A Deep Life Sim That Rewards Patience And Persistence
The world of Kynseed is an interesting one. What begins as a fantastical adventure full of cheer and joy turns sinister as the true nature of the world becomes revealed. Fae contracts, sacrifices, and dark monsters that threaten communities seek to undermine the peaceful life you are striving for.
Throughout the first few hours of the game, the world of Kynseed is introduced to the player in a fairly drawn-out prologue. During this time, players control their character as a teenager, as they have recently been adopted by their uncle and are slowly becoming accustomed to life on his farm.
During this time, tasks are assigned that cover the many different facets of life in this fantastical world. Life on and off the farm comes with many responsibilities, and there are plenty of other characters to meet and interact with. This prologue has a lot of work to do, though, as the gameplay of Kynseed is incredibly varied, and even then the opening just scratches the surface of everything the world has to offer.
Running A Business Becomes One Of Kynseed’s Greatest Strengths
One of the most involved aspects of the game isn’t even available until the prologue is completed and the world opens up significantly. Gates that were blocked off as a child are now open, and beyond them lies a world of adventure. Following the first steps of the campaign will bring players to a place called the circle, and once there, even more mechanics become unlocked.
This includes the reputation system, along with the red ledger book. This book allows players to manage any purchased businesses throughout the world, and at this point the story becomes locked until the player earns enough reputation. While all actions in the world can grant reputation points, including completing challenges and befriending villagers, Kynseed specifically states that running a business is the fastest way to build reputation.
There are four options to choose from for running a business – the local goods store, blacksmith, apothecary, and tavern. Purchasing any one of these will do, and I went with the blacksmith as my first foray into business ownership.
Once a store is purchased, the game gives a breakdown on how to operate it. This involves hiring staff, building out a work schedule for said staff, how to manage the business manually, and stocking items for the store.
Hiring. Firing.
Hiring is fairly straightforward. Once a business is purchased, the previous employees will no longer work there, but they do appear as potential hires. They can be rehired for a set hourly rate, with their working hours scheduled in three-hour blocks. As the new owner, the player is responsible for setting hours and ensuring that the store manages to turn a profit.
To manage costs even further, it’s possible to run each business without hiring any additional employees. But, of course, this means the player needs to be present whenever the store is open. Running the business means greeting customers, as well as crafting and ordering all the needed products yourself.
Item crafting is explained earlier in the game. A series of side missions run through how to use the apothecary stand, craft with the blacksmith tools, and man the general store. Whichever one of these was the most enjoyable to do is the best first option for players when buying a business.
Crafting steadily becomes easier throughout. Obviously, practice makes perfect, but Kynseed also has a batch crafting mechanic. After an item is made enough times, players can use any number of resources in their position to bulk make an item. This makes stocking stores much easier.
Employees can also craft items for stock, though, and they will make things based on the needs of the customers. Whenever an NPC visits a store, they can put a request in for a specific item, which creates an order that needs to be fulfilled. These give more money and improve the store’s reputation. As the store’s reputation increases, more characters will hear about the store and start to visit it. Eventually, perk points will unlock that can be used to improve the shop’s operational efficiency.
Manually stocking stores would be a challenge for anyone though, which is why Kynseed allows players to place stocking orders for materials and items. It’s a fairly deep system that offers plenty of options for progressing, can grant lots of reputation quickly, and is also an incredibly efficient way to make a large amount of money.
Farming, Relationships And Combat Add Plenty Of Variety
On its own, the shop mechanics would be enough to make Kynseed an interesting enough game to check out, but that’s just a portion of the game.
There is a farm to manage, giving chance to grow crops and raise animals. This can be fully customized with decor and production items. It’s also possible to date other characters and start a family, all of whom will move onto the farm and assist with daily chores and make managing the property even easier.
There are also combat areas where Kynseed becomes a test of reflexes. There are deep forest areas that, once entered, will assault players with wave after wave of enemies. Up to four enemies will spawn at the start of an encounter. They occupy a cross-shaped area on the screen, while the player occupies one of three vertical spaces opposite the enemies. Players must move up and down to avoid attacks while attacking any one of the three closest spaces to them.
If four enemies spawn in, the one farthest from the player will be untargetable until the closer enemies are defeated. It is possible to do minor damage with a ranged attack, but these ranged attacks are intended for stunning and delaying enemy attacks. There are also special summon attacks that can help turn the tide of battle.
It’s not an incredibly complex system, but it is addicting. Each wave of enemies will drop items that can be used in crafting and sold. When entering the area, as well as throughout the encounters, the difficulty can be turned up which results in better quality items. But on higher difficulties, combat becomes faster and tougher.
Grinding Is Central To Everything Kynseed Does
Kynseed absolutely hooked me with the interesting setting, incredible music, beautiful visuals, and addictive gameplay.
That said, it won’t be for everyone. Kynseed is a game built on grinding. The prologue takes several hours to complete, and the flow of the game does change once finished. As a child, each day ends at 11pm with the player falling asleep wherever they are and then waking up again at 6 in the morning. Unlike other games, there is no penalty when this happens. Players will simply wake up in their bed and begin the next day.
After the prologue, there is no longer a time restriction, leaving opportunity to walk around the world without ever stopping to rest. Resting does save the game, though, so it is important to catch some Zs every once in a while.
This changes the feel of things significantly, as time no longer plays a role in planning out days. It makes sense because the world is huge, and having to restart each day from the farm would be tedious. But outside of day specific events, tasks and responsibilities have no time limit, which does hurt the sense of urgency.
A Rewarding Adventure For Players Willing To Invest The Time
And, again, the prologue takes hours to get through, and large amounts of content are blocked off until it’s completed. This is representative of the entire game, though, where grinding is a core component of life in Kynseed. The main tasks focus around farming resources and befriending villagers to repair structures around the map, which unlocks new areas and progresses the story further.
If grinding items isn’t something that you enjoy, then Kynseed will not appeal. Patience is a virtue, and it’s also vital to enjoying the core gameplay loop.
That said, if grinding for items and playing various minigames while exploring a unique world sounds enjoyable, then Kynseed is absolutely brimming with content. For the right player, Kynseed is an impossible-to-put-down farming, life, dating, and entrepreneur sim that has no shortage of gameplay.
Important Links
Kynseed Finally Plants Its Roots On Console As Fable Veterans Bring Their Acclaimed Life Sim To Consoles – https://www.thexboxhub.com/kynseed-finally-plants-its-roots-on-console/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/kynseed/9p1cl4jz6pdr
