Sunrise’s Order is not your typical farming sim! It’s very inventive and merges farm management with modern-day living. Plus, there are no NPCs to deal with!
The Backstory of Sunrise’s Order
Like so many other wonderful farming sims, in Sunrise’s Order, I was very fed up with my job. One day after work I decided to have some fun and play a new game for a while. I had so much fun playing that I played for days and missed many phone calls and texts! One was from my employer, oh dear, it looks like I’ve lost my job. (Side note – I could see that the game my character was playing was Sunrise’s Order!! LOL. I love games with amusing little Easter Eggs for me to notice.)
I had also received a message about an island for sale for just 1 million gold. I happened to have exactly that much money, so I bought it and decided to have an adventure. And just like the hero in my game, I would be a farmer! (Under my breath, I wished I had a grandfather who left me a farm, but whatever…..) And so the adventure began!
The Look and Feel of Sunrise’s Order
The world of Sunrise’s Order looks very familiar, and that’s a great thing! It feels cozy but in many wonderful ways, it’s not the same as other farming sims! Even though I was the sole inhabitant of my island, somehow I still had internet and utilized it a lot in my life. When I first arrived, my internet was not working, so I repaired it with some twigs I found on the ground! My character even commented on how silly that was, but it worked.
I used the internet to order my supplies. My supplier of choice is Animazon. In the demo, I was given a free trial of their one-day shipping; it seems that in the full game, I’ll have to choose from their various options and pay a price for my choice. I ordered what I needed (seeds and the like), and the next day, a box was delivered somewhere on the island with my supplies. Some days it was a bit of a hunt to find the box, and that was fun too!
The 2D open world was bright and colorful and looked similar to farm games that I’ve played before, so it was comforting to me. I didn’t have to learn any mad skills; it was the same as I’ve done before and yet, it was also just a bit different.
The soundtrack in Sunrise’s Order was peppy and happy, and when I got near the ocean, I could hear the sounds of the waves crashing on the shore. I could see there were lots of garden areas where I could plant my crops, but I needed to unlock an app to use those areas. That will come later; for now, I could use one plot of land right near my house. I got to work immediately doing the usual farm sim tasks, gathering sticks and rocks, hoeing the soil, planting seeds and watering them. Well….first I had to order my seeds from Animazon though! That was a cool twist on the usual farming sim!
The full version of Sunrise’s Order has 4 different seasons with unpredictable weather, which can affect my crops. Since the demo only lasts 14 in-game days, I did not get to experience much of that. The game also has a museum for me to fill with my treasures, fishing, cooking, mining, animal husbandry, fast travel and the ability for me to have a dog!! Some of these features are available in the demo, and the others are in the full game.
The Gameplay of Sunrise’s Order
Sunrise’s Order does not have NPCs. Some players love NPCs in their games, others don’t. Personally, I am ambivalent, but I sometimes tire of having to give special gifts all the time. So this is a good game to play to avoid that and focus more on the farming. Since I was the only inhabitant of my island, I received my quests in the form of contracts through the internet. When I completed my contract, I put my items into a special area of my shipping box and received payment.
Every day I received 3 contract requests. I could choose which ones I wanted to accept, but I could only have 5 outstanding contracts at a time. So I had to choose carefully, which ones did I think I could be most successful with?
The tutorial for Sunrise’s Order was pretty basic, after all, I understood most of this already!! But for the new elements (like utilizing my Animazon account), there was plenty of instruction as I played the game. There was also a very comprehensive set of tutorials available to review when I wanted. I really appreciated that, because sometimes I forget!
Sunrise’s Order has a day/night cycle. I needed to be in bed by midnight, or I would pass out and lose some energy for the next day. I didn’t lose any items, though, and I appreciate that. I like my games cozy! As night approached, the island got a little darker, and I could hear an owl hooting. That was my sign to get home and get to bed. The game saved when I slept, and when I woke, I saw a recap of what I’d accomplished the day before. Later in the game, I can spend some gold to buy a day that lasts longer. That’s great!
There’s so much more to this game, but I’ll touch quickly on features that really stood out to me, in no particular order.
When my crops finished growing, they sparkled!! Fun!
Fishing was a lot of fun; it’s a Quick Time Event, which I usually do very badly with and usually dislike intensely. But this mini game was not terribly difficult to master, and I actually enjoyed playing it. As I progress on the skill tree, I will have the option to slow down the fishing game even more if I want to.
I realized as I played Sunrise’s Order that I was producing black bags full of garbage; they were in random places on my island. How yucky. I was told I needed to find a way to dispose of this unsightly garbage. My first thought was to put it in my “sell” chest but I’ve since learned I have to pay to dispose of it that way. Maybe that’s the way it should be, since I made the mess, maybe I should have to pay to remove it. I’ll find out as I play further.
Last, there’s a great map in the game. Fog was visible on the map in two instances that I know of. One was an actual weather event, and in that case, the fog was on the ground too. The other areas that I had not yet discovered were covered with fog on the map. But it’s a really nice, detailed map, which I appreciated since I get lost a lot. And my character was on the map, in my actual location! Super!
A Helpful Journal in Sunrise’s Order
There was a very helpful journal which I could refer to in Sunrise’s Order. It helped me keep track of my inventory, skill tree, contracts, upcoming craft projects and contained the map I just described.
I had a question about one aspect of the gameplay, so I reached out on Discord. A dev got back to me quickly and helped me out. I’m always impressed with game devs who are very responsive to players. To me, it indicates that they are committed to developing an excellent game and want to make sure the players have the best possible experience with it. So Bravo to Misstic Studio, the game devs for Sunrise’s Order. Misstic Studio is a small, indie studio of just 2 people. Sara is the artist, and Gabriel is the developer; they are a very talented couple! This is their first game, but definitely not their last.
Final Thoughts
I like this game a lot!! I had played the demo a while ago, before I joined the LadiesGamers team. Recently, I noticed that we had not written about Sunrise’s Order, so I asked if I could do so. The full game was released in 2024 and does not have a lot of reviews on Steam, but the ones it has are very positive. I feel that perhaps many cozy gamers are not even aware of this gem, so I’m glad I was able to write about it and spread the word. It’s had numerous updates and improvements since its original release, so I can see the devs are still very involved with it. You can play the demo of Sunrise’s Order on Steam and see for yourself how special it is. If you love it, as I did, you can buy it right away and continue playing because your demo save will carry over. How cool is that?
Do you like our content?
Support LadiesGamers as a member on Patreon!
Or buy us a cup of coffee or tea on Ko-Fi!
