Tales of Seikyu Review

Stardew Valley shook the life-farming-sim genre back in 2016 and is still going strong. Games like My Time at Sandrock, Fields of Mistria, Palia, or Dinkum all followed the same formula with a bit of mix of their own, and all of them were commercially successful too. So when an indie studio wants to step into this stiff competition, the challenges obviously seem sky-high. 

And there we have it, Tales of Seikyu, Ace Entertainment's ambitious debut. This indie studio was keen to establish a niche, distinguishing itself from the usual Stardew Valley clones by fusing life-sim elements with Japanese folklore. Even though Ace Entertainment is a relatively new studio, their enthusiasm for creating a lively, Yokai-filled world is evident, even though the game is still in development. This game takes a fresh approach to the congested farming simulation genre. 

In Tales of Seikyu, you and your sister return to your ancestral home on Seikyu Island as a fox Yokai, a legendary figure from Japanese folklore. With just a mysterious piece of paper with the island's name on it that your parents left behind, you solve a mystery involving the now-extinct Fox Clan. Originally established by your fox ancestors, the island is now inhabited by other Yokai who are all excited to see you again. 

Rebuilding your family's farm, finding hints about your parents' whereabouts, and reviving old fox customs are all part of your adventure. You can concentrate on your everyday life as the story of your missing family simmers in the background, thanks to the narrative's slow-burning mystery and lack of drama.  

From a living Daruma to an animal Yokai, the characters are full of personality and provide a variety of meaningful encounters, whether they be friendships or even romantic relationships. The script delivers a coherent and captivating plot that connects to the island's rich heritage while capturing an anime-inspired tone without going overboard with cringeworthy moments. 

With a Yokai twist, Tales of Seikyu is a life-sim role-playing game that combines farming, crafting, exploring, and fostering relationships. You come to Seikyu Island to develop fields, furnish your home, and get resources by fishing, rock mining, tree-cutting, or plant collection. The farming method is made more complex by the game's day-night cycle and seasonal variations that affect crop growth. 

Here, farming is simplified in contrast to grind-heavy sims; you plant seeds, water them, and harvest crops for sale or cooking, freeing you a lot of time for other pursuits. Cooking and crafting foster creativity by allowing you to create new recipes by experimenting with ingredient combinations or by crafting weapons, tools, and furniture at farm stations or from your inventory.

By presenting presents, fulfilling requests from a town request board, or participating in festivals, you can socialize with the eccentric Yokai islanders and cultivate friendships or romantic connections with six distinct characters. Although the current form of the game offers a strong combination of farming, fishing, cooking, personalization, and social interactions, the Early Access version promises more story chapters, regions, and events. 

Tales of Seikyu's combat, which includes dashes, jumps, combos, and weapon durability, is modeled after action role-playing games like Breath of the Wild. Using weapons and your Yokai transformation skills, you battle aggressive critters throughout the island or more formidable foes in ruins. Your ability to shapeshift into many forms, each with special abilities, is the most notable feature.  

The boar form allows you to charge past adversaries or plow soil, the slime form helps you swim and water crops, and the bird form (shown in trailers) enables you to fly for seamless exploration. As each form is used, its skills increase. However, because the game is in Early Access, fighting has some rough edges. 

Whether you're harvesting resources or fighting rivals, hit detection can be unstable, with attacks occasionally going undetected while being close. The flow is broken by problems like clipping or adversaries dragging you across the area, and dodging feels sluggish, making it difficult to time enemy blows.  

These bugs can be annoying, but they don't completely ruin the game, even though the fighting is smooth and quick at its best. Gaining experience points (XP) through fighting and transforming into different forms influences gameplay by enabling more powerful skills, which promotes experimentation and discovery without taking over the experience. 

Tales of Seikyu's graphics adopt a lovely, anime-like aesthetic that complements its realm of legend. The island has a vibrant, slightly modernized look evocative of a Studio Ghibli movie by fusing traditional Japanese features like shrines with contemporary additions like vending machines offering ninja bubble soda.  

The environments, albeit not extremely detailed, make use of careful color selections, blending, shadows, and movements to produce a unified appearance, and the character portraits are skillfully rendered. However, occasionally, there are lighting problems, especially in specific regions, and some animations appear rigid.  

Although further updates have potential for improvement, the graphics are strong and appealing for an Early Access game, creating a pleasant ambiance enhanced by a warm and inviting mood. The sound design varies. The music is excellent; it provides a suitable, unobtrusive background that enhances the game's theme without being intrusive. However, the ambiance and sound effects are lacking. 

Scenes seem dead because so many typical sounds—such as the sizzling of food, the rustle of the wind, or the sounds of faraway animals—are missing or inconsistent. This problem is made worse by the absence of voice acting, which makes the game feel uncannily silent aside from its amazing soundtrack. The lack of ambient noises and the lack of sound effects are glaring flaws in a game with so much personality, as they lessen the immersion in what might be a lively universe. 

Rich in Japanese folklore and featuring a unique Yokai transformation mechanic, Tales of Seikyu is a wonderful combination of an action role-playing game and a farming simulation. It stands out in a crowded genre thanks to its ability to shapeshift into a pig, slime, or bird, which gives farming, exploration, and battle a novel touch. 

The game has heart thanks to the story of discovering your family's fate and a diverse cast of endearing Yokai. Simplified farming and imaginative crafting also keep gameplay interesting but approachable. As an early access product, it does have certain shortcomings, though. Bugs like frame rate drops, screen tearing, and jerky conversation boxes can be annoying, and combat has issues with sluggish dodging and unreliable hit detection.  

Aside from the great music, the sound design is shallow, and the $25 price tag seems high, considering the lack of refinement and voice acting. Still, for agricultural sim fans looking for something fresh, it's a good purchase at $22 on sale until May 28th. 

Tales of Seikyu, which is reminiscent of the early years of My Time At Sandrock, has a solid base and a lot of promise. If you can overlook its flaws, you'll discover a comfortable, imaginative journey that is already more unique than most.