DYSCHRONIA: Chronos Alternate Definitive Edition and Kud Wafter: Converted Edition for Switch are the highlights of this week’s Japanese video game releases.
Apple Arcade exclusive 'Japanese Rural Life Adventure' is a surprising story of rebirth
02.11.2023 - 20:25 / engadget.com
For the third time in less than two years, I have COVID-19. Whenever an illness has forced me to stay in bed, my comfort food has been gaming. In 2009 I played through all of Assassin’s Creed II in a feverish, swine flu-induced haze. When I was sick with COVID for the first time, I jumped into Red Dead Redemption 2 blind, and found a story about sickness and human mortality. Now, during one of the most stacked years in recent gaming history, I find myself under the covers not with Starfield, Spider-Man 2 or any of the other big fall releases. Instead, my bedside companion is a small Apple Arcade exclusive called Japanese Rural Life Adventure.
I discovered this gem through an X account that tweets about upcoming indie games. I took one look at Japanese Rural Life Adventure and knew I had to play it. The game features a beautiful pixel art style, and a pastoral setting evocative of anime classics like Only Yesterday and Wolf Children. What I didn’t expect to find was a heartwarming experience about the importance of community.
In its opening hours, Japanese Rural Life Adventure plays out much like Stardew Valley or, for that matter, any other farming sim made in the past two decades. When the game’s protagonist first arrives in the countryside, they find their new home in disrepair, nearly every inch of the surrounding fields overgrown with weeds. But following a predictable start, the game shows its true character.
Almost uniquely among other games in the genre, Japanese Rural Life Adventure doesn’t include any romantic partners for the player’s character to pursue. Nearly everyone you meet is elderly. They complain of aching bones, bad backs and a dim future where there aren’t any young people to carry on their community’s traditions.
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“I was born and raised in the city, in a big town. I have no memories of playing in rivers, climbing mountains, or anything like that,” Takeo Fujita, the founder of Japanese Rural Life Adventure developer GAME START, told me over email. “I have no older relatives living in the countryside. In other words, you could say that the ‘gentle and simple countryside’ found in Japanese Rural Life Adventure comes from a sense of longing that I felt watching and reading Japanese TV dramas and manga.”
Longing for a simpler life is something that pervades Japanese Rural Life Adventure –not just its setting, but also its mechanics and the scale of its gameplay. For all the time I’ve put into the game, I have not become a farming mogul. At most,
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thegamer.com
19.11.2023 / 14:01
Super Mario RPG Remake Adds A Cheat Code That Was Previously Exclusive To Japan
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thegamer.com
18.11.2023 / 02:01
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gamingbolt.com
17.11.2023 / 15:55
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gematsu.com
17.11.2023 / 14:33
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videogameschronicle.com
16.11.2023 / 19:01
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thegamer.com
16.11.2023 / 17:25
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Producer "Can't Say Anything" About Genesis
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16.11.2023 / 17:11
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14.11.2023 / 21:19
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gamesradar.com
14.11.2023 / 10:29
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12.11.2023 / 23:59
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10.11.2023 / 21:43
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