CRUFT Review

Game: CRUFT
Genre: Casual, Indie, Simulation, Strategy
System: Steam (Windows)
Developer | Publisher: Go On Entertainment
Controller Support: Compatible
Price: US $9.99 | UK £8.50 | EU € 9,75
Release Date: December 18th 2025

A review code was provided, many thanks to Go On Entertainment.

Craft, Thrive and Move on

Few games make an instant connection with my soul like CRUFT. The best way to describe it is as a crafting roguelike—or perhaps a roguelike Stardew Valley. In this title, you craft your way toward an objective, only to leave behind the plot you’ve farmed, grown, and thrived in, setting out in search of another adventure. The tutorial provides the basics, but from then on, you’ll need to explore, take risks, and sometimes let go in order to advance.

First, you must make pizza. But to do that, you’ll need to grow wheat, process it into flour at a mill, raise cows for cheese, and source tomatoes and sausage. Cows require feed, crops often need water, and every step in CRUFT’s crafting chain adds another layer. Everything you produce also generates garbage—or cruft—which begins to pile up on your land. To clear it, you must haul it away in your van at a fixed cost of $25.

Completing an objective unlocks new features for future projects. However, you can only fulfill an objective when you leave your current plot, and you can only take what fits inside your van. This means that to progress, you must start over on a brand new, completely empty plot. Each plot offers different resources to harvest or buy, challenging your planning and strategic skills even further.

This is where foresight makes all the difference: choosing which objectives to pursue, securing the necessary items, and managing the buildup of cruft. The core loop is deeply compelling—earn money, focus on your target, and then leave everything behind to begin again.

Quirk and Sophisticated

Don’t let the simple graphics fool you. CRUFT is an advanced crafting experience with multiple paths to profit and a complexity that will hook you for hours. Every new resource, recipe, or construction unlocks a fresh world of possibilities and challenges. New plots become available, too, each with unique supplies and sellers to enhance every fresh start.

You might choose to be a farmer, raising animals for meat-based dishes, or grow crops to produce drinks and meals. You could become a miner, extracting minerals to craft jewellery or electronics. Or perhaps a woodworker, felling trees to make furniture. The possibilities feel endless.

Sometimes there’s more than one way to achieve the same result. You can gather gold from a mine or pan it from a river. Can’t find a resource? Check with local sellers—they might have it in stock. You can be self-sufficient or earn money to buy your way to the goal.

Each objective you complete unlocks new possibilities, adding layers of complexity. Planning ahead becomes essential, as many objectives depend on resources you don’t yet have. See an item you don’t know how to craft? Explore new workstations, visit new plots, and check whether the recipe is available—and if not, what you must do to unlock it.

Item management is another engaging challenge. Without early organization, your plot can become wonderfully chaotic. Every item occupies one or more squares, and they’ll spread everywhere. That gap between your crops and the water? Now there’s a pizza there. That forgotten corner? Stacked with salt. It’s a beautiful mess that demands careful management so you don’t lose your workstations beneath mountains of items.

Sometimes you’ll pick a plot that doesn’t have what you need for your planned goal. Not to worry—you can either adjust your objective to suit the plot’s resources or give up and select a new plot that fits your original plan. Careful preparation can prevent this, but starting over is seamless and part of the experience.

Conclusion

Anyone who loves crafting games must play CRUFT. It hooked me within minutes—high praise for a title I picked up for review. CRUFT has easily become one of my favorite games, and I’m so glad I discovered it. The gameplay is solid, built by someone who genuinely understands what makes a crafting game compelling. It’s fun, complex, and delivers everything a craft-minded player could want. If I could give more than two thumbs up, I’d award it a star labelled “favorite game.” Stop what you’re doing and play CRUFT.

Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up

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