Staxel Preview

By UletheVee4, Posted 12 Feb 2018

Staxel is a rather interesting game to talk about. It’s the result of what happens when you take the elements from games like Minecraft and Animal Crossing and combine them all into a single package. The result is actually a great game that explores the reach of our creativity while keeping an engaging experience for players all around.

The very first thing I should describe about Staxel is just how ambitious it is. This could very easily be a Minecraft clone but the development team went above and beyond to incorporate a story of a character coming to town to restore a farm to its former glory.

Describing Staxel is a very tricky subject. On one hand, its ambitious design brings back memories of the time I spent playing Animal Crossing: City Folk and Harvest Moon.

On the other hand, there are factors that make this game stand out above the games I previously described. The main difference is the character you play as to begin with. You’re not an adventurer, you’re not a mayor of a city, you’re a farmer.

The main “plotline” of this game is that you come to the town you’re visiting as the new farmer who will restore the town’s farm to its former glory. It’s a story that’s been seen in other games before, and the game makes up for this with character interaction.

However, once you are given your objective, you are also given complete freedom to walk around the town you are going to be living in. You can spend time talking to the locals, buying stuff at the market or going to the Tavern for a nice drink.

That doesn’t mean that Staxel is unoriginal or not entertaining. On the contrary, players will find an entertaining experience just from the act of raising a farm. And what is a farm without instruments in order to do your job?

You are given access to tools like Axes, Hammers, Scythes and others that allow you to do different sorts of work. For example, the Hammer allows you to break down pieces of the environment like lamp posts and other sorts of furniture so you can pick them up and add them to your inventory.

The Scythe and Axe accomplish the functions you’d expect them to perform. With the Axe tool you can cut down trees and gather wood while the scythe allows you to easily reap grass and plants.

The bug net allows you to catch insects roaming around the world so you can sell them. The Fishing Rod allows you to catch fish and so on and so forth, they are still tools, after all.

You are also given things such as crafting tables that have different sorts of applications and allow you to create different sorts of components in order to make buildings. For example, Tile Crafting Tables allow you to create tiles for floors with the correct ingredients.

Meanwhile, there’s this Crafting table that allows you to turn a bulk of ingredients into a material which you can use to build things. For example, turning 4 pieces of Wood into Lumber and 2 pieces of Lumber into FineLumber.

You also don’t need to open up a Wiki in order to know what to do or how to build structures. Blueprints that have recipes for crafting materials can be memorized and accessed from your Inventory in order to have an easy access to the results, without the need of getting a guide on how to make Lumber, for example.

 

Once again, the crafting tables in general do what they set out to do. However, you can also purchase them for yourself and put them in your house. These tables do cost a bit more money than expected so keep that in mind.

As far as my playthrough went, I didn’t really have to worry about dangerous creatures coming to me at night. So, it’s easy to assume that players can just explore or do as they please until the game forces them to go to sleep. Players get a prompt that their character is starting to feel sleepy and after a while the game just goes to a loading screen, starting a whole new day.

In order to spice things up between days, the game often gives players side quests and missions when they come across some NPCs after a certain number of days.  For example, one of the NPC’s you come across during Spring, Day 3 will ask you to create a fishing pond.

However, this is also optional and these sidequests are extremely easy to miss. By that I mean that when I found the side quest, I was talking to NPCs at random to get some sort of guidance in regards to building my farm.

The main issue I have with this game is how optional everything you do is. You are left with this mission of restoring a farm to its former glory but you’re not exactly told how or given pointers after the one character that told you about the mission is done talking.

This means that if you accidentally skipped over a line of dialogue and don’t know how to find, I don’t know, the blueprint for the Roof of the Farm, you’re screwed and have to start the game all over again in order to see if you missed something.

If the game has a way of telling you how to proceed on this quest to restore a farm to its former glory, I couldn’t find it. While the player is given freedom, I’d say a little optional guidance should be given to players. It’s probably just a nitpick, but I still feel like the game could be a little bit more explicit about how to find necessary items to proceed on your quests.

The character customization aspect is also very varied and colorful. Things such as shirts, sweaters and even headphones can be found in different colors, sold by many market employees.

The game’s currency, Petals, is basically the coin of any other game that has an economy system. You can buy things such as ornaments for your house, crafting tables which you can put in your home so you don’t have to travel to town each time you want to craft something, pet food, accessories, clothing and even furnishes.

You can sell items you no longer need by placing them on a “Sell” box located above near some of the stores. Giving you back a certain amount of petals according to the rarity of the items themselves.

That didn’t prevent me from going to the town square, breaking the fountain with the Hammer, stealing it and then placing it in my house with a grand total of zero repercussions. This could be due to the fact that the game is still in early access.

 When I unintentionally stole from a cash register, I was told by one of the NPCs, and the game itself, that doing bad things has consequences. However, I have never received any sort of penalty for my bad actions.

The game’s soundtrack isn’t too shabby, either. This is a rather relaxing soundtrack that reminds me of the days where I was going through the plains at Legends of Equestria. A compilation of songs that accompanies you through the day and helps you relax.

The main composition of the game’s soundtrack relies on piano and other sorts of synthesized instruments. The mood of the composition is rather happy and positive. Even while facing the fact that the songs do repeat a few times it’s still a very cute soundtrack that isn’t intrusive.

The main issue I have with Staxel is the fact that my gaming preferences stick out like a sore thumb. Sandbox or not, this game isn’t the sort of experience I look for when it comes to video games.

That isn’t to say that there’s not an audience for Staxel. People who enjoy stretching their creative bones can certainly have a great time here. This also reminded me of the time I played Jettomero. It’s a rather relaxing game that I will certainly will play on the occasion because it’s fun to just listen to the piano music and explore around the quiet and calm town.

As it stands, Staxel is a rather ambitious project and not just another clone of a popular property. It definitely isn’t a game for everyone but then again, what game is? It definitely will be a pleasant adventure for people who loved Harvest Moon.

The way you are given objectives and how to accomplish them could be a little bit more specific. Players could very well use more indications as to how to rise certain buildings and continue on their quest.

I can definitely see its ambition and the sort of audiences Staxel will entertain. But While Staxel is a good farming simulator that other players can sink their teeth into, it has yet to grow up in some other aspects to become the great game it deserves to be.


comments powered by Disqus

Related Preview

  • news
    0

    Seed of Agony PC Preview

    By Grayshadow, Posted Sep 18, 2021

    rocedural generation offers a lot of diverse challenges as the player has to properly adapt to what is presented. Games like Dead Cells, Minecraft, and No Man&#

NoobFeed

View All

Popular Articles