Developer: Unwound Games
Platform: PC
Genre: Casual, Simulation
Publisher: indie.io
Echoes of the Plum Grove is a cosy farm simulator game. This game was developed by Unwound Games and published by indie.io. Games similar to Echoes of the Plum Grove would be Stardew Valley, Cozy Grove and a few others. This game is only available for Windows.
Echoes of the Plum Grove is a single-player game where you start off by meeting your friend on a ship who tells you about a place where you will travel. As you board the ship, after some of its journey, the ship approaches a storm, which leaves a disastrous outcome. You wake up in Luna’s lighthouse after she finds you washed up on the beach, and it seems you are the only survivor of the shipwreck. Upon your arrival, the mayor of Honeywood grants you the deed to a farm that you can use to pay your weekly taxes. It is upon yourself to feel welcomed in the town of Honeywood by working around, meeting townsfolk and scavenging.
The controls for Echoes of the Plum Grove are fairly simple. When starting, there is a tutorial where there are pop-up screens that show you the controls. The game’s UI makes it very accessible for players to familiarise themselves with the controls. I quite liked the inventory that the characters were given, which is a lot bigger compared to most games and found that sorting and organising items was sufficient. Overall, the controls worked really smoothly, which was great.
Now, the art style of Echoes of the Plum Grove is so charming and unique. The visuals remind me of the classic Paper Mario game but also seem very similar to the game Born of Bread. With its 2.5D style and flat character art, the game captures a great motion between 3D elements, and the characters can occupy a 3D space, which gives the game more definition. Objects and characters on the screen are paper-like, which has an interesting charm to it. The game resembles a pop-up book where the standing points are these paperesque objects and characters within a nearly looking 3D world. The game does a really nice job at capturing this old-timey (1700 Massachuetues) look with the clothing the characters wear, the look of the buildings and the little details placed around Honeywood. The era is portrayed really well through the dialogue of the characters as they use diction from back in the day, which is amusing to read upon. The colours are vibrant, with nice lighting adding to the atmosphere of the game. The game does portray some serious messages, which it does in a light-hearted manner that adds to the world you are placed in. It embraces the era, which is really nice when captivating the visuals around this game. The soundtrack, accompanied by the visuals, is quite nice. The soundtrack is filled with whimsical, subtle music. It’s almost like the type of music you would listen to when at the bay and reminds me of the soundtrack from Stardew Valley. I like the ambient sounds as well, from the whistling of wind, tool usage, chatter, birds and many more.
There is a lot that this game has to offer, and first, it has to do with the farming element. You are given the deed to farmland, which you can clear by taking away weeds, twigs, and trees to make it spacious and more efficient for your farming. I quite liked the farming aspect of this game, as it was pretty laid back and was not extensive. Seeds can be bought or gifted to you, and some can only be harvested in specific seasons. The game does have different weather and seasons that add to the farming experience. The progression for the farming part of this game was well-balanced because it allows you to interact with NPCs to complete their quests and then move on to buying animals to help grow your produce. Besides, just farming crafting is essential in this game, and you start off with a few recipes, which you unlock more and more as you forage and complete quests. I enjoyed that there was a huge range of craftable items, making you be creative with your farm and buildings. As for foraging, the visuals make this very easy as you can clearly tell what can be picked and what can’t be picked. I liked the mechanic of shaking trees to get wood rather than having to cut them down, which was a nice little task you could do whilst walking through the town. Of course, with a farming simulator, you need to gather resources for buildings, and that can be done through mining the mines. I found the mines to be an easy way to collect items, but it did get boring there as there was no sense of danger.
Just like many other life/farm simulators, you are building relationships with the people in the town, and this can be done by completing their quests, gifting them gifts, or just interacting. Everything is kept track of in your journal, which is a great way for players to know what needs to be done. I also love how the journal looks with its various sections. In the game, you can get married and have a child while growing up, and Echoes of the Plum Grove really wants the players to immerse themselves into every aspect of life in Honeywood, which is why marriage can be part of a quest. This may be something some players are not fond of, but I think it goes well with the ‘era’ this game is set in.
Overall, this game is pretty fun to play as it is relaxing and can easily be picked up from wherever. The game has a great number of quests that will keep the player from getting bored and keep them constantly on the lookout for items and interactions. It is like many other life/farm sim games, but its unique visuals make it an experience that is definitely worth it. I liked the ‘survival’ aspect of this game, which introduced illnesses and made sure players were aware of hunger to make it similar to real life.
If you are looking to play a charming life/farm simulator with distinctive visuals and a whimsical soundtrack, then this game is for you. It offers a relaxing farming, mining, and crafting experience where you get to interact with many personalities and get the tasks you need done. Thus, you should definitely check out Echoes of the Plum Grove!
Overall: 7/10
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