SunnySide
Find harmony in the Japanese countryside as you help Sparky uncover lost memories in this modern take on the farming and life simulator. Build a thriving homestead, cultivate new relationships, and chase your own happiness in SunnySide.
SunnySide is a exploration, casual and jrpg game
developed by Aftabi Games
and published by Merge Games and Maximum Entertainment.
Released on June 14th 2024 is available only on Windows
in 5 languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain and Japanese.
It has received 1,010 reviews of which 702 were positive and 308 were negative resulting in a rating of 6.7 out of 10. 😐
The game is currently priced at 20.99€ on Steam and has a 30% discount.
The Steam community has classified SunnySide into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
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Requirements
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Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Intel Core i5-2300 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce® Gtx 1660 Super / AMD Radeon RX 590
- DirectX: Version 11
Reviews
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
All the negative reviews are valid since the game isn’t well-programmed and still lacks polish. To be completely honest, it should be marked as "Early Access." The developers are actively working on the game and seem really lovely, so I still recommend it for many reasons. As long as you can accept the "work in progress" status, this game promises to be unique and fun. It feels like a Persona game meets a farming sim, and I love everything about that. The characters seem interesting. I haven't played for long yet, but I've fallen in love with it and choose to believe in the future of this game. As soon as I feel this game is ready for me to dive in and grind, I'll be back to update my review.
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I'm really enjoying this game so far. I'd normally wait longer to write a review, but I had a lot of thoughts on this one and I already like it. I wrote a GDD for an urban life sim game before, and honestly, playing this again really made me want to revisit that concept. This is an independent studio, and what I would guess is a smaller team tackling a huge game, so to even get this sort of game out there is a miracle. So yes, short version: really fun, probably my favorite farming sim game by a long shot for the aesthetic, focus on characters, and options. Besides the obvious comparisons to the farming sim genre that Harvest Moon spearheaded until Stardew Valley appeared, I read that this team referenced Persona as a reference for that (the loading acorn is already a dead giveaway). And honestly, that really grabbed my attention - Persona social links are a fantastic goal to aim for. I've only just gotten started with interacting with a lot of the residents and I can already see the influences. Honestly, one of my favorite parts of the game is just biking around the city and town itself. The attention to music in these scenarios is also nice, and very Persona-ish. I may revisit this to add more, but I'm already charmed. It's got his rough edges as one would expect, larger studios with a massive QA team would still miss a lot of things in a game with this many moving parts, but it delivers what it promised and I'm having fun. And that's all I'd really ask for. For more specific points, here are some notes I mentally made while playing. They aren't really organized: * The loading acorn is correct from what I can tell - you should take your time. I have a habit of "getting myself squared away" first in any game I play, and that's just not really the way to approach this. * This game uses the classic Harvest Moon/Stardew Valley format of a running constant timer. I get it, though honestly I'd have preferred a time-slot system, or at least an ability to increase day length further. But again, that's just me, and the game doesn't (seem?) to have a time limit. I guess I'll see! * I'm just getting started into the characters, and one thing I think the game might have benefited from is the ability to examine various things. It may have been a good way to add some character building moments when in other people's houses for example, outside of the visual information. * The post-hangout Comment/Gift/Help system is an interesting choice. Personally, I think it might have been nice to do a necessary comment multiple choice where they were received differently, and then after that an option to gift or help. Otherwise technically speaking, the comment NPCs are a lot easier to friend up. But this may be intentional, and that's fine, and that is just my opinion. Though I kind of wish the "helps" looked at your current abilities. Ryan gave me 21 days to get him a Reuben sandwich in one of the first hangouts, and apparently I need to be a master chef to craft it because I still can't learn that recipe. * The cooking was a bit frustrating at first for me, and I might not have been the only one. But that's on me for trying to experiment. While you can, I definitely wouldn't, it seems(?) that even if you have the correct ingredients it may prevent you from doing it. Furthermore, I do wish some of the tools were a bit more broad - I can cook a steak in a cast iron pan, but not a chicken thigh? That said, when you DO get past the barriers, it's a neat system and has some nice aesthetic/sim-detail touches. Someone had fun with the rice cooker for sure. * I've seen complaints that the NPCs aren't, using the common parlance, "playersexual." This is clearly in subjective territory, but I'm honestly fine with either approach. The truth is that yes, you are going to annoy or even alienate certain players that way because they had an NPC in mind and they realize they aren't going to be able to romance them with the character they want to play. But also, an NPC's preferences can be a defining character point for them. They are characters, realized individuals. It can help reinforce that. Adding their sexuality/preferences to their social media bio (even in a directly in-character way) might not have hurt. But maybe that would have worked better if the phone had a separate dating app that all the SunnySide romance-able characters were on that you could view their info that way. Not sure. * I saw some threads about marriage/children, but I am very glad this game doesn't consider those as end-game. They aren't for a lot of people in real life, especially with the outdated and archaic baggage still attached to even a modern concept of marriage. I think those would be nice options for people who want them for their character, but that's like a huge content update. * The battle system is pretty interesting. First and foremost, I appreciate it's turn-based RPG style, I much prefer that over the hack-and-slash systems. It's got some nice uniqueness and style in it, but I don't really think it works as a "deck builder." The main purpose of a deck builder is to tailor your approach, your strategy. And that is often used with a max hand/draw amount and a larger set of cards to pull (Potionomics is a good example). Since the ofuda are consumed on use (even on upgrading it just "reduces the chance of being consumed", it doesn't eliminate it), it doesn't really work like that. You're going to find yourself auto-inserting them like bullets, and you can't strategize every fight. It's a shame - I get why they did it, mechanically - it's a resource, so if its infinite, it doesn't need to be replenished. That said, if nothing else, if I wish they used charges or a different energy mechanic. Like I'd rather need "fire energy" to charge my fire deck elements or something. That way I could build a specific type of deck. But realistically, I can't stop every fight to re-adjust my deck, so I just throw in whatever I got. * The ability to re-home or rename animals would be really nice. I have two chickens named Winston because I made a mistake. * I would have liked manual saving. Given that an average day is supposed to be 18 minutes and you can save at any time by ending the day, I get it. The days-that-don't-end are not to be used to do massive amounts of things so progress lost is sort of on the player at that point. Might be just me, I'm someone who saves after doing one interaction in a menu. * Wow, having had the misfortune of living in a small town for longer than I'd like, those store hours are brutally accurate. Everything is closed all the time. Realisitc and logical in the game world since most of these businesses are run by 1-2 people. * This game isn't voiced for obvious reasons - huge amounts of dialogue, smaller studio, the cost would be astronomical. That said, a nice update might be to add non-specific verbal cues like Sparky has when talking to them. "Hmms," or a one-note sad/happy/angry noise. Just a bit of flair, the writing is most important though. * The Skill system was a nice surprise! Part of me wishes I had an app for it, but it'd be nearly useless after maxing, so I understand. * Lots of great character designs and a huge cast. Their personalities really shine through too, love that. * Technical Note: I think there is a memory leak at the writing of this review, which is totally unsurprising given the size of it. You may want to restart if you are doing a long play session after a new day save. The map will slow to a crawl and the graphics will have a tough time loading in. * Funny Side Note: I appreciated the lighthearted burn on watering cans and old-style farming. I mean I get it, it's for the mechanics sometimes, but if you look at it realistically it's pretty funny in sim games with modern tech they ignore it to make those mechanics work.
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TLDR; bought the game despite the mixed reviews because I want to judge it myself. Color me surprised because I love it! Its a really refreshing take on a farming sim game and I am here for it. What I don't like: - Terrible fps drops - There are unclear mechanics that I have to source answers from the discord channel (i.e. had to wait a day for the electric pump to start working) - Placement grid doesn't show up inside the house - Random grass growing beneath the floor of the house and I have to scythe them - Can't sell animals at the moment - If you accidentally build a fence that's not grounded, you can't remove the blueprint, you'd have to build it and then destroy it [ Resolved as of Patch 3 6/29/24 What I don't mind: - Quirky animations (i.e. character's arms and legs get stuck for a bit when getting off a vehicle) - So much running at the start of the game - You start the game by sleeping in a camping tent and it takes quite a while to get yourself a proper home and bed - Some decorations are just decorations. Maybe in the future it'd be nice if they actually have a function. - Shearing station takes quite a bit of real estate - Raised garden beds are difficult to water with a hose Resolved as of Patch 3 6/29/24 What I like: - It's like when Sims 4 and Stardew Valley had a baby - No need to manually connect power and water sources to tanks and batteries - they automatically get connected to the grid - Pets chasing away crop stealers! - Different types of fishing rods and baits and tackles - Card battle system What I love: - The concept of a farming sim game set in modern times (watering plants with a hose? yes please!) - Devs are responsive - There is a variety of crops and you have to be mindful of when to plant them because of the plant stages across the seasons - The ability to introduce mods! Talk about replayability! - Gabe. Definitely Gabe.
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I so soooo love this game, even though I don't usually enjoy farming sims. But it could be ✨BETTER✨ 💖 I love: ✧ the semi-open world and the chill vibes ✧ the music ofc! ✧ the Persona-inspired elements ✧ the residents' stories and the in-game community is compelling to me I LOVE and HATE that the game doesn't always hold your hand on what to do in certain situations and there's just so little guides around the net at the moment. ✨ Definitely needs improvement: ✧ MC model and clothes improvements and I hope I can change how the model looks midgame because I don't know how to scale their height with my preferred romance during a run. For some reason I don't know how to customize the height during character creation (my character from the demo was auto-imported) ✧ TONS of bugs and performance issues (mundane and game-breaking) There's just too much bugs rn, but devs are working hard for post-launch support (YAY for that!). The stuttering and fps drops were thre though bearable for me and I liked the gameplay so much I just pushed through till headaches just took over lol ✧ A lot of QoL improvements I did hope the roughness of how assets looked during the Demo was fixed for release, but sadly it didn't. I would've understood if it's Early Access, but I do hope it could get better in a couple of patches cause I seriously fell in love with SunnySide and would love to go back to it at some point! ⭐️⭐️⭐️ /5 till then
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So, this is a game that is going to ask a heck of a lot from your computer. You are probably going to be wanting to run higher than the recommended specs to get the most out of it. I have a top of the line self-built gaming rig and can play the game with all graphic settings on ultra, with zero lag. Just having a good computer negates about 70% of the negative reviews that are popping up here (and we all know that negative steam reviews tend to over-the-top brutal). The game is about 30-40 dollars, depending on where you live. You can hardly go to the movies by yourself for that price! So, did you play and get 2.5 hours of enjoyment out of it? Well, then, money well spent! Personally, I played the 10 day demo twice, and then played for 10 hours on the day that it launched. And this game is SO FULL of value, it's wild! There's a learning curve in the game. With each playthough of the first 10 days that I've done, I've gotten better at it because I've learned from the previous time. This game isn't like SDV or SunHaven. It's truly unique and will probably take you a hot minute to figure out the basic systems. Probably more than the 2 hours window that you have for getting a refund. Again, play the demo.... twice. lol You will figure out and it will quickly become evident how deep this game is and how much detail there is to discover. Other Highlights I Wish To Mention: - The devs!! They are awesome people who are super involved with the community. They have done their level best to make this game inclusive (ie: gender expression) and loads of fun. They have accomplished that and more, which is absolutely impressive for a first-time development team. - The scenery! It looks absolutely stunning. The waterfalls!!! The cherry trees!! The northern lights! My mouse is on a swivel looking everywhere. - The characters!! All of the characters look and feel unique have beautifully done portraits for when their lines are on screen. There are loads of romancables, and I love that they aren't player-sexual (they each have a preference for a range of gender expressions). lol Oh, and I saw someone complain about the lack of faces on tourists... I promise you, their graphic settings were just too low. - The modern side of the game. The in-game phone is so fun! I loved choosing my alert tone and taking pictures to set as the background. The drone is really fun to play with for building and taking photos. The lack of watercan is a godsend. Being able to play whatever track you want on the in-game phone at will after you buy the records is awesome. I look forward to driving more than just the bicycle too! - Speaking of the music, it is gorgeous! I don't even feel the need to turn on other music that I like or a tv show to keep me actually entertained and engaged with the game. That is a feat right there. If you're not into the music being so loud, there is a preset in the settings to change the sound to ambience focused, so that you'll hear the world around you more rather than the fantastic tracks. - I haven't gotten overly deep into the cooking yet, but I think the setup for it is really cool! Designed by an actual chef, and is not just... click and here ya go! You actually have to... cook. But you don't have to cook if you don't want to! There are PLENTY of places to buy food (and you can forage for food too!), such as the vending machines and restaurants. I highly recommend visiting GotNoodz for some ramen!! hint hint! - SO MANY DIFFERENT PLANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And did I mention the foraging enough times??? - Cute animals! And not just the farm animals, be sure to check out the animal rescue for some cats & dogs! All in all, this game is incredibly detailed. It won't be for everyone, of course, as not everyone likes the same things (and we all shouldn't like the same things because that would be boring). But when you really get into the meat & potatoes of it, the game is an absolute diamond. It's really the farming game that I've been craving for years. Ignore the negative reviews, try the demo for yourself and make up your own mind! Make sure you go through the games settings so that you can start off right... and PAY ATTENTION to the tutorials (so many people on YouTube ignoring them and then being upset when they can't figure out something.... and the tutorials are all on the in-game phone if you need to revisit them). Make you you get to know your in-game phone; the journal app is really important, and you get more apps as you go along. Sit back, relax, and don't worry about any in-game time constants because as far as I've found... there aren't any. The first time I played it took me 3 in game days to figure out how to buy the axe. And that's ok!!! You don't need to be the most amazing player of this game on day 1. It will take time to get to know.... AND IT IS TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!!! [EDIT 1] Oooh, I totally forgot to add something about the foraging!!! haha. Don't got to bed early on day 1! Time stops, purposely, at about 9:15pm to give you time to explore the map at your leisure. Eat the mushrooms your forage as you go, and shake every berry bush you can find! I didn't even try that hard to hit every bush on my day 1 and still walked away with $1.2k the next morning after selling them at the convenience store. [/EDIT 1] [EDIT 2] Almost all of the negative reviews include things that could have been solved easily by 1) looking at the settings, 2) going to the pause screen (esc) and hitting the button that teleports you home, 3) are super unrealistic things to ask of a 1st time indie developer, or 4) are at minimum xenophobic if not outright racist (and I've seen a couple homophobic ones too). [/EDIT 2]
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Last Updates
| Steam data | 13 December 2024 00:54 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 20 December 2024 01:09 |
| Steam price | 23 December 2024 12:49 |
| Steam reviews | 23 December 2024 14:05 |
Online players
20
Developer
Aftabi Games
Publisher
Merge Games,
Maximum Entertainment
Release
14 Jun 2024
Platforms
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