Review of Immortal Life

Immortal Life works wonders despite a few unresolved concerns.

Immortal Life
Platform: PC
Developer: YiFang Studio
Publisher: 2P Studio
Release date: January 17th, 2024
Price: $16.99 via digital download, $13.59 launch price through January 24th
Availability: Steam

Of course, there are plenty of quaint rural sims. Games like Story of Seasons, Rune Factory, and My Time in Portia all have their own unique inspired distinctions, regardless of your preference for two or three dimensions, pacifism, or the excitement of conflict. You’re usually entrusted with tilling the soil of quite realistic, Western-inspired locales, despite their differences.

Therefore, Immortal Life’s fanciful, wuxia-infused landscape provides a welcome break. Even after spending a year and a half in Steam’s Early Access program, Immortal still has a few small problems with tutorials, input methods, text layout, and localization tone. If you can see past these flaws, YiFang Studio’s title features a number of interesting innovations. Reverting to slogging across arid prairies will be difficult after swooping across a lake while deftly balancing atop a blade.

Weary of Wealthy Generation Tales?

Too often, the protagonist of a genre entry inherits a farm from a relative at the start of the story. Your recognizable male or female avatar is invited to the expansive monastery of the Guiyun sect, but Immortal Life ignores that setup. The group is well known for their martial arts, but they are not very good in farming or cooking. That’s where you were useful. One of the elders of the sect recognized your qualities and asked you to help improve agricultural and cooking methods.

However, calamity hits just after you arrive, pouring fire on the gullible Guiyun village. The narrative is a little abrupt, going from calm images and soft music to ocher-hued destruction. On the plus side, though, Immortal Life can now offer a fulfilling sense of restoration as you assist the sect in reconstructing their residence and igniting optimism throughout Misty Valley. Be aware that the game frontloads its exposition, which makes the first ninety minutes feel a little confined and verbose. You’ll eventually get more independent, and Immortal gets more interesting.

The Benefits of Being in Charge

Games tend to put you in a leadership role. However, you get the impression that you’re raising spirits in the wake of a serious setback. This attitude doesn’t often come through because of the very stiff and dry English localization. When it does, though, the encounter is motivational. You’ll occasionally have to draw conclusions because the game’s localization can be a little awkward. As an illustration, the term alludes to living on in the memories of future generations rather than achieving bodily immortality. And while this can be considered a drawback, given how many modern games overexplain things, it’s difficult not to enjoy a hint of elusiveness.

You should anticipate receiving some training on the fundamentals of pursuits like farming and fishing. This is where Immortal Life falls short of its comfortable peers. Yes, using a controller to play games can make interaction a little awkward. Furthermore, it can be a little confusing at times when the game switches to dialogue the instant you approach an NPC. Simple operations such as finding a particular character or just adding seeds to your operational inventory become cumbersome while navigating through in-game menus. You’ll get used to it gradually, but you’ll wish Immortal had more polish than its contemporaries.

Joy Is a Magical Snicker

But magic is frequently added to balance that out. Indeed, to aid in the growth of your crops, you will need to employ simple instruments like an axe, a hoe, and the necessary watering jug. The implements of Immortal Life, however, are all magical. In practice, this implies that a portion of the routine tedium is eliminated. There is therefore an infinite supply of water that trickles out of your water gourd rather than the need to constantly replace it. As an alternative, you can conjure a rain cloud that will automatically offer a nourishing shower by using a tiny amount of your magic gauge. There are moments when it seems like YiFang Studio researched the crop farming genre and tried to incorporate magical elements in place of the repetitive mechanics. One of Immortal’s greatest traits is this kind of spiritual simplification.

Even though I like the daily grind of Rune Factory and Story of Seasons, feeling like you have to finish as much work as you can isn’t a good habit. Frequently, I observe that my character develops an obsession with stamina and crafts things to increase energy, reflecting my own careless caffeine consumption habits.However, Immortal offers greater flexibility, balancing gameplay so you can return home by the early afternoon and choose how to furnish your home (with furniture even increasing the rate at which your stats recharge). You can, of course, work through the night if you so choose, with very little consequence for your lack of sleep. Timed tasks are present in Immortal, however you often have until the conclusion of a season to finish them.

Activities’ Levels of Enjoyment Vary

The intricacy of Immortal Life’s components varies currently. Preparing delectably rendered components for recipes is a beautiful representation of cooking. Unlike the majority of its competitors, Immortal has multiple workstations to support your culinary endeavors, so it’s not just a matter of having the right ingredients. Unfortunately, neither fishing nor warfare are as sophisticated as they could be, and they both get boring too easily. Yes, there are plenty of different kinds of fish to hook and some amazing aerial battles. However, both are excessively simple in comparison to cooking, and they become obligations far too quickly.

If you like sophisticated design, you may be able to overlook all of Immortal’s faults taken as a whole. The game’s chibi characters and pictures are all well rendered, but the settings are what really capture players’ attention. While Immortal may not have a large world, it is plenty of breathtaking scenery. Misty Valley is a lush wonderland, featuring everything from ponds brimming with frolicking carp to bridges built of emerald-hued bamboo. The soundtrack of the game is equally great. Calm tunes abound here, propelled by traditional Chinese instruments such as the guzheng and the dizi.

In summary

Immortal Life currently requires keyboard and mouse input. Although using a controller or Stream Deck to play may theoretically be done, the inconvenient nature of the system makes the game less enjoyable. The game’s rough edges should be smoothed up with future patches, as Immortal is a nice change from other comfortable simulations.

The review code for Immortal Life was obtained from the publisher and used on a PC.

Review Overview

Gameplay – 80%

Controls – 40%

Aesthetics – 80%

Content – 80%

Accessibility – 60%

Value – 90%

72%

GOOD!

Summary :After leaving Steam’s Early Access program, Immortal Life still needs a lot of minor bugs worked up. However, there’s a lot to be grateful for if you can get past stuff like clumsy controller support, bland localization, and text formatting problems. Crop watering and wuxia combine in a creative way, from an engaging cooking game to balancing on a blade while skimming across a pond.