Spiritfarer

Spiritfarer is a deeply personal management game that forces players to care about their passengers and come to terms with the fact that everyone dies.

Life is fragile and people are flawed. We don't get to choose our position in life from beginning to end, but we have the choice to get ourselves to where we want to be. We will make mistakes and I'm sure at the end of our lives we will have things we will cherish, regret, and resent, but that is all the part of being human. Spiritfarer tells that message in a way that I found to be a cathartic experience that I will forever hold dear to me.

Spiritfarer is a finely crafted piece of artistic commentary on what it means to let go, and it's far and away one of the best games to come out of 2020.

Gorgeous, emotional and heartwarming from start to finish, playing Spiritfarer is like sinking into a nice, cosy duvet. It envelops you, and you won’t want to leave. Its slow and steady pace won’t be for everyone, but for those who want a beautiful game to unwind with, it doesn’t get much better than this.

Spiritfarer's cosy management is a thousand acts of kindness, beautifully done. It will make you sad, but it even does that in a kind way.

Spiritfarer is an absolute triumph and easily goes down as the best game that Thunder Lotus has created. It's no easy feat to juggle a cast of charming characters with captivating stories, a vibrant world that allows for a ton of fun platforming, enjoyable bits of resource management and crafting, and genuinely moving moments, but they have somehow pulled it off. It's easily one of the year's most unique games, an incredible hybrid of genres that almost feels like it has something for everyone. It may be a lengthy beast, clocking in at a meaty twenty or so hours, but it's a rewarding one. Even...

Spiritfarer is one of a kind, and well worth anyone's time. Its energetic art style, moving score and uplifting stories about acceptance and loss all meld with the gameplay for an experience players won't soon forget, even as they move onto their next adventures.

Spiritfarer is an excellent game in its own right, yet its candid handling of death truly sets it apart from its peers. Its addicting gameplay loop is well complimented by its thoughtful story - anyone who likes their relaxation with a side of healthy contemplation will be hard pressed to find a more compelling game this year.

Spiritfarer is a gorgeous mix of an action-platformer and an Animal Crossing-style town manager that stands out as one of the most unique and enjoyable games I’ve played all year. Its lengthy campaign is full of charming characters with somber, touching stories, even when the tasks between them can occasionally lose their shine. But with little pressure to grind or hurry like so many other resource collecting games, the journey to Spiritfarer’s Everdoor is definitely one worth savoring.

A compassionate life sim that finds comfort in death.

Set sail for resources and hugs aplenty.

Spiritfarer has a soft, caring, bittersweet tone that I've rarely encountered in video games. For a game all about death and dying, I only ever felt calm and relaxed when playing it. The management gameplay is varied and engaging, and even though the scope if it leads to the game getting a bit too long in the tooth, it helps connect the incredibly emotional story beats together so well. Mix that up with its beautiful art style and enchanting music, and you've got one of the most emotional management games I've ever played.