🎮 Fans of cozy games and high fantasy have been counting down the clock since Mirthwood’s two-month delay. Released on Wednesday, this RPG had been hailed as a rival to one of the most highly rated games ever, Stardew Valley. The comparison is high praise, but it also may be doing Mirthwood a disservice.

Like any RPG worth its salt, it begins with character creation. Not only can you customize your appearance, you can also choose between five lands of origin that affect the nature of your personality, your social standing (royal, noble, or peasant), and profession. Each choice has its pros and cons, but any RPG enthusiast will be keen to try out different combos.

Build a farm or swing your sword, Mirthwood is about freedom of choice above all else. If you’ve found yourself playing The Elder Scrolls or Baldur’s Gate and gazing at NPCs with envy, fantasizing about being a humble farmer in these high fantasy games, you might be glad to know that Mirthwood is happy to oblige. Your choices don’t end with the type of weapon you choose or the skills you hone — you can also choose how involved you want to be in the conflict unfolding in this medieval world. You can choose to build your farm, harvesting crops and raising cattle, or explore the Freelands with your weapon raised to slash at monsters.

Your choices still impact and shape the world you live in. Depending on how you choose to react to certain situations, you start to build a reputation, earning Morality. You can choose to befriend or make an enemy out of the NPCs you encounter, who not only have distinct personalities, but variable moods that are affected by complex lives.

Best of all worlds: Members of the Thieves Guild on Elder Scrolls will be happy to hear that there are stealable objects strewn about, but will still have to practice discretion… Or embrace your destiny as the local criminal. Crafting enthusiasts will have many items to make, from tools and weapons to Legend of Zelda -esque elixirs and health-boosting meals. Map areas update as you explore, taking after many a game such as The Witcher. Mirthwood also offers mining, hunting, romancing, and blacksmithing elements.

Hold your horses. The game’s recent release means that there’s bound to be bugs a plenty. While no fatal issues have been reported, some sticky mechanics or missed opportunities (like being unable to loot enemy weapons) may be a little frustrating to deal with at first. We expect patches to come through quickly as devs at Bad Ridge Games keep an eye on their first release.

💯 Rating: 7/10 on Steam.

⌛ Hours of gameplay: TBD.

🔁 Replay value: TBD.

👾 Platforms: Steam for PC. Console release expected in early 2025.

💵 Price: USD 12.49, currently on discount for USD 11.24.

Tags: