Game: Echoes of the Plum Grove
Genre: Life Sim, Farming Sim, Crafting
System: Steam (Windows)
Developer | Publisher: Unwound Games | Freedom Games
Controller Support: No
Price: US $17.99 | UK £15.07 | EU € 17,99
Release Date: April 29th, 2024
A review code was used with many thanks to Freedom Games.
Echoes of the Plum Grove is a 2024 farming survival sim developed by Unwound Games and released by Freedom Games.
The Premise of Echoes of the Plum Grove
After a short but sweet character creation, we follow our new hero or heroine onto a ship, travelling for the New World. On the way, we are interrupted by a sea storm and wake up in the home of one of the residents of Honeywood. Apparently, we are the only survivors. From then on, we are free to explore, forage, farm, meet new friends, and build a life.
Gameplay
On arrival, the mayor of Honeywood gives us the deed for our new farm, but it’s not exactly free. Much like in real life, we have to pay taxes each week. We have a primary home with a bed, a craft table, and a fireplace- to sleep, craft, and cook. Our little heroes get tired and hungry and can get sick.
By pressing Tab, we can see the status of our hero and her family. In the same menu, we also have an inventory which is somewhat bigger than that of other games. We can leave items in the chest at home or drop them. If you leave something, you can always come back and pick it up later. When foraging for wood or fruits, collection is automatic.
Besides the inventory, we have a map that can be used for fast travel. Throughout the island, there are several signposts, which serve as waypoints for fast travel. If you complete a quest and need to turn it in, the map will also show you the location of the person whose task you’ve fulfilled.
There’s also a page in Echoes of the Plum Grove’s menu for all the villagers with all the information we’ve uncovered on them, as well as a relationship bar which shows how their relationship with them is progressing. Our ways of earning income are farming, trading, and fulfilling quests from other characters.
Life on the Farm in Echoes of the Plum Grove
For farming, we have a very big plot of land that first needs to be cleared of weeds, stones, and wood. This is alright because all these are usable crafting materials and are reasonably priced if you decide to sell them. You can have quite a steady income if you just forage and sell, and that’s what I did at the beginning.
Once you decide to start farming, you need to buy tools first – they are all found at the local blacksmith, but some of the other characters might also have some for sale. The game’s tools are different tiers; the one difference between them is how quickly they wear out. Once a tool is too worn out, you can leave it for repair at the blacksmith, and it doesn’t just reappear repaired. You have to wait a bit for it. Or, of course, you can buy a brand-new one immediately. Repair costs a little less than a new one.
You can buy seeds from almost all the characters. Once you are done with planting and watering them and getting to the harvest stage, you get the vegetable or fruit or whatever you planted and seeds for a new planting. Since Echoes of the Plum Grove has changing seasons, some of the plants are appropriate for planting in specific seasons. Winter is understandably the hardest of seasons, with its own challenges. We start the game in Spring, so we have plenty of time to get ready for Winter.
From the Dairy Farm, we can buy animals once we get a barn. Then we get a supply of eggs and milk. Of course, we can also buy them directly from the dairy farm, which is the better option in the beginning. Keeping animals is not free- you need a barn and then to feed them. Still, you can’t get by only with trading – at the very least, some of the quests will require animal produce that is not easily bought.
Crafting and Foraging
In Echoes of the Plum Grove, crafting is an essential part of the gameplay – we get a crafting table as one of the few furniture pieces in our starter home. While interacting with the villagers, we learn new recipes, which can be used to craft various objects – everything from furniture to children’s toys and clothes. You can buy what you can’t craft from local shops, fellow villagers, or even merchants and ships.
Crafting larger items, such as buildings, is done by collecting the needed resources – iron, glass, nails, etc.- and then paying a “contractor” in the village to build the building. So, it’s a bit like in real life.
Foraging is an integral part of crafting – the game’s unique art style allows you to easily see what can be collected and what cannot. It makes things easier. On the other hand, it’s worth mentioning that there are a few collectable items around the island to begin with. Also, since seasons change, there’s a difference between what can be foraged in Spring and, say, in Winter. Seasons are relatively long, so stock up on what you need. Last year’s Mineko’s Night Market offered the option to buy summer flowers at a winter market at exuberant prices, but still, it was an option. Here, less.
Like other farm sims, Echoes of the Plum Grove has mining. We have stray stones on our plot of land, but once those are cleared out, our only option for mining is the mine. We get a pick from the blacksmith, and off we go. Before venturing into the mine, we also need a lantern, which we can also get from the blacksmith. The lantern helps travel in the dark and runs on oil, which needs to be refilled occasionally.
Building a Life
Echoes of the Plum Grove is as much a life sim as it is a farming sim. We create our characters, and then we get to live a life through them—build a successful farm, explore the island, communicate with the villagers by talking with them, giving them gifts, or even insulting them.
We can get married and adopt a child. That child will grow, and a new generation will take over the farm. While building a family should be a personal choice, some quests require getting married. I’ll admit, I wouldn’t say I liked that one- it felt stifling. The idea is to force the player to explore all aspects of life in Echoes of the Plum Grove, but I think since it encroaches on the idea or illusion of free will, it actually breaks immersion slightly.
The Art and Style of Echoes of the Plum Grove
Visually, Echoes of the Plum Grove is an exciting game. It’s 2-dimensional, mainly, with occasional 3D scenes. Most objects on the screen, including the characters, are one-dimensional, like paper cut-outs. The same goes for trees, plants, and houses. Our characters cannot look around without physically turning their whole body. Looking behind objects is walking behind them and having the object turn transparent.
Echoes of the Plum Grove looks like a pop-up children’s book – with the art style and the simplistic design of the characters. Meanwhile, the topics are serious enough – sea storms, pox inoculation, hunger pains and survival. While those are handled light-heartedly and with grace, they are still not topics suitable for a children’s story. Still, the combination of quirky art style and serious survival topics creates a strange and endearing mix of a game.
The soundtrack helps with that – it has a whimsical, wonderous quality to the music and a well-thought, well-executed well of ambient sounds – bird song, winds, and rain when appropriate. The characters aren’t voiced, which is a turn-off for some players but not for me.
Some Other Notes
Echoes of the Plum Grove has Steam Achievements but no Trading Cards yet. The game has basic audio and video settings. It also has various gameplay settings, such as off and on toggle for taxes, tool durability, item decay, diseases, energy, and hunger. We can choose to age for our character, the speed of ageing, or if we want to stay the same and have everyone else age. We can also adjust the difficulty of the fishing part of the game. All in all, changing the settings makes for a personalized gaming experience based entirely on preferences.
While playing, I didn’t experience any bugs or stuttering of any kind.
Conclusion
Echoes of the Plum Grove is a charming addition to the well-populated farming/survival sim games genre. While none of the gameplay mechanics are particularly novel, the game’s unique look is sure to attract quite a few fans. At the same time, the game offers more than enough content to make you stay in-game for several seasons.
Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up
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