Since February this year, Apple Arcade subscribers have had the joy of Studio Drydock’s cozy magical farming sim Wylde Flowers. Life sim fans outside the iOS ecosystem might have looked on with envy, but the good news for them is that Fairhaven will soon be opening its gates much wider, when Wylde Flowers lands on Switch and Steam later this year.
Wylde Flowers is a “cozy life and farming sim with a witchy twist”, centered on a young woman, Tara, who moves to a little rural island to help on her grandmother run the family farm. She soon discovers her witchy side, and with that, the familiar Story of Seasons-style loop gets an element of magic: broomstick flight, potion brewing, control of the weather, and—most importantly!—the ability to turn into a cat.
In keeping with that wholesome theme, the game promises earnest and emotional story of personal discovery and bringing a town together, with a diverse cast of townspeople to get to know, full English voice acting, and music that’s closely entwined with the story. It’s got romance options too, of course—seven in total, with the local butcher and a flirty doctor among them.
Studio Drydock is a Melbourne-based studio founded by Amanda Schofield and Alex Holkner, two ex-EA developers who previously worked on The Sims. Their aim is to create “games for people seeking creativity, exploration and self-discovery”, and Wylde Flowers certainly looks like it fits the bill. (I haven’t played it myself yet, but I do see a lot of love for it on social media.)
There’s no specific release date yet, but the Switch and Steam versions of Wylde Flowers are planned for release sometime this year—it’s “coming soon”, according to the website, so hopefully that means we’re not going to be waiting until December. If you want to throw the developers some easy support, wishlist it on Steam; that’s a massive help for visibility on the platform.