Review: Everholm Is Rough Around the Edges

I’ve spent an absurd amount of time playing farming sims. There is something therapeutic about switching off your brain for several hours and either helping local villagers find irrelevant items or growing some carrots, only to sell them for a pittance later. Everholm has a lot of potential, but many unpolished elements make it a rough experience, almost like the jagged ends of a precious stone.

The plot is intentionally vague, contributing to a paranormal mystery. You take control of a young girl called Lilly, who chases after her sister who’s passed through a magical gate. Afterwards, Lilly wakes up on a farm without any memories of the island’s inhabitants. But the townsfolk know her very well and often reference conversations and activities they experienced together. It almost feels like an out-of-body experience. As you live out your days on the island of Everholm, part of your goal is try to figure out what has happened to you and find your sister.

Image via Chonky Loaf

Although your “supposed mission” is to find your missing sister, Everholm allows you to spend your days as you wish. If you’re interested in the agricultural side of things, you can focus on planting and harvesting crops for your farm. The process is very similar to other farming games. You plant seeds and water them every day until they are ready to be harvested. You can grow a good selection of vegetables and fruits that each take a different amount of time to ripen. Looking after the farm is a relaxing affair that will encourage a sense of cathartic repetition.

But this wasn’t always the case, as playing on a controller was problematic at launch. In the same vein as other farming games, energy is used whenever you use an action. If you run out, you will collapse from exhaustion and a new day will start. However, the cursor would be finicky when trying to aim at a specific spot, and performing an action would eat up energy regardless of whether it was successful. This made watering crops a nightmare. Luckily, this problem has been massively addressed with the latest patch, where not only has the cursor dramatically improved, but energy will only be used on successful actions.

Image via Chonky Loaf

Everholm encourages creativity, as you can buy and expand your farm and add decorative objects like fences around the area. Later down the line, you can also get blueprints to build new items and buildings, like a barn to look after animals or a scarecrow to intimidate birds so they will stay away from your crops. There is plenty to get into, and you can easily spend hours on these optional activities. I often found myself fishing, as selling what you catch is a great way to make money. 

Although, I believe I encountered a bug in one of the major building facilities. You receive the blueprints for the furnace in your mailbox after entering the dungeon for the first time. When you read the mail, you have two options: accept or back out. Usually, it doesn’t matter what you select—you still get the contents from the letter. In a rush, I picked back out and didn’t receive the furnace blueprints. Luckily, I realized this before I started the new day (which is when the game saves) and reloaded my file. But I still haven’t come across any other way of getting the blueprints for the furnace. If this is the only way to get it, this is a big deal, as you need it to make items to progress with the main story.

Image via Chonky Loaf

You can also socialize with the residents of the island. The townsfolk often assign you tasks, and completing these quests will increase your closeness with them. These tasks are usually very straightforward, but they are enjoyable to complete. There is a big emphasis on these interactions in Everholm, as the characters connect to the island’s magic and play a part in the overarching story. They know information about your past and your missing sister. The problem is that I found the characters rather forgettable and not too interesting, which is not great from a title where the plot is a big focal point.

The island of Everholm also hosts local festivals with distinctive themes and pop-up shops. These events enhance the sense of community and create the feeling of passing through the seasons. There is a good selection of activities, with my favorite event being the egg and spoon race. You must input button commands at the right time to boost your running speed. It feels so whimsical and silly that it’s hard not to smile. I wish there were more seasonal events, but the activities are on par with Ova Magica.

Image via Chonky Loaf

After a week has passed, the first dungeon will become available to you. If you’ve played Fae Farm, the dungeon set-up is very similar. Every dungeon is procedurally generated, meaning the environmental layout will change every time. There will also be different enemies and resources on each level. To proceed to the dungeon’s next floor, you must axe down the rocks to find a button underneath.

You will initially be given a bat, which is a very standard, close-combat weapon, but later you will acquire more long-ranged weapons that are better to take on the dungeons. For example, one is a bee cannon that shoots out a swarm of angry bees, and another is a bazooka that fires explosive bamboo. I really liked tackling the dungeons, as they were highly engaging, but also matched the tempo of the rest of the experience. In a strange way, it was pretty relaxing. Leaving the dungeon is also easy if you want to retreat at any point. My only minor complaint is sometimes you will die with the health bar still displaying you had some health left, so you might want to heal anytime the bar is on the lower side.

Image via Chonky Loaf

Visually, Everholm looks flat-out adorable. The beautiful coat of pixelated graphics adds a cozy vibe to the entire game, whether you’re on your farm, traversing the beautiful prairie grasslands or exploring the spooky dungeons. You can tell a lot of time and attention was poured into the presentation, which is hard not to admire. The soundtrack is lovely, too, which adds to the laid-back atmosphere.

I’ve spent over twenty hours with Everholm, and I know I’ve only scratched the surface of what there is to see. I like the aesthetic vibe of Everholm, and the gameplay has an enticing daily routine cycle that will be a hit with fans of Stardew Valley. The supernatural mystery failed to hook me in, but the tasks were so enjoyable that it wasn’t as big of a deal as it should have been. But there are quite a few issues that sometimes break the immersion. That said, the developers are already addressing some of these issues, which is great to see, as Everholm definitely has the fundamental ingredients of an excellent farming sim.

Everholm is now available on PCs.

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