Spiritfarer shows off crafting and gathering in a new trailer
Of course there's tree chopping
I've been quite jazzed about Spiritfarer since it was first announced last year. The cozy crafting and management game has a much different vibe from the last Thunder Lotus game I played. Jotun kicked my rear right through the final moments so I'll be glad to have a different relationship with this next one. There's a new trailer out today showing off some of the gathering and crafting you'll do while piloting your ferry.
Spiritfarer's protagonist Stella ferries animal spirits to the afterlife and apparently does quite a lot of chores and projects on the ferry in between. In the new trailer below you can see Stella and her white cat companion (who can be played by a second player) mining for metals, chopping trees, shearing sheep, and then processing raw materials as you're wont to do in just about any crafting game.
The neat thing about Spiritfarer that I learned when playing it at PAX West last year is that a bit like a Minecraft and Stardew Valley's crafting systems, things take actual game time to complete and sailing between locations takes time as well. I was able to set a course for the ferry and then go about my business planting seeds, harvesting them, and all that whatnot as I journeyed. It felt nice that all my puttering about on the ferry didn't interfere with actually exploring and vice versa.
Spiritfarer is one of RPS' most exciting games of 2020 where Alice Bee says "in Spiritfarer, your friends leave you, but they will also have taught you things, and you will never lose that." It is a nice concept, hugging your new friends as you confidently send them off to some magical afterlife.
Spiritfarer is planned for a 2020 release. You can wishlist it on Steam. It will also be available on the Xbox Game Pass for PC.