go through her energy by swinging her axe just three times.

The story of the game is also fairly short. You can continue to play the game after the storyline is finished, but there won’t be any significant changes or developments.

Depending on how much you play and how quickly you clock those hours, you could finish the main story in as little as a few weeks.

What’s the aesthetic like?

Despite not being able to do much customization, the aesthetics are still pleasing for those of us that matters for. There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking about the way the game looks but it still ticks most of the boxes in my opinion.

The typical sim life activities are great and interesting, but the aesthetics and charm really shine through the magical elements.

One of the coolest aspects of Wylde Flowers is that the seasons are changed through magic. This means you can spend as much time in each season as you want and can control when to change to the next by participating in the seasonal rituals.

Is Wylde Flowers worth it?

In my opinion, absolutely. The few downsides – relatively short storyline and no character customization – are not even close to dealbreakers.

The touching storytelling, the captivating characters, and the witchy elements have made this one of my favorite cozy games I’ve played.

Where can I play Wylde Flowers?

Wylde Flowers was first released on Apple Arcade only but has since come to Steam and Nintendo Switch.

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