Kynseed
Developer: PixelCount Studios
Publisher: PixelCount Studios
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox Series X (Reviewed), Switch
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $24.99 USD – Available Here
Overview
When it comes to life-sim games, many like to focus on having simple mechanics or tend to focus solely on working on a farm, growing closer to the villagers, and then raising a family with a few adding some extra spice with combat and magical creatures. This type of genre has grown in popularity and complexity throughout the years with more companies taking risks with taking the genre and seeing just how far they can stretch it and Kynseed is probably one of the furthest yet. Originally an early-access game on PC in 2018 before its full launch in 2022, developers PixelCount Studios have still been plugging away at adding features all the way up until the full console release of the game. So now that Kynseed has arrived featuring a plethora of content and its own unique brand of humor and life-sim, is it worth checking out?
Story
After taking part in a personality quiz within their dreams to apply some stat boosts and eventually obtain a special item, players will select from playing as either the male or female twin of a set of twins. These orphaned twins, who live with the Old Lady who Lives in a shoe with too many children, are suddenly adopted by someone they call Uncle Bill and are taken to his farm for the summer, able to get the hang of things and learn their way around the land of Quill and its people. Uncle Bill introduces the player to a wide-array of tasks and small simple missions such as making a friend, milking a cow, cooking a recipe, or even making an iron bucket to hold cows milk. All the while time passes and, as players play as a teenager, they are limited to certain tasks and find doors out of town locked and pass out directly at 11PM with no consequence.
As players complete the various tasks their sibling will simply go along with things while the player learns the ropes in the extremely extended prologue until the player reaches the end and it is revealed that the sinister looking wooden statues built around the town and mysterious ruins etched with unknown glyphs are far more than window dressing, they have an actual purpose. When this purpose is revealed not only is the player forced to make a horrific choice but also kickstarts their full connection to the world of the fae.
That same night, the player follows fairy lights to meet with the incredibly creepy fae Mr. Fairweather who informs them that the world will be in great peril eventually and they have the power to repel it all, but it will come at a price. Fairweather will grant the player the Kynseed, a magical seed that can grow in size and pass on the powers of one generation of player to their children if need be, at the cost of five years of their life. Suddenly jumping five years forward in time triggers an acute loss within the family and confrontation but outside of that, it brings the player to adulthood and unleashes them on the world to tackle however they see fit with sprinkles of actual story development here and there.
Now one thing must be noted right out of the gate and that is the prologue/tutorial is excessively long yet at the same time doesn’t even begin to cover some of the many elements that players will eventually have to deal with involving the gameplay and how to advance the story properly. For the most part though the story is decent enough with it’s fair share of fairy tales being worked in here and there, both dark ones and more light-hearted ones, and the multitudes of characters that players come across all have a different type of personality setting but it is worth noting that this is not the type of game many other life-sims are when it comes to characters.
While a general life-sim will have a set number of romance characters with specific likes and dislikes, Kynseed randomizes every character’s gift preferences and makes practically everyone that is an adult and not a fae romanceable, including already married people. Given the game does feature time skips and events where characters can literally die off, it is also one where players may find a notice on a signboard that the blacksmith owner was chosen as a sacrifice or that the eldest member of a family that hated them has passed away from old age. Similarly, new characters will be generated to fill in the gaps of these deceased characters or to move into buildings that players repair, something that does wonders for their “reputation” which is how players eventually will move the plot along. This means that while there is funny dialogue and events where some characters can talk about their past dreams, these are almost always generic and tend to be repeated since most characters are simply blank slates. Hell, outside of the player’s twin, no one even comments about the fact that the player was missing for five years or potentially missing another year here and there. Or even interacting with the player’s child that has inherited the Kynseed rather than the original character.
Outside of the main story, which as mentioned before players will need to reach certain reputation levels to unlock additional stages of, there are various signboard quests that range from simply racing a pig for the best time, delivering items, finding a lost item, or even inflicting someone with something like flatulence as a prank. Or, in other cases, players may find ghosts haunting a building and they’ll need to “appease” them to make them move on and stop terrorizing the people within, usually through committing some evil deed or something similar. These types of unique interactions help give the title enough unique flavoring and humor to make it worthwhile even though the characters themselves tend to be rather lacking. That and the pacing of the story and the heavy grind to get anywhere in it can make it rather tedious more than enjoyable at times.
Gameplay
As mentioned before, the lengthy prologue serves as a tutorial for many elements of Kynseed’s gameplay while also introducing the various elements that help set it apart from other games in the genre. First and foremost, there is no energy system in any shape or form once players become an adult. This means that they can stay out and adventure as long as they want and the game will autosave when the day rolls over at 6AM. It is possible to take naps at campfires or sleep back at home to save as well, but this isn’t necessary as the player’s health also isn’t affected in any way outside of actually fighting an enemy in the forest zones.
Instead players will be given a variety of tools to make use of, proverbs to find and learn the various ways to increase the “star ratings” of everything from fish, fruits from trees, and even mined minerals. Chopping wood comes from specific trees that literally look like they are growing lumber, slingshots can shoot apples or pears out of trees for a chance at a better rating or higher yield, and even using the hand-scythe can produce extra seeds once players have become more “skilled” at using them through repetition. Similarly there are various Masters throughout the game that will teach players additional skills as long as players can deliver the proper items to them. This includes things such as being able to see what fish are available on a map (once it is unlocked via finding every map stone in the zone) by turning in the correct fish to the Fish Master, the ability to snag fish when casting, and more. Similarly players can turn in cooked food to the Cooking Master to gain special effects such as double-produce, higher quality and other bonuses which will be essential for the various grinding elements.
You see, while Kynseed does have a primary plot and does easily point the player in the right direction, for the most part it is also stalled whenever their “reputation” isn’t high enough to continue. Raising the player’s reputation can be done a number of ways such as completing requests from townsfolk, fighting enemies in the various forests, befriending townsfolk, rebuilding bridges or destroyed homes to provide new places for people to live, and especially purchasing and managing a shop. All while also trying to manage the player’s farm if they so wish. Actually managing the farm is a simple enough endeavor as watering plants is incredibly simple since the watering can is bottomless and crops won’t wither if left unwatered, animals seem like they won’t die if they go without food but they will not produce milk or eggs or listen to the player’s “pet whistle” if their mood is too low.
Speaking of which, there are no horses because they’ve apparently gone extinct/are fantasy creatures. Instead everyone rides pigs and that will be the best way players can move around quickly without making use of the Goddess statues to teleport at the price of an apple or making use of the twisted woods of the fae if players have the proper key obtained from Mr. Fairfield. Either way, players have an infinite inventory space and nothing degrades over time, nor do requests from villagers. Even if a request says a character must be “fed” or something similar within a certain time frame the quest won’t fail if players miss it, it’ll simply reappear at the same time the next day. That being said, players are also not able to “ship” items for money. Instead they can only sell items for a limited amount of money that each store has or earn gold from completing tasks from villagers. This gold is then used for things such as purchasing new recipes, more seeds to grow on the farm, additional animals (including dogs and cats), or straight up buying a business eventually.
Depending on the business that players purchase they will also find themselves needing to re-hire staff, keep the business stocked with items or manage it themselves by crafting items that are requested by customers. This is the cheaper method and Kynseed does offer a few shortcuts here and there since correctly completing certain item mini-games three times will give players the ability to mass produce a product as long as they have enough ingredients. That being said, a large portion of the mini-games that are involved with the crafting are poorly explained even in the tutorial and especially during gameplay where new elements are added to more complex items. For example, there’s never an indication that players can adjust the cooking temperature of the stove, meaning a number of poor quality meals came out until random button pressings revealed the ability to lower and strengthen the heat to properly balance out how hot or cold the ingredients were getting inside of the dish.
There is a certain level of accomplishment that comes from making progress, however incremental, in Kynseed. But boy does it feel like following a crumb trail at times due to the grind and high level of demand the game requires, especially with how easy it is to feel overwhelmed with what the game throws at players. Yes, it is entirely possible to take things slow and sacrifice the player’s original character to pass their abilities and reputation to one of their children through the Kynseed if they die of old age, but it feels forced at times and often poorly thought out, especially since it never really feels necessary unless players are dying rapidly in the forest fights or spending their years recklessly at Fairfield’s shop.
Speaking of fighting, the combat in Kynseed is something of a strange beast because it is an “active turn” style battling system where the player and enemies have an attack gauge that fills up over time. Before venturing into a forest, of which there are three each with their own difficulty level, players will select a sword of choice, various charms that can help increase their defense against certain enemy types, and even bring a pet with them to help out in species specific ways. Once in a fight players will have three spaces they can move up and down along to dodge incoming attacks and can attack enemies either straight ahead or diagonally from them with enemies being able to spawn on either 3 or all 4 squares. Pressing the matching face button will allow players to attack an enemy in that square if they can reach them, though it is worth noting it is impossible to attack an enemy in the far back except for with a bow, though bow and arrows are meant more to interrupt enemy actions and stun them than to properly slay them. There is a little bit of leeway here as players can adjust enemy attack speed in the settings but they can still hit like a truck if players are unprepared. Winning a battle not only provides various enemy drops and rewards but also the chance to take what the player has acquired so far and flee safely. Push too far and players might find themselves being taken down and “revived” at the cost of a year of their life.
Audio & Visuals
Kynseed does feature some gorgeous pixel art for its world design and characters. Sure, the character portraits might not be the best around, but the actual character sprites are nice and detailed looking given how many variations there are. A lot of credit also has to be given to making sure the various fae designs range from incredibly creepy to charming, making it a shame that a few aren’t romanceable. The world that players travel through also features a wide-array of different feeling biomes and ruins, including plenty of creepy locations that will make players wonder how, if at all, they’ll come into play later. The enemy designs are also handled well when players are in the game’s combat zones.
There is no voice work of any kind but the game does feature some great sounding background music including fitting adventuring music while traveling around the world or more intense when battling against enemies in a forest.
Overall
Kynseed is a strange beast of a life sim. It offers a wide array of mini-games to help keep things feeling fresh even if instructions are often vague at first all while giving players countless ways to approach how they want to grow their legend. The biggest issue though is the grind. Every single task, whether it is fighting, farming, repairing something, building a business, or even marriage, is a grind. This is far from a bad thing on its own as Kynseed does offer its own unique style of charm, but it isn’t quite unique enough to demand nearly as much as it tries to at times. As a result, while Kynseed may offer a massive amount of content once players get past the lengthy prologue, the lackluster characters and overwhelming grind is something that will likely only hook the most hardcore fans of the genre.
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