Game Thoughts - Immortal Life by YiFang Studio

What's It About?

In this farming sim game, you play as a cultivator who was personally invited by one of the elders of the Guiyun Sect to become their farmer, since you have talent in horticulture and also want to further your cultivation. Unfortunately, on the day you arrive, the sect is attacked by numerous meteorites and most of the members are killed in the process.

You and some other wandering cultivators have survived because one of the members, who had also survived, saved you. Now, you and your companions decide to rebuild the sect to its former glory, and maybe find out what happened that day.

And yeah, part of that rebuilding is you doing the thing you were asked to do before all that, which is to tend to the land.

This game is still in Early Access though, and so things aren't final yet. Also, I haven't really gotten to the end of what's covered in Early Access so far, so there might be stuff I can't really talk about yet.

Writing

I would have to say that the premise is pretty intriguing, as I've never encountered this kind of story before, both in the farming sim and cultivation game genres. Like, with isekai stories, you have some that are focused on farming, city building, or store management, but this is the first time I've seen something in the cultivation genre that's focused on farming (and city rebuilding, I guess...) Well, either that, or I haven't really read or watched that much lol

I like that aside from the main story, each character has their own subplot going on, and the relationships really do feel more like close friendships than they are romantic, if ever that's going to be a thing. Although I also kind of get the feeling that they're really just relying on you for everything, making this something also of an RPG... Or are they really just looking for stuff that you can provide?

When it comes to normal, everyday dialogue, though, there's not much variety when it comes to the lines, but I guess that would be a given. I am not sure if they update when you improve your relationship, since I am so far from really making a noticeable dent as of this writing.

By the way, this is originally in Chinese, so it's expected that there may be some errors or lack of information in their English translation. It's decent so far, although there are parts that haven't been translated yet.

Art

The game is fully 3D, and it's also pretty cause it really gets into that art style used for those Chinese cultivation novels, although here it's a bit on the cartoony side. Still, the environment is pretty, like you walked into a painting, sometimes, and the different seasons are shown well.

Audio

The music for this game is pretty, and there are different themes for each place. They also change depending on whether it's day or night, which gives some variety. If you notice the music a bit too much, you might get bored, but it does provide sound cues. Sometimes you can get a little too preoccupied with things that you don't really notice how much time has passed.

Gameplay

The gameplay is mostly your normal farming sim, although you don't have animals except for bees, and you do have some skills that you can use specifically for farming. However, the first skill that you have for watering plants is way too costly, and you'd rather just wait until you can build the sprinkler equivalent in this game.

Money also tends to get pretty tight at the start, since a few characters ask for it at the beginning. However, it does get easier later on, as there are more means for acquiring it.

As for the minigames... The fishing here is pretty easy compared to most other farming sims, and can really just be a matter of sticking with it long enough until you get the fish you want. I also like the cooking minigame for this since it's fun and can teach people to dovetail tasks (leaving something to process while taking care of another task). Not to mention that you can skip it for a dish once you've done it already.

When it comes to combat, I like how your normal attack is ranged by default (flying swords baby!). So you don't really have to go too up close and personal while you're still weak, and you just have to focus on hitting enemies while strafing. It can get pretty easy to get to the bottom floor in the first dungeon/mine early in the game, though, so you might get bored of the fights easily, especially if you've been taking your time and not progressing the story and unlocking the other areas in the process.

What I really really like about this game in general is the lack of a strict bedtime. As long as you have the stamina, you can still go around doing things even past midnight. However, there is a set time for waking up, so you still have to manage when you sleep. But then, you're also given an incentive to put decorations in your house, as they improve your recovery when you sleep.

I would have to note that there is manual saving in this game, and you need to either use save points scattered throughout the map, or be in a cutscene where you're prompted to save. In a time when autosave is common, some people might forget about it.

Overall

I think it's an interesting mix of genres that I would like to see more of, since from the cultivation thing I haven't seen anyone focus on something that's not themselves and their powers, and from the farming side of things, I haven't really seen much that's Chinese-themed (the only one I've played so far is Harvest Town on mobile). But not gonna lie, I would like to have some form of taking care of animals in the future.

If you're interested in giving it a try, you can get it on Steam.