There’s something about the repetitive nature of tilling and planting a field along with the eventual payoff of your crops growing that makes you feel in-tune with nature even if you are just sitting in front of your computer. The humble farming simulator has a storied history in video gaming. It can vary a lot, but all eventually come down to getting your hands dirty.
Sunflower Land falls into this genre. It is a play-and-own blockchain farming game where everything the player collects is identifiable on the Polygon Blockchain. Currently, the game is in limited access beta. This project is developed by Thought Farm, which is a Sydney based company. Only little information about the company is on their website but their core team’s social media links are published along with their pictures and full name. So, despite the short description about their company, anonymity is not a problem when it comes to their core team. They are still growing and they don’t have any history of building anything big yet, but what I like about them is that they try as much as possible to be transparent on their revenue and their plans for the future.
Sunflower Land is a rebranded version of Sunflower Farmer which is now closed after an exploit crashed the game. Both of the titles have the same look and feel to them but Sunflower Land came back with a more restrictive approach to the game. The relaunch of this engaging casual game has shown that many players were still itching to rejoin. To start playing, the player needs to mint a farm first. The game will begin with players just planting and harvesting sunflowers, eventually unlocking other crops as the player handles and operates the farm. Crops’ growing time will vary but planting is not the only activity that the player can do. Players can craft recipes in the kitchen and create new tools at the blacksmith to be used to harvest wood, gold, and ore to mine. There are also farm animals in the game and the Goblin village that sell goods found nowhere else. Meanwhile, Sunflower Land Token (SFL) is the only token in the game that the player can earn as profit from managing the farm. With only 1 token circulating, token devaluation might be a major problem.
The 16-bit countryside farm and the Goblin Village offers a captivating landscape that has its own charm. The project’s simple pixelated 2D style reminds me so much of my all-time favorite farming game, Stardew Valley. Looking at the map, there is a large swath of foggy areas that leaves plenty of room for future expansions which players can look forward to.
As much as the game reminds me of Stardew Valley artwise, it is very far from it. Stardew Valley offers so much depth and plotline that Sunflower Land fails to give. You can’t interact that much with the goblins and people to build relationships. It’s also kind of disappointing after knowing it’s currently an idle farming game. Farm, click and wait. Idle games are those where you can literally do nothing and still be good at it. If you’re into competitive games, then Sunflower Land isn’t for you because victory in this game comes from waiting. It's just a cycle of repetition that doesn’t really need much of the player’s input beyond a few clicks here and there.
Sunflower Land is just getting started. I hope the team will introduce more game features and new activities within the game. I am also looking forward to the addition of a captivating soundtrack that changes with each season because honestly, an idle game with tediously repetitive music is like the recipe for disaster.
To be fair, just because a game is labeled as “idle” doesn’t mean it cannot be immersive anymore. There’s a stack of NFT games out there that are focused on pie-in-the-sky ideas and I respect Sunflower Land for being the other way around. I am excited how this project will manage to squeeze the most game out of a single click of the mouse as it progresses. So, if you fancy a gentle P2E game that is uncomplicated and will not require you any skill or further commitment, then Sunflower Land can be your savior.