It's time for another Advrik Reviews! This time for Stairway Games' farming sim 'Coral Valley! I like to preface all of my reviews with the fact that these are played exclusively on the Steam Deck, so when I can (Translation: If I think about it) I will include the settings that I played the game at, including in-game and the Steam Deck's performance settings.
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:: STORY ::
Coral Island has your farmer returning to Starlet Town where a recent oil spill has wreaked havoc on the surrounding beaches and seabed. On top of that, a big corporation wants to move in and "clean" things up. Like in Stardew Valley, you'll be working against The Company while tending to your farmland, mingling with local deities and wooing the townsfolk. I've not noticed any instance of being able to side with The Company, and I don't know if I'm missing something or if it just isn't there.
:: GAMEPLAY ::
It's here where Coral Island shines the brightest in my opinion. It's difficult to explain exactly just what it is about the way you go about your field chores that clicks so much with me when compared to other indie titles like Stardew Valley; Perhaps it's the not-so-snappy way in which the process goes down. You're not running across tilled land dropping seeds at lightning-fast speeds. Harvesting has weight to it. Watering crops takes time. Depending on the size of your crop plots, watering can take up a large portion of your morning/stamina and doesn't feel like an afterthought that some games tend to make it feel.
I also appreciate the variety of crops and things to grow. For example: In addition to the usual crop seeds and fruit trees, there's a new type of crop in the form of starters, which I admit I initially thought WERE trees and was quite surprised that I not only had to water them daily, but that they also died at the change of the season. These starters require a 2x2 plot of tilled soil to be planted and typically take 10+ in-game days to grow, so it's best to get them started at the very beginning of the season when possible.
Love it or hate it, crafting is a mainstay in the farming sim genre now and here it is out in full swing. Much like Stardew Valley, the majority of outdoor decorative items and other miscellaneous farming tools are crafted within a menu ala Stardew Valley and Minecraft. I don't really mind it too much, but this feature has gone on to create an issue that began in Stardew Valley and has infected just about every new farm sim that has come out since.
Makers. Mayo, cheese, kegs, and specifically for Coral Island, plastics, and kelp. Whatever by-product you can think of, a dev has likely made it a separate item that can be crafted and placed on your farm. I hate this sub-system with a passion as the makers are ugly eyesores that take up space on your property. I appreciate that Stairway Games has made it so one maker can process five products at once, but you still need to plop the machine down onto your land somewhere that requires you to - if you're like me - remember where you put it to claim your metal bar/byproduct once it's done its process. Gone are the days of pricey luxury maker items that get tucked away in the barn or needing metal ores to upgrade your tools. I loathe this trend with a burning passion and would rather see the majority of these tasks locked behind in-game paywalls again and NOT have to litter my farm with big, gaudy makers.
Combat feels like an afterthought. It's lightweight, loose, and isn't overly deep or has any real impact beyond being a nuisance while traversing the mines. I've honestly just been ignoring that whole thing and have changed it so that the monsters won't bother me unless I antagonize them first.
:: ATMOSPHERE ::
A separate segment of an Advrik Review that is reserved exclusively for games with seasonal cycles. I feel that this is something a dev needs to nail down in games like this as the seasons are at the core of the gameplay loop.
So does Coral Island nail the atmosphere? Kiiiinda. While I am only just approaching the last two days of my first autumn season, I can say that of the three seasons I've experienced thus far, only summer and autumn have felt unique. The color in the game world wasn't as lush as I would have liked for the summer season, nor was there a whole lot of environmental touches that helped to differentiate between the spring and summer seasons. Some more background noises and maybe some sun rays or different droning insects between musical tracks could have helped in this regard. The autumn season has faired a bit better with leaves occasionally flowing through the air, but those staples of autumn are sadly absent from the atmospheric background noise. Rustling leaves, chirping crickets, wind chimes. A lot of little things like this can go a long way in making each season feel more alive and authentic.
:: MUSIC ::
The soundtrack is solid. Solid enough that I bought a copy of it after ten hours of gameplay. The seasonal tracks are all catchy, though I would have loved to have heard some more instrument variations between the seasons. Considering the game takes place on a tropical island of sorts, I would have expected the summer tracks to be more Hawaiian-sounding. That's my only real grievance with the soundtrack however as everything else is fantastic. I appreciate the effort the Yugo Pratomo put into composing not just four separate tunes for each of the four seasons, but also nighttime variations for each! Above and beyond right there, and the more season-themed music I have in my playlist, the better.
But you know what really screamed "BUY THIS SOUNDTRACK RIGHT NOW!!!" to me? The theme for the Cherry Blossom Festival. Beautifully composed piece that would not have sounded out of place in Okami.
I love to listen to farm-life soundtracks as I write, whether it is reviews like this or my actual books, so getting such a meaty soundtrack in lossless format for less than $10 was a no-brainer. I am listening to it right now as I write this review!
:: STEAM DECK PERFORMANCE ::
Here is where I'll hand over my Steam Deck LCD settings and give the readers an idea of what kind of setup I'm running and the battery expectancy
In-Game:
Display Mode: Borderless
Resolution: 1280x800
Render Scale: 100%
FPS Limit: No Limit
VSync: On
Anti-Aliasing: Low
Temporal Upsampling: On
Textures: Epic
Shadows: Low
Post Processing: Low
Visual Effects: Epic
Foliage: High
View Distance: Low
Plants: Medium
Ambient Occlusion: Low
Motion Blur: Low
Steam Deck ". . ." Menu:
Use Per Game Profile: On
Frame Limit: 30FPS
Disable Frame Limit: Off
Allow Tearing: Off
Half Rate Shading: On
TDP Limit: 8
Manual GPU Clock: Off
Scaling Mode: Fill
Scaling Filter: Linear
On the Steam Deck LCD, you're going to get around 3 to 3 and a half hours with these settings, more if you reduce stuff like Foliage and Visual Effects further. The game isn't as well optimized as it should be and so regardless of what your settings are here, due to the devs making it so the entire island is loaded all at once with no zones to speak of, the game will stutter from time to time as it attempts to load NPCs and whatnot. Hopefully, this is something that the team can work out in future updates.
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:: FINAL THOUGHTS ::
Can I recommend Coral Island? Yes, absolutely. I am largely ignoring NPC interaction as I don't care for that aspect of these games, nor am I overly fond of the game's overall art style. But the core gameplay is solid and I am very much appreciative of the fact that the team took the Back to Nature approach with the cooking system and allowed us to discover recipes on our own rather than requiring the recipe beforehand.
Could it still use more work? Definitly. There's a lot of little technical things that need to be smoothed out. But as it stands, Coral Island is a blast to play, especially if you're in it just for the day-to-day, season-to-season farm life aspect of it.
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