Are you sick of the quaint, laid-back charm of Story of Seasons-esque farming life-sims yet? I know I’m not, but even if you are (monster!), there’s a new one on the horizon that you may want to keep an eye on. Coming soon to Steam Early Access is Kappa Bits’ Pixelshire: part farming sim and part town-builder, with as much focus on developing the town of your dreams as there is on growing crops and raising livestock.
Judging from the announcement trailer, the farming side of Pixelshire looks about what you’d expect if you’ve ever played Story of Seasons or Stardew Valley: plant and water your crops, raise livestock, gather materials to develop your tools and your farm, and enjoy the rural vibes. But with the town-building side, the game gives you the tools to terraform the landscape (right down to individual tiles), design the layout, craft decorations, and design the homes for each new resident who decides to move in. If it hits those notes just right—and there’s a lot of promise in the footage shown so far—this could be a wonderful extra layer on an already strong foundation: think Animal Crossing‘s island design but with a more robust farming sim behind it.
There’s also the usual relationship simulation elements, with friendship and romance to be found in your town’s growing community. A touch of action RPG, too, sees you venturing into procedurally-generated dungeons and exploring the island, fighting monsters along the way and gathering rare materials. And as the title suggests, it’s all dressed up in cute, colourful pixel art.
Pixelshire is the second game from Kappa Bits, an indie studio based in Greece founded by solo developer Vasilis Karagiannakis; their first game, Jazz Lightning, landed on Steam Early Access last December. There’s no release date for Pixelshire yet, but it’s coming to Steam Early Access soon, with a full release planned for consoles as well. If you like the look of it, don’t forget to add it to your wishlist—that’s an easy and helpful way to show your support to indie developers!