DLCSpiritfarer®: Farewell Edition - Digital ArtbookLoading store offers
Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition
Stella upgrades her ferry, gathers resources, and cares for the spirits aboard until they are ready to move on. ≈ $1.94 at 
GOG gets you an edition bringing together the base game and three major content updates. Players who enjoy unhurried exploration and getting to know characters will find a complete journey here, not just a management loop. At $29.99 from GOG, Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition is at the tracked low, a fitting moment to begin a voyage of care, exploration, and farewells.
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Price History
Past 36 months · Updated dailyHistorical Low~ $2.362026-07Current Low Across Stores~ $2.99Kinguinvs. Historical Low+27%
Prices cover Steam and 39 authorized stores; only legitimate offers are counted. The chart shows weekly market-wide lows and Steam's official price across the past 36 months.
01About Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition
In Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition, you play Stella, ferrymaster to the deceased: build a boat, explore fantastical seas, and care for spirits before helping them move on. The Steam PC version supports full controller input and two-player local co-op. The interface is available in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese-Brazil, Russian, Japanese, and Korean. Player rating: 94% positive from 47,425 reviews. Released August 18, 2020.
Credits
Developer
Thunder Lotus
Publisher
Thunder Lotus
Lowest recorded in 36 months
$2.362026-07-30 · KinguinBase game · same records as the chart above; USD history, not a regional Steam low.Language support
| Language | Interface | Subtitles | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | Yes | Yes | — |
| Traditional Chinese | Yes | Yes | — |
| English | Yes | Yes | — |
Show 8 more languages
| Language | Interface | Subtitles | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| French | Yes | Yes | — |
| Italian | Yes | Yes | — |
| German | Yes | Yes | — |
| Spanish | Yes | Yes | — |
| Portuguese-Brazil | Yes | Yes | — |
| Russian | Yes | Yes | — |
| Japanese | Yes | Yes | — |
| Korean | Yes | Yes | — |
Steam PC edition data · 2026-10-18
02Before you buy
Controls and co-op
The Steam PC version has full controller support and local co-op for two players, with the second player as the cat Daffodil.
Language
The interface supports eleven languages, including English. Full audio is not listed for these languages.
03Frequently asked questions
What is the game about?
You play Stella, ferrymaster to the deceased. Build and improve your boat, explore the world, and care for spirits before releasing them into the afterlife.
What can you do during voyages?
Activities include farming, mining, fishing, cooking, and crafting, alongside platforming sections involving running, jumping, and gliding.
Can you play co-op?
Yes. Two players can play locally, with the second player controlling Daffodil the cat. Remote Play Together is also supported.
8.6
Overall Score
Graphics9
Audio9.5
Gameplay6.5
Story9.5
Content8
“Want a game that has you keeping house and still crying at the goodbyes? It turns building, cooking and hugging into daily care for dying spirits, then has you ferry them off yourself. The story and music are the real draw — the late-game chores wear on you.”
Our Verdict
Tally it all up and Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition is a work with a perfect emotional core and a flawed loop — worth your time on balance. We score it 8.6.
It defined a genre in 2020 and still sets the bar in 2026
When it launched in 2020, Spiritfarer all but single-handedly defined the "cozy game about dying." Before it, few games dared to make end-of-life care and grief processing the playable core, let alone handle them this unsentimentally and with this much dignity. Its Games for Impact win at TGA 2020 wasn't because it was the most fun; it was because it proved this medium could talk about death gently.
Looking back from 2026, nothing has taken that spot. Cozy games have multiplied in the years since, but on the sheer purity and completeness of "making the goodbye itself the core loop," it remains the yardstick that every peer in the space still gets measured against. Its irreplaceability isn't the art or the music — those can be surpassed — it's the way it handles caring for the dying and finally letting them go, still the clearest reference point in this emotional subgenre.
Who it's for: anyone ready to keep house and cry at the goodbyes
Be clear about who fits. If you want an experience that's genuinely moved by its characters, if you'll spend dozens of hours keeping house and caring for a boatful of souls, and if you've made peace with crying at the farewells, this game was built for you. It's especially good as the one title you can recommend to family who don't play games at all — plenty of people use it as the gateway to get someone they love into the hobby.
It also suits players who like a slow pace, lean into atmosphere, and value emotional payoff over challenge and adrenaline. You aren't here to win; you're here for the company and the goodbyes. If those two words move you, it almost certainly won't let you down.
Who should steer clear
Conversely, a few kinds of player should pass. If you chase combat thrills, optimal numbers, a tight crisp pace, and can't stand backtracking and fiddly housekeeping, the late-game management load will only sour the experience. Its loop was never designed for "challenge" or "efficiency," and holding it to that standard just makes it feel like a slog.
The other group is anyone simply short on time. A 31-hour main story and a forty-something completion run is a real investment for a narrative-forward game, and the game won't hurry on your behalf. If you only want a moving story in two or three hours, something like Gris or Journey suits you better — Spiritfarer asks for long companionship, not a one-shot tug at the heart. It earns its tears by making you do the daily work first, and that trade only pays off if you actually have the hours to give it.
Which version, and one last word
Version choice is a non-question: get the Farewell Edition. It folds in the Lily, Beverly, and Jackie & Daria updates and is the most complete, most narratively whole cut, with even local co-op polished. There's no reason to touch the old base release today — this edition hands you a complete emotional loop, and the added characters happen to fill the narrative gaps the original left open. It supports local co-op, with the second player steering Daffodil the cream-colored cat, ideal for sharing the voyage with a partner or family — one sails, one helps keep house, which fits the game's "live it together" spirit exactly. It's on every platform — Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, PC — and looks consistent everywhere, so any machine gives you the same ache. Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition is not a flawless game; the late-game management wears on you, and the backtracking and chores are real shortcomings we won't paper over just because it moves you. But on the one thing it truly cares about — telling a string of lives about loss and farewell well — it hits the highest mark in its class. Opposite Stardew Valley's management-first, feeling-as-byproduct approach, here management is only the vehicle and the goodbye is the lead. Spend the dozens of hours, care for a boatful of souls, remember each of their tastes and stories, then ferry them one by one through that glowing door, and it pays you back with a journey you won't forget for a long time. Few games will ever ask you to practice goodbye this many times, and fewer still will leave you grateful that they did. You were never here to win.
Popular Steam reviews
Native-language selection · 10 reviewsSelected helpful reviews in this language show both recommendations and criticisms. This selection does not represent the overall positive rating; opinions reflect the version reviewed.
RecommendedSteam player
This game healed something in me. No, I'm not being hyperbolic. This game seriously healed something. I've been my mom's caregiver for the past year. She was diagnosed with dementia a year ago, and it's progressed quickly. She's already at the end stage. So, we're dealing with hospice, and getting ready for the inevitable conclusion of this evil disease. Since mom reached end stage, I've been in constant "doer" mode. I moved into her house, make sure she's fed, bathed, etc. That, coupled with countless doctors visits all over our part of the country, has wiped me out. I'm physically and emotionally drained. I haven't cried over the situation in months, and that's led to a lot of personal guilt. When I moved into mom's house, I had to say goodbye to my PC, so I thought I would get a steam deck to play games in my downtime, if I ever had any. I heard about this game on TikTok, and I downloaded it. Seemed like a simple game, and I could pause it if mom needed me. Something to pass the time. It also deals with death and dying, so I figured it was a fitting game. Boy, did I underestimate this game. Every character has an emotional storyline, and the conclusion of each storyline is even more emotional. But, there's one character that really reminded me of what I've been going through with mom. Those of you that have played this probably picked up right away on who I'm talking about. I finished her storyline early this morning, while it was still dark outside and before mom was awake. I haven't wept so hard in months. I'm not talking about crying a few tears. I'm talking full-blown, grown-man-ugly-crying. All those months of pent-up emotions, unconsciously put away so I could focus on mom, came to the surface in what I can only describe as the ultimate emotional release. I cried. I cried about that character. I cried about mom. I didn't realize how much I had been holding onto, but when I tell you that I feel physically lighter now, I mean it. There's no other way to describe it. Thank you so much to the developers for this game. No game has ever had such a profound impact on me. I don't even typically like games like this! But, it's just the game I needed. I'll continue to play it, sitting next to mom every day, loving her and taking care of her, playing the role of "Spiritfarer" myself as my mom and I navigate this disease together ❤️❤️❤️Show moreShow less
18.3 hours at review1,797 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
This review is meant to readjust people's expectations a bit on what kind of game this really is and what you'll spend the majority of the time doing. I'm also writing this out in hopes that I can clarify some things I wished someone mentioned to me before purchasing this game. This is not a hard non-recommendation. Very specific people will not enjoy this game and I want to address certain things for their sake. As described by this game's description, this is very much a resource gathering/management game first and foremost. Despite the impression you might get from trailers and the early demo, the heartfelt moments of this game only briefly punctuate the long sessions of task-juggling, traveling, crafting, and resource gathering rather than balancing out those moments of extended gameplay in an even way. If I had to use percentages, it feels like 90% of the game is doing some sort of busywork and the other 10% are moments you sparingly enjoy. Those who have a tendency to leave no stone unturned, clear out notifications, or address issues in a prompt manner will feel like this game is CONSTANTLY nagging at you to finish doing something. Tasks include feeding passengers, tending animals, bouncing from one island to the next, cooking, various crafting, constantly watering plants ALL THE TIME, etc. Timers on these gameplay aspects will simultaneously run down and you'll always find yourself obligated to address them as they constantly call for your attention. I know this is what resource management games are all about, but the issue here is that the balance between the gameplay and the story elements seem HEAVILY skewed towards the former. For those more curious about Stella's story and her passengers, it feels like WAY too much busywork and time invested for the payoff. Imagine trying to spread a single dot of peanut butter over a piece of sliced bread. My overall enjoyment of this game felt hampered by this sort of imbalance. People with certain personality types will never feel relaxed despite wanting to do so in a beautiful game like this. Despite the game's descriptions, the gameplay loop is NOT cozy or relaxing. One thing I'll say is that nothing significantly detrimental happens when you fail to keep up with things, but if you don't realize this (usually not until late in the game when you've given up on staying on top of things) and have the personality of getting things done, the journey towards learning about Stella and her passengers will feel stagnant and frustrating with all the simultaneous plate-spinning and upkeep along the way. Gameplay and balance aside, a few characters leave a great impression, but the overall story arcs of the remaining passengers don't feel particularly fulfilling. I don't see much growth or satisfying conclusions. It's more about them slowly revealing their stories and finally accepting their specific circumstances. I feel like there are attempts to be profound and I appreciate the effort, but I was ultimately feeling empty--not because I was sad, but because I felt like something was a bit off and unrelatable in terms of how the characters conveyed their feelings and dealt with their circumstances. It feels like someone writing a second-hand account of someone else's words, journey, and experiences instead of it genuinely coming from the characters themselves. Stella herself is likable and expressive in animation and movement, but her non-reaction to her own journey felt a bit odd especially in this game's conclusion. Although I was weary with the game as a whole, there were still individual aspects of the game that really left a positive impression on me. There's just an ever-present charm in all aspects of this game. The music and art are all so beautiful. I loved how much personality each character design had. Those individual aspects among other small details are awesome and I will always remember them. Ultimately, this game was definitely not for me, but I can appreciate what it offers especially to those who are looking for A LOT more gameplay in these sort of seemingly emotionally-charged games. For those who wanted something more relaxing or at least something that was a bit more balanced between gameplay and story, this game may frustrate you. However, if you still are curious about the characters, story, art, and wonderful soundtrack, I recommend watching a playthrough of this game instead. It's still worthwhile to witness and experience the endearing the moments of this game and its wonderful soundtrack even if you're watching someone else play.Show moreShow less
33.4 hours at review418 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
This game is really special. I'm a 50 year old man with an emotional structure made largely of mud and thumbtacks, and I had to bite the inside of my jaw in a parts to keep from tearing up. Many people seem to equate an "adult game" with gore and violence or explicit imagery. Nothing wrong with those types of games, I have and will continue to enjoy them. This game explores mature themes on relationships and mortality and doesn't pull any punches, without being cheap or manipulative. In that sense, its the most adult game I've ever played. I won't ever forget it. If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, stop reading and buy it. Its a slow burn, and you won't be invested until you've spent some time with the characters in the story. In the end, the payoff is tremendous.Show moreShow less
26.4 hours at review1,058 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
Let me just first say that this game nails down a cutesy and a heartwarming aesthetic. So much so, that I almost feel like a monster writing a not recommending review after playing through the game. If there is one thing that I would like other developers to take note from this game is that games need more hugging. I mean literally, let me hug more characters in games. Let me see that animated. I'm also a fan of the fact that the game is very much non-violent in pretty much all aspects. Even though the game features cooking with ingredients like pork, beef, and chicken, the only way to attain these ingredients is by buying them. Anyway, the fact is that this is just not that good of a game. While it certainly delivers in the visual aspect, it leaves much more to be desired in terms of gameplay and writing. I certainly enjoy my platformers and, especially, if they are of the Metroidvania variety. It appears this game takes certain cues from that genre given how the different traversing abilities work. I also like management games and I'm certainly no stranger to putting hundreds of hours into incremental/clicker games. The thematic of the game is also absolutely spot on for this time. One would think this would make the game an absolute masterpiece in my book, but alas, most of it just feels very tedious. The platforming in the game is decent enough. It doesn't get in your way, but there are two minor nitpicks I'd like to make. First, initially, there were couple jumps I didn't realize I could make, because the game likes to make some vertical jumps just barely manageable with double jumps due to slight "edge grabbing" animation. Second, ladders tend to get a bit in the way when trying to traverse the ship quickly. That could be fixed by making sure down+jump also falls through ladders. The biggest pitfalls in the gameplay are the management and crafting aspects. Cooking is perhaps the most complex crafting system in the game and there are a lot of different ingredients to make a lot of different kinds of foods. However, it's also the least necessary and most frustrating system in the game. Food is pretty much needed only to make your passengers happy. Happiness affects the activities your passengers do, but at the end of the day, even at their happiest, it doesn't have that much of an impact. After 10 hours or so, I just didn't bother feeding the passengers anymore, because it didn't feel worthwhile. It's made worse by the fact that each passenger has different tastes. And you can't give them the same food twice in a row. So, if you want to keep people happy, you have to remember their tastes, which recipes fit that taste, what ingredients make the recipe, and what you previously fed them. Cooking is also very tedious because you can't access the recipe book anywhere else except the stove. And if the stove is in use, trying to access the recipe book just cancels whatever you're cooking at the moment. Foods also take time to cook. I also believe you can't cook directly from the recipe book, so you have to look at the ingredients needed, and then manually find them. I also wish the game had some kind of pantry where the passengers could look for their desired food, instead of me having to feed every one individually. The game also has a lot of systems that support the cooking, like making the ingredients in different ways. Most of them turn quite tedious by the end of the game. Watering all the crops, tuning the windmill so that it works, milking cows, feeding animals. Halfway through the game, I was so very tired of doing all this busywork for a system that didn't even reward me that much. All this could be forgiven if the game had excellent writing to carry it through. Going into this game I was expecting to experience a heart-wrenching story of meetings and goodbyes. I half assumed this would be more of a story rich experience rather than gameplay oriented one. Again, the game managed to disappoint me in the expectations I had. Perhaps it was just me, but it felt like the first half of the characters were much better written than the latter half. But even they didn't get that much spotlight. A big theme of the game is saying goodbye and when the characters finally leave your boat, it feels like it should be an emotional moment, but at least I didn't feel like much. The problem in the writing comes down to three things: First, most of the time is spent in the tedious management tasks, rather than engaging the stories of these characters. Given that this game feels like it should be about these characters, they get very little time and attention. The characters don't have time to grow. It doesn't feel like they go through any major struggles. I had a really hard time making any notable emotional connection with the characters. Saying goodbye didn't feel like it meant much. Second, the gameplay elements get into the way of these characters. A lot of information about the characters is delivered via things they say on your boat. However, when you talk to them, they also complain about being hungry. Considering how tedious feeding all the characters got, it just felt like they were constantly complaining about the lack of food. So, as a result, I just stopped talking to them. Another minor nitpick is that I wish the hugging could be done as a reactionary act, like when they tell about something sad. Instead, it's just a happiness buff and they won't accept more if you've recently hugged them. Considering gameplay, saying goodbye also felt a little awkward since you need to do that progress the game. A character leaving gives you resources needed to craft mandatory things, so at some point, I was wondering how I can get these people to leave so I can just get what I need. One character, in particular, was also detrimental to the happiness of others so I was just happy to see him gone. Third, most interaction is very one-sided. None of the characters interact with each other. Apart from some minor choices, the main character is also completely mute, so it's just monologues delivered by the other characters. At least to me, one very important thing about having a diverse cast of characters is the interaction between them. One aspect I love about JRPGs, for example, is how they generally build characters through their interactions with each other. Even when a character departs from your boat, the others just gather silently without saying a word. Not much of goodbye, when it doesn't even feel like the other characters care. The ending of the game also doesn't feel like a great payoff. I guess the main character also had kind of struggle and there was this "kind of" an antagonist, but due to lack of dialogue, I first didn't even realize what it was about. The "encounters" were told in such a weird way that I had a really hard time connecting the dots. In the end, do I regret buying and playing through the game? Not necessarily. I just feel like the game didn't deliver on its promises and it could have been so much more. I expected feeling more emotions through the game and having some kind of impact on me, but the only emotion on top of my head after finishing with the game is a slight frustration.Show moreShow less
26.6 hours at review216 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
It's hard to describe what I like about this game. I have depression and Asberger's syndrome, among other mental health issues... which is not something I'm very forward with most of the time. Mostly I just find it's better to let a misunderstanding pass and just apologize after. I bring this up because it makes my perspective on heavy topics like this skewed at times... I think. I'm not really sure. It hard to encompass everything about humanity and explain it to someone else or compare to others and find something that is true for everyone or that everyone can relate to. Or... sometimes its just... painfully easy... to the point it becomes a joke. How much media have you seen where the "power of friendship" saves the day? Yeah it's cheesy but... deep down we still appreciate it. Or at least I do. This game is kind of like that... but not so cliche and overdone because it's about something that many of us don't like to talk about: Loss. And it doesn't come in just one variety either. It's not the same experience for everyone. It happens in all different ways that are hard to encompass in a single work. But this game sure as heck comes close even if it doesn't achieve that. You're going to feel each loss. You get to know these characters over time. Maybe they're annoying or sweet or you merely tolerate their existence as a means to an end but... by the time you have to say goodbye they matter to you. Or they did to me. In particular if you've lost someone recently... or you're about to... or whatever part of the process you're in... this is going to hit you hard at some point. That's not necessarily a bad thing I suppose. But a certain hedgehog in here brought me to tears early on because I couldn't help but think of a relative who's health had been deteriorating for a few years before this. The sudden realization that you were having the same conversation over and over again, that they didn't know exactly what was going on and that would be the case until you said goodbye was... jarring... and accurate... and I can only feel sympathy for anyone going through this or who may have it worse. I remember visiting someone close to them who I barely knew and they tried to pay me for mowing their lawn. Afterwards they explained they thought I was my dad. That was over a decade ago but I kept remembering it seeing her go through it... maybe not as bad... but still wondering how much she remembered or what it felt like. I put this game down for months after that. Not because it hurt or anything. I just moved on for a while. Now I found myself finishing it up today, mere weeks after having to say goodbye to the person I mentioned above. And while one character's viewpoint merely seemed shallow... saying goodbye to each character is something most games don't ask of you and that was... different. None of this is bad... it's a beautiful game that's well written and a nice journey. But you're going to cry. And that's okay. We all do. Just like we all have to cope when we realize someone dear to us is gone. You may be sitting there thinking "It's just a game and it wont get to me." You most of all, I encourage to play. Because there's something here for everyone. It'll make you smile beforehand, but you'll end up experiencing that loss regardless. It's sad... but not entirely unwelcome... And you might find that it helps someday. I guess what I'm trying to say is... it helped... or I enjoyed it... or both. Probably both, in the end.Show moreShow less
29.3 hours at review750 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
Full disclosure: I barely have any playtime and will be requesting a refund. So of course, my experience with the game is only very superficial, but I still thought I'd leave a review to explain why I decided to refund for players like me, since I'm only seeing glowing reviews on the store page. First of all: Yes, the art style is quite gorgeous, however the graphical engine needs some serious polish. Some of the sprites appear blurry while others look pixel-y and aliased, and the characters do not blend in with the background, making the game look downright cheap at times, like a bad .jpeg. You can see what I'm talking about if you look at the pictures on the store page at full resolution. The animations are wonderfully detailed and fluid, but the way they're presented in the engine is just such a shame. Secondly, the game is very heavy on text boxes, which appear just a little too slow for my taste, and while the writing isn't outright bad, there is just so much text and dialogue that adds nothing and could have been cut. Based on other reviews, the emotional impact of the overall story seems to be delivered well, but the dialogue I encountered so far seemed like your average boring video-game dialogue, lacking the sense of charm and personality that the visuals have. But what made me refund the game was the gameplay. Now here I'm partly to blame: The blurb clearly refers to the game as a "cozy management game", but somehow watching the trailer I was expecting the game to be more... adventurous? But based on my very short time with the game, it seems the game really is focused on management: Running around, getting wood, fishing, cooking, feeding and hugging your travellers etc. to raise stats and collect resources. It looks like most of the game is just going from one errand to the other, with no real challenge or "proper" gameplay, and exploration is quite superficial. Now I'm sure to most of the people buying this, that's exactly what they want - and again, to be fair, the game is also advertised as such. So yeah, I can totally see why people are loving this game - It's just not for me, and I thought I'd share my reasons for why it isn't.Show moreShow less
1.7 hours at review157 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
If 2020 break your soul, Spirifarer will heal itShow moreShow less
5.5 hours at review486 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
To preface this; The overwhelmingly positive rating the game has is justified, and it is worth every cent of full retail price. Do not wait for a sale, buy it now. (Especially fellow Linux users. They gave us Tux, give em bux.) -- However, when something is so desperately close to perfection, the more cutting you find its flaws. With this particular game they ascend to being truly egregious. In the beginning I wanted to love the game, but I couldn't. By the end, I wanted to hate the game, but also couldn't. Also, I don't really know how to make this any more brief; I can't imagine many who need a teal dear would be into it anyway. So advance apologies for the verbosity. The story is beautiful, and overall it outweighs the gameplay flaws; I look forward to playing the game over again with the next character update due this fall. I will certainly purchase the current soundtrack and art DLCs as well as any gameplay DLCs that come out in the future. My gripe with story is limited one thing, and that's the different manner than the rest in which one character leaves. Yes, it's intentional, and yes I get it. The unfairness of it is part of the feels-gut-punch the story was designed to deliver. However the context to why that happens is not found in the game, but in external supplementary sources. Absolutely infuriating, and I'm not alone in finding that situation so; There is a number of Reddit threads and Steam Community discussions on the matter. Many end up doing a web search pondering if their game bugged, expressly because there is no presented context for it happening, then happen upon these discussions. Finding out "the why" in this manner is a such a disservice to the creators own intent. There is certainly creative methods to deliver the needed context in-game that I can think of, surely the devs could manage something. No, this negative review is about the tedium. The platforming is great, but overall gameplay have several horrid issues. Despite them, the first three-quarters of the game is an absolute joy. However, because of them, the final stretch becomes a painful slog that rendered me near-bitter by the end. If this were an Early Release title, I'd take these issues to the forums, but it is not. So here we are. The first thing I can think of that is blatantly missing is a quest from Atul, or Gustav, to fish a tuna. Something where the player is taught in-game to tap the button when the fishing pole is red, instead of reading it online. Minor, but the cuts start. If any of the ThunderLotus team read this, please take the time to watch the Ars Technica: War Stories episode featuring the Dead Cells devs about cheating controls in favor of the player. Because watering plants in your game is probably why Charon quit in the first place. So player is in a field, plots 1 2 3, and just watered plot 3. Moves to the left but didn't move quite far enough, and ends up watering plot 3 again. Absolute fury. Makes me want to come to your studio with a giant bag of those novelty "big mistakes" erasers and pelt you guys with them until you give me a fakenfix. If the player is equidistant from a watered plot and an unwatered plot, not presuming they wanted to water the unwatered one means you are sucking at your job of delivering the player the action they obviously intended to perform. You understand this right? With how many testers are listed in the end credits, how this has not been resolved leaves me at a loss. My solution ended up being building excess gardens/fields and parking the boat in a rainy spot. Novel idea for industrial production rendered into feeling like just a janky hack for an unresolved controls issue. Given how much of this game is growing food for revenue and feeding spirits, this issue grows into death by a thousand cuts. You know what's an irritating oversight? Got a huge boat near the end game right? Pass through an event area for a passenger that's moved on, and you have to stop what you are doing to go to the door of their empty house to decline it. You know what would be better? Holding LB to decline the minigame from wherever you are. Yes, I know that character is gone. Yes I'm sad. No, I don't need reminded that they are gone. Death by ten thousand cuts! A distinct need for a second tier of upgrades is apparent in the station minigames. The sawmill, the blade guide just moves SO slow. An upgrade to make is just a little more responsive? The loom could use an upgrade to widen the perfect diamond just slightly. The foundry upgrade could be to either widen the target heat, or give the player an added furnace control to slow temp drop while temp in the target range to make the game a bit more interactive. Out of these, it's really the sawmill that stands out as especially bad. Still, more cuts. The mining ore swing sweet spot between fullpower and overload where Stella drops her everlight is just so picky. The time window to hit it right is like just 150ms too small. It almost feels deliberately intended to piss the player off. Well, congrats, you did it. Your reward: This review. This seems like a good oppurtunity to implement a new side quest for Astrid. Go out, just you and her, and she teaches you how to swing the pick a bit better and you get a minor buff: that slightly bigger window between max power and overload. So many cuts. By the time you get access to the material for the windmill upgrade, you don't really care about additional funds anymore. It just comes too late. You know what would be more useful than double output? Double capacity earlier in the game. What sort of sorry windmill only holds enough grains for eight apple pies worth of flour? I had four of them and it still wasn't enough. Just covered in cuts. Still, it would be nice if there was a way to gain access to a single pine log earlier than when you get the boat fog lights. Smart players could tactically take it to the turtle sisters. The final straw on my patience is the second Foodarama achievement. When I first encountered the salespitch in Hummingberg I rightfully concluded my current funds were better spent elsewhere. Near endgame I went back to mop stuff I missed. Loaded an old save to get Sealed Lips, and went for Unsubscribe, but time dragged on. Looked it up online and found it takes six weeks before you can get it over with, and I was truly livid. We reached it. Death by a million cuts. Back to my main save, sailed to that one lady with the parasol, planted Stella bouncing on it, muted game and went to bed. (If you don't know why that's funny, play the game and find out.) Wasn't enough. AFK'd, made food. AFK'd, did some chores. About ten hours of playtime AFK because there is no in-game way to pass weeks quickly. An elegant way to save players from that particular hell would be having Albert mention the service to Stella after she unlocks the Choral Bouquet. (Perhaps that's how Albert gets his food, being at the shipyard all hours.) All the issues individually are small, but in unison became a great detriment to my enjoyment of the game. The tedium treaded upon the story, and that is tragic. I'm bleeding from all the silica blown across my face, and Darude owes me royalties. The game is smallest gap possible from perfection. But ultimately that is what leaves me miffed. Get these peas out from under my mattress! So I can move on to pouring another whisky and bathing in the somber afterglow of Lily's emotional carpet bombing.Show moreShow less
77 hours at review64 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
Screw this game. Screw it for having a beautifully painted artstyle that makes you think this'll be a wholesome adventure with your animal spirit pals. Screw it for having incredibly well-written dialogue and characters that make you connect with them as if they were part of your real life. Screw it for having a great sense of humor in its moments and animations. Daffodil, I'm looking at you. Screw it for the plethora of unique crafting minigames, especially the cooking one. Screw it for the many hours it takes to get through the whole story, ensuring my friend and I had many nights to enjoy the game. Screw it for having a heartfelt soundtrack that swells up at JUST the right time to pull my heartstrings straight out of my chest. And finally, screw it for making me cry each and every time I had to say goodbye. This game touched my heart in a way very few have, and very few will. 10/10 would ugly cry again.Show moreShow less
29.8 hours at review409 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
SPOILER-FREE REVIEW "Spiritfarer® is a cozy management game about dying" of your brain cells. Disclaimer: I played this game in a stable state of spirit, I had no relatives or friends suffering or dying recently, so the experience may vary. There is a lot of people in reviews telling that the game helped them to get through dark episodes of their lives, but if you are the person experiencing depression/anxiety after the aforementioned issues, I strongly recommend visiting a specialist instead of relying on a game. Especially this game, since it may provoke bad mood and/or anger. "As ferrymaster to the deceased..." which turn you into a labor force. If you expect hearing some road story while sailing the seas, forget about it. You'll have no spare moment to relax, constantly dashing around to cook food, plant seeds, water them and reap the crop, pick fruits, shear sheep, melt ores, feed and constantly hug passengers to keep their happiness high, and whatnot. Basically, everything on the boat requires your immediate attention, and nothing can be automated. Action animations are nice but long and unskippable, most of the refining processes require completing a minigame. Most stupidly, making alloys puts a 5-15 second timer just before the minigame, not long enough to make you go and do other things, too long to wait near the working station doing nothing. I suppose the developers wanted to make getting and refining resources feel "relaxed", but they actually didn't assess how many times you have to do it. If you're up to the challenge, I still recommend getting a friend to play with, so you can grind through routine tasks twice as fast. "...build a boat to explore the world..." that feels like an Excel sheet. The game is immensely shallow as a building sim. You are forced to build whenever you are said so, otherwise, you can't progress. You construct only one instance of each building, it doesn't make sense to have multiple copies unless you want to be overwhelmed by routine (orchard is an exception). You can't complete the game in your own style like you tend to do in full-fledged building sims. All you can do is move buildings around on the boat, and unless you constantly grind money and get ship space upgrades, you'll end up playing tetris and crumpling everything into a tight mess. The world of Spiritfarer consists of islands, where you can go ashore, and points of interest like floating crates and resource fields. On islands, you gather resources by completing yet another minigame, trade for items and listen to meaningless NPC monologues. Occasionally you can engage in simple platforming challenges to earn some resources and items you'll sell later. Each island is a bunch of assets bundled together, and only a few of them stand out in terms of unique visuals and level design. Most of islands serve for resource purposes only. New buildings and new sea regions provide you resources but are gated behind grinding other resources and spirit flowers that you get by sending the Spirits to the Everdoor. Also, you can't choose which Spirits to keep on board: they don't want to go unless you complete their quests, and most of them require access to the new sea regions. That said the game feels like an Excel sheet, especially considering that the boat moves from place to place in real-time, effectively adding big timers on top of grind. By the way, the boat can't move at night, forcing you to spend time on unskippable "all sleep & morning stretch" animation again and again. "...care for your spirit friends..." most of which are repulsive. The game has 10 spirits with backgrounds and monologue lines that they sparingly spill sometimes. I've seen all 10 and liked only 4 of them. You will have to care for all kinds of weirdos: from hypocrites and liars to the ones that want to throw you overboard to take control, and to ones that want you to suffer and will tell you that you have "piss-poor performance". The first Spirit you encounter somehow knows much more about the world than you (the Spiritfarer) while being stuck on the island. She is supposed to be your closest friend, but for the sake of tutorial, she keeps blabbering about the buildings you need to construct and places you need to go. Writing of some particular Spirits try to enforce your feeling of pity and guilt. Most of them see you as a "fetch-girl" and focus completely on themselves. Only a few Spirits actually try to care for you. It leaves no desire to invest emotionally. You don't have dialogue lines or any choice in this game. You do what you are told. Your character only nods and changes listening animation; it may heavily contradict with what you feel as a player. "...guide them across mystical seas to finally release them into the afterlife" Good riddance! The game doesn't explain the rules of this "mystical" world. It gives you no lore, and at a closer look the "afterlife" functions exactly like the real life - spirits tend to eat, sleep, work, earn and spend money. Thus the explorer curiosity fades away once you realized it, and you will probable want to quickly tuck most of the Spirits to the Everdoor and be done with it. "What will you leave behind?" There are no repercussions, there is no epilogue. Any side quests given by the island spirits, any collections of crap you decided to gather for whatever reason, it won't change anything. The very second you finish the game, none of what happened would matter to your character. SUMMARY Spiritfarer is a strange game turned to an idol in the context of "healing wounds" and "dealing with death". It is too linear for a resource management game, too easy for a platforming game, too grindy, and too jumpy for a story game. It tries to be many things, but does it excel at something? The question still stands. In the very end, it leaves a bitter aftertaste, when you turn back and the only thing you see is a timekiller that ate 30 hours of your life and gave almost nothing in return. The idea behind this game is nice, but the execution fails apart in most game components. Not all of them, because the game art and animations are really cool. As for me, the only way to play Spiritfarer is with a friend who deeply cares about the game, so you can goof around as Daffodil (the adorable cat) and focus only on 2-3 spirits you like, leaving the rest on other's shoulders.Show moreShow less
35.9 hours at review58 people found this helpful
Source: original Steam user reviews. Helpful votes are an archived snapshot, not live data. Last collected: 08/15/2026.