I usually get overwhelmed with farming sims, but this Steam Next Fest demo hooked me in minutes
Oct. 12, 2023A New Leaf: Memories will have you starting fresh on an island (sound familiar?)
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If you’re looking for your next cozy farming sim afterStardew Valleyor Harvest Moon, I’ve found one for you to try during this year’sSteam Next Fest.
A New Leaf: Memories will have you moving to an island as you attempt to regain your lost memories and make a new life for yourself. What’s interesting about this one is that it seems to combine a lot of features from everyone’s favorite life sims, such asAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, Stardew Valley, Story of Seasons, and more - both in terms of visuals and gameplay.
As you can see from the trailer below, A New Leaf: Memories looks a lot like Story of Seasons with its 3D characters and very cute and round cows. It also has similar farming mechanics which remind me a lot of Stardew Valley - which isn’t a surprise considering the OG farming sim (Harvest Moon) influenced both of the games I just mentioned.
Like all of the games I’ve mentioned so far, in A New Leaf: Memories you’ll need to plant seeds, tend to crops, care for your animals, customize your home, cook meals, and more. I tried this one out duringSteam Next Festand was surprised at just how straightforward it was to get stuck into it.
The first thing you need to do in the A New Leaf: Memories demo is customise your character. Similar to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you’re able to select your character’s hair, eyes, skin color, and outfit and customize each of them using a color wheel, giving you infinite possibilities with how your character looks.
After this, I started working on my farm and planted some seeds, chopped some wood, found resources, and made my own furniture. I often get overwhelmed when I start playing these kinds of games but in A New Leaf, it was easy to follow the step-by-step tutorial to hit the ground running.
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Want to know what else is worth a try? Take a look at ourbest Steam Next Fest demoslist.
After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training. My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I’m also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.
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