Phoenix Labs’ Fae Farm is a cozy game where you grow fruits and veg, build a homestead, and go on adventures, solo or with others. The Dauntless developers have multiplayer in their DNA, and they've built their magical agriculture game to bring people together, allowing you to invite up to three friends to your farm to enjoy everything Azoria has to offer together. 

“It’s a core attitude of Phoenix Labs to make sure our games can be played together,” Game Director Isaac Epp said. “Playing with friends and family is a true gift and can generate some of the best experiences in games, and we think we’ve got that here too, but it’s also great to be able to just relax on your homestead or craft a bunch of decor for your homes so the next time you do play together you have new things to delight and enjoy with your loved ones.”

First, you need to build your home. Players can design every aspect of their farm, both inside and out. Extensive customization options let them turn the bare wood of their homestead into a home packed with thick rugs, sofas, and flower-shaped gramophones. Making the homestead feel cozy isn’t just an aesthetic choice. There are benefits too, measured in “Cozy Points,” as Epp explained.

“While some objects players can craft and decorate with are fun cosmetics, others, which are all the ‘coziness’ items, grant the player huge benefits,” He said. “In our ‘Cozy’ system, the cozier you make your home, the better you will feel. That manifests in Fae Farm by giving the player better health, energy, and mana stats (bigger bars), and regen on those stats when they wake up in that cozy home the next day.”

Farming involves selecting plots, equipment, what crafting stations to use, and more. To keep things chill, Epp promises systems that are as complex as the players want them to be. 

“Lots of the systems in Fae Farm can go pretty deep,” Epp explains. “But it’s really up to the player how deeply they want to dive, and we disclose the complexities slowly, so players can feel mastery over it intuitively. I also think the pace of farming, since it’s based on the progression of time in the game, inherently creates a pace and rhythm that helps it stay cozy. We also have fun magical interactions the player will learn and acquire as they progress that makes the farming experience a lot faster and also makes it just feel really fluid and fun in terms of game-feel.”

At any point, you can invite a friend or friends over to visit, which involves sending a letter to them (in-game). They’ll receive a welcome package of tools and spells to ensure they’re at the correct level to enter your world and see your wonderful work. The game accommodates co-op players to almost the same level as the hosts. Together, everyone can craft, refine, decorate, plant, harvest, dress up, explore, and more. 

“The main quests are all shared,” Epp said. “So those big beats can be enjoyed together. Each progression skill, things like animal care or farming, are individual, so each player will get to enjoy the discoveries and reveals without having it spoiled.” 

The wider, wilder world of Azoria has the most uncozy of places: dungeons. They’re rammed with loot and worth exploring, but even those can be taken on according to the player’s preference. 

“Dungeons can seem like a scary place,” Epp admitted. “But we’ve done a lot to ensure even the enemies feel whimsical and silly rather than threatening or menacing. There are also potions and spells players can craft and learn that make harvesting resources in dungeons really not threatening at all. If a player wants to just craft a bunch of “Gone Potions” (invisibility) or buy them from the doctor, they can just safely go harvest gems and ores without even having to engage in combat. In many areas of the game, we tried to give a lot of flexibility, so players can sort of play the way they want to play and not just the way a designer thought they should play.”

With nothing else blocking players from expressing themselves, a communal aspect is something that can develop according to the skills and preferences of the players. Epp said: “One fun thing that happened during development in a playtest was a group of our animators was doing a long-form co-op test together. One of the animators is really into cooking, so one time the group came back to their shared homestead, and he’d fenced off all of the cooking stations and demanded he be the only one allowed to cook. He then would spend his days growing, harvesting, and preparing potions, food, drinks, and anything else the other players might need to do any of their activities during the day. It was pretty cute. But ultimately, again, it’s up to players on any given day together to decide how to either roll together against challenges or to divide and conquer.” 

For determined solo players, there’s still plenty to do, and the world is full of NPCs to engage with. Sometimes literally. 

“We have a pretty large cast of NPCs,” Epp said. “Vendors, residents, wild, magical beings, Fae Realm inhabitants, some of which largely drive the story or just fill out the world. Some provide critical services, some provide opportunities for friendship, and others can be romanced by going on dates and, eventually, even married.”

From weeding to weddings, Fae Farm sounds like it does it all. It’s out September 8, 2023, on the Epic Games Store. Pre-purchase it now to receive the Cozy Cabin Variety Pack, an adorable collection of clothing and home decor that should help give players even more cute cozy vibes.