Lightyear Frontier Review – I’ve Never Loved Space So Much

Earth isn’t good anymore, so it’s time to move on. Embarking on an intergalactic adventure, you crash-land on an unfamiliar planet and start cultivating your farm. Equipped with nothing but your wits and your Mech, the world is yours to explore. You’re mostly alone, save for PIP-3R and the handful of travelers that stop by now and then. There are also ruins scattered across the planet, left behind by an ancient civilization that seemingly disappeared.

It’s a peaceful life filled with calm and cozy vibes. There are no enemies to fight, though there are still plenty of challenges–like Noxious Weeds and Slime that overtake your farm in the mornings. The Meadows is the first area you’ll explore, and it will likely be where you set up your Homestead. Other areas around the map are polluted with Noxious Slime and Weeds, which harm the environment and keep it from thriving.

Related

Table of Contents

Toggle

I’m Calling It Now: The New Lorcana Meta Is Great

After six months of Ruby/Amethyst dominance, we finally have some real diversity in the meta.

Your main goal is to remove these pollutants and restore the planet to its former glory. I grabbed my Vacuum Harvester and Irrigation Hose and got to work, sucking up the weeds and washing away slime so I could find new creatures and crops. It’s not much, but it’s honest work. Unlike other farming sims, there are no penalties for staying up all night or being encumbered – you can explore as much as you’d like and pick up everything in sight. The only consequence of carrying too much is not being able to jump or sprint, but with the right tools, you can carve a path back to your Homestead. It’s less of a hindrance than it sounds, and you’ll quickly get used to taking the scenic route to get home (or crafting storage near resources so you can come back for them later).

I loved every minute of this peaceful farming sim. The mystery of the ancient civilization that picked up and left propelled me to upgrade my Mech to better clean the Noxious Weeds and Slime away. Piper’s daily greetings and comments were the only socialization I needed. I lived out my introverted farming dream, completely alone on a planet all my own.

Of course there are other forms of life around. Aside from the flora, the fauna is adorable. Ratscallions hop all over the landscape and Swiftplumes stand at attention. Others, like Znorks, pop out of holes and tussle with each other at night. A merchant named Lola shows up every day to say hello and sell her wares, but she doesn’t overstay her welcome either. The world is colorful and full of life at all times, and there are plenty of discoveries to make.

While I spend most of my time in the Mech, there are hidden caves and areas that the Mech can’t get into. Inside these caves are either Ratscallion nests and resources or missing artifacts that Piper can piece together for more information about the previous civilization that lived on the planet. The ruins of their lives are all over and offer unique insight into what life might have been like before.

In my eagerness to explore, I scaled a cliff by jumping along the sides. One misstep sent me tumbling down in humiliation. As tragic as it was, I couldn’t stop laughing either. The stakes are low, and as I hauled myself out of the Mech once again to flip it over, I reminded myself there was a better way to get where I needed to go if I just looked harder.

This offers a nice break from the standard wake up, farm, explore, and sleep routine of the day-to-day. If I set out to gather copper one afternoon, I may stumble across ruins and spend all day there instead. There’s no rush, and everything is at your own pace.

What really brings this cozy game to life are the decorations, also known as constructs. You’ll uncover the plans for these constructs on your own as you find new resources, and you can purchase new constructs from Lola as well. The more decorations added to your Homestead, the higher your coziness level is. This not only helps you feel more at home on the frontier, but it also offers unique benefits, like more resources to be found.

My favorite part of Lightyear Frontier is the reminder to practice mindfulness. Unlike other farming sims and cozy games, resources don’t magically respawn over the next couple of days. If you cut down a tree, it’s gone. It’s up to you to plant a new one and help it grow. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up without enough resources to keep developing your Homestead and tools – but thankfully, you can always buy the tree sprouts from Lola if it gets too bad.

There is a bit of a grind to get the materials you need, but it doesn’t feel like it. You can freely explore all areas right away, though accessing the resources involves restoring the land and solving the mystery of the ancient civilization. It’s a great way to unwind at the end of a stressful day, and with the multiplayer function, you can bring friends along on the journey as well.

Lightyear Frontier

Lightyear Frontier takes cozy farming sims to the next level as this one takes place in outer space. Not the kind of distant planet normally portrayed in video games, this one is peaceful, allowing you to build a home and craft a mech either alone or with friends.

Pros

• Almost no penalties for staying out late or carrying too much.
• The Mech adds a new level of control while also letting you walk around without it.
• Freedom to build anywhere you want, whenever you want.

Cons

• Storage containers are incredibly small.
• No fast travel points, so you?ll spend a lot of time backtracking.

Next

It’s So Cool That Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Just Decides To Become Tomb Raider

Yuffie doesn’t get a lot of time to shine in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, but she makes the most of that opportunity