Mirthwood Review: Choose an Enchanting Farm Life or the Adventurer’s Path in a Medieval Fantasy World

Mirthwood, the debut release from developer Bad Ridge Games and published by V Publishing, finally had its PC launch this November. Prior to reviewing the game in its launch state, I was invited to participate in the Closed Beta in September 2024 and had some hands-on time with the demo.

Granted, I had identified some critical performance mishaps, various glitches during quests, and Vsync issues; the latter was patched, and it possesses enough whimsical charm to keep me intrigued in its medieval setting and bewitching story. But the golden question is whether the Free Lands are worth exploring to learn more about their untold fate and to settle down and build their future starting from the ground up.

Welcome To The Free Lands, Adventurers!

As a lone adventurer, players will begin their journey on the Continent during a time when war could wreak havoc at any given moment. The Prologue quest introduces us to some gameplay mechanics and features while laying down the foundations of a riveting story set during the Middle Ages.

Once they've completed the Prologue quest, this is the point where players can choose between three unique adventure experiences: a serene and calming "simple life" working on their farm, embarking on the epic "heroic adventure," or "a dark crusade." Whatever type of adventure they choose to explore, there's plenty of story and gameplay activity to do beyond the scope of the life of an adventurer.

The story for the main questline will take players across six different regions, each possessing unique biomes and dynamic weather conditions that further immerse us deeper into the narrative. If the story doesn't grip players, its beautiful hand-drawn aesthetics gives the game this whimsical, near-storybook feel when exploring and interacting with the world.

A Simulated World Beautifully Designed Out Of A Fairytale Novel

Visually, Mirthwood is an absolute delight to immerse oneself in with its charming hand-drawn animations that are pretty magical. We've seen plenty of hand-drawn animated games over the last decade, like Cozy Grove, Cuphead, and Hollow Knight, and we can add Mirthwood amongst some of the best, as the musical score is also the perfect accompaniment.

The game's beautiful art design does distract from how dark and grim the narrative gets as it becomes more entangled with the main questline. Purely on its art design alone, it exudes the "cozy games" vibes I've experienced in Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, Palia, and recently Aloft, which all have crafting, farming, and mining gameplay mechanics; though, like Aloft, Mirthwood features survival elements.

Mirthwood’s character design perfectly fits the game's setting, from its facial and body features to the clothing items our character finds in the open world and purchases from stores. However, the Character Customization/Creation feature isn't as diverse as most RPGs and MMOs of a similar genre, but more on that later.

Nevertheless, once we start exploring beyond our farming plot and into other regions, each possessing unique biomes and dynamic weather, the structures make this simulated world feel "lived in." From the dilapidated watchtowers, rustic campsites and settlements, and lively taverns, every detail has been carefully designed and thought of, together with the game's environmental design.

Yet, specific environmental designs were buggy or glitchy at launch, with some errors and bugs being patched in recent updates. There are still some visual issues that impact the game's immersion, but it's not too troublesome, unlike the performance issues I’ve experienced, such as dropped frame rates, which can be annoying at best.

Play Out Your Medival Fantasy Or Succumb To The Mechanical Errs

The game features a myriad of mechanics and features that each play a role in how they explore and interact with the world. Starting in Mirthwood, its Character Customization/Creation feature isn't something to boast about as it has limited options; however, where it gets interesting is choosing your character's backstory by selecting their Origin, Class, and Profession, which are unique attributes that grant them unique buffs and debuffs.

This requires players to think more cautiously about which perks they wish to possess and which debuffs they're comfortable combating. Once fully in-game, you'll have three key survival mechanics to monitor or keep track of: Health, Stamina, and Hunger, found at the bottom left of their HUD, and it can be hindered due to exhaustion, which colors the bars black.

This is one of the most interactive traits of these survival features, forcing players to find a balance in replenishing bars efficiently through consumables and much-needed bed rest. However, certain Professions like Farmer and Tinkerer have debuffs that will make players more susceptible to stamina drain and rapid hunger, which can make it challenging to complete tasks like foraging, harvesting, mining, and crafting to action tasks like sprinting and dodging attacks, the latter consumes Stamina.

And yes, once you arrive at the Free Lands, you'll receive a farming plot and a house to repair in the early quests; however, tools are only found in another quest, which can be upgraded to higher rarities. It will take some time to set up the farm as you'll need to buy seeds from the farm stall but also pay attention to when they can be planted as all crops are seasonal except Wheat, which can't be planted during the Winter season.

Farming isn't as rewarding when you eventually sell the fresh produce; hence, mining must also be considered as resources are plentiful, like copper ores. Making money or profits in Mirthwood can be a struggle, and it's something that should be kept in mind, especially in the early hours when you won't have your garden fully established and very little Gold to your name.

On the subject of quests, the objectives are pretty bland or ridiculous, and the lack of objective markers on the map is a bizarre choice. Players will spend more time searching for the exact location, especially during early-game quests, an area we hope gets addressed in a future update.

Likewise, custom pins or markers are highly needed as currently, only one can be active at a time, which is frustrating in instances when you've discovered something unique in the open world or to mark travel points. While traversal will mainly be on foot (keep an eye out on the Stamina bar) or a mount, which occurs much later in-game, they will encounter plenty of enemies and creatures that will deter them on their journey.

Combat is perhaps a bit unpolished as it's limited to moving forward and backward, dodging or blocking, or evading entirely. While certain Professions can influence the damage output or damage taken, the bow is one of the best and most versatile weapons to have as it can be used to knock down random objects out of trees to take on enemies from afar, especially when it's upgraded to hardwood.

Leaning to Mirthwood's social aspects, its functions allow us to interact with NPCs in the village and befriend, jeer, or insult, which impacts our relationship with them. Through establishing these relationships with the people in the village, they become more rewarding down the line by unlocking unique questlines and, to be released in a later content update, marry and start a family, which adds plenty of depth to its immersive charm.

It's important to note that players will experience intermittent graphical and performance issues, as I've experienced stuttering on a handful of occasions and have been glitched when interacting with the Workbench or during combat. Since its release, the developer has released three patch and hotfix updates to address critical issues players have experienced during quests, the Vsync issue, the auto-saving feature, and notable bugs.

Your Medieval Fantasy Life Takes A While To Get Started

Mirthwood is quite a "slow burn" game in which players will only start seeing semblances of progress and reap the rewards after at least 15-20 hours of game time. There's no fast track to success, which can be a drawback when you're on the verge of starvation with little to no money and waiting for the crops to be harvested or to farm enough resources to smelt ores into bars.

It requires plenty of patience, and certain gameplay aspects can make these tasks even more grinding, like picking certain Professions, planting seeds out of season, and not watering crops or replenishing their bars adequately. Combat is extremely rigid and not dynamic or engaging; however, its saving grace is the bow, which we highly advise upgrading.

Another great standout is the social features, which add more energy and depth to this simulated work as forging relationships deepens connections with the NPCs that live in this world. Its art and environment design, as well as its musical composition, are other worthy mentions of what adds to this game's magical charm that we can keep coming back to.

The game isn't perfect, with some visual and performance issues still holding it back, as there are some issues experienced in the Closed Beta I experienced at launch, so it still has a long way to becoming a well-oiled machine. A promising note is that plenty of updates are coming soon to Mirthwood; four patch updates have been made since launch.

To further expand this, we are aware of a development roadmap in which we can anticipate plenty of content and features being added, new seasonal events, DLCs, and optimizations, so I have hope that there are brighter days beyond the fog.