Southfield

Southfield is a colorful, whimsical gaming simulation that puts players in the shoes of a goofy monster who likes to farm. Everything in this imaginative world is colorful and strange, and there’s a good mix of crafting and automation in it as well.

The game is still in its infancy, with a beta launch providing a large amount of feedback to the developers. The response from the initial beta caused them to delay the release of the game from the attended release of June, 2024.

The reason being the game had several problems with frame rate, crashing, and the iconic “wobbling” of the character making it difficult to care for plants. Although the game was delayed, this actually shows a high level of care from the developers. By avoiding releasing the game too early, and fixing issues as they come up, it shows the game will likely be a smooth experience once launched.

Not Your Average Crops

As you might expect from a comical, colorful world, the crops don’t behave like normal fruit or vegetables. Crops you grow may blow up, levitate, or even play you a tune. Your character, “Bud” isn’t much different from the plants they are growing. They are a literal sprout themselves, freshly grown from the land. The goal of the player is to help bud learn the ropes of farming, as well as to fill in the almanac with a variety of plants and their combinations. It’s a relaxing farm sim gone crazy, sort of like Stardew Valley meets Goat Simulator.

Beware the Ruffians

Although the game is mostly peaceful, if a little crazy, there are some bad guys to fight off too. At night, a monolith appears and creatures called “Ruffians” appear. These Ruffians can cause minor mischief to your farm. Players will have to help their bud protect their crops from wild weather, and help other dwellers of the island do the same.

A Sandbox Style Experience

Although the game does have some structure, it’s also deliciously free in many ways to let players do what they want. Farm buildings can be constructed almost anywhere, and buds can live in anything from a castle to a hut. The game has a very generous amount of materials and styles available, so players can help their buds build virtually anything that comes to their mind.

The game is slated for early release ‘soon.’ The delay in release is due to a variety of bugs that made the game virtually unplayable. While this delay is a good thing and means the developers are taking the time to fix the game, we won’t truly know what to expect until the game is actually released.

Pros:

• Caring developers
• Sandbox Style Gameplay

Cons:

• Developers are working through a lot of bugs