There are numerous cultivation sim games available, largely attributed to the breakout popularity of certain titles in the genre. Following the success of Stardew Valley, Farming Simulator, and Minecraft, many new farming-type games have attempted to distinguish themselves with unique settings and mechanics, achieving varying levels of success. I can safely say that Immortal Life succeeds in this era on more than a few fronts.
To my surprise, I also learned that the term “cultivation sim” doesn’t just refer to farming games but to an entire, previously unknown genre based on Chinese fantasy martial arts. Particularly, these games delve into the act of physical and spiritual improvement through the cultivation of plants and other familiar farming sim mechanics, set in the backdrop of an ancient and fantastical China. Immortal Life is one of these such games and one of the rare few that received an English translation, bringing the title over for a Western audience to enjoy.
Immortal Life starts in a valley under the ownership of a sect of monks. These monks, who primarily practice martial arts and swordsmanship, are woefully unprepared to cultivate the rich resources of their valley, so they send out a call for experienced farmers and landscapers to shape the rich land for the organization. You were personally invited by one of the society’s elders, you arrive at the temple only for fire to rain from the sky, decimating the monastery and some of the town below. With the place in ruins, it’s up to you to not only shape the land but also restore the temple and the town in all of its glory through hard work and the money you earn.
This is already a really strong start to a game like this, and it only gets better from here. The emphasis on Eastern mysticism and spiritual growth gives farming a less pragmatic, more fantastical approach, with different yields of crops changing in quality based on their spiritual strength. It also opens up one of the most interesting genre changes (at least, if you compare Immortal Life to Western farming sims), which is the use of magic.
Magic is an important part of Immortal Life and is one of your best tools for shaping the land. Magical artifacts and spells make up a big part of the game, from narrative explanations for quality-of-life mechanics things such as magical tools that never break and a gourd that produces an endless amount of spring water to important and impactful mechanics like summoning a raincloud to water your entire garden at once or using spells to grow crops instantly. Magic serves as a way to make both the setting and gameplay far more exciting and creates another resource to manage by way of your mana.
This innovation surrounding the game’s farming is significant enough to make the game stand out. Beyond this, I would say that Immortal Life is a pretty familiar, albeit good, game.
For the most part, you will be farming, fishing, fighting demons, and completing quests for your fellow cultivators and the local village, increasing your stats or spiritual growth in certain areas as you complete each task. Of these mechanics, I found them all to be fairly simple, if not relaxing and enjoyable.
Cooking was a particular standout experience, which added something of a kitchen-sim style mini-game where you had to prepare and cook ingredients within a specific time frame for a better score. This was perhaps my favorite of the mechanics available in Immortal Life, and it was a fun way to turn your homegrown foodstuff into useful dishes that restored stats or sold for a good profit at stores. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like you could cook whenever you wanted, and I couldn’t find my way back into the kitchen after the initial tutorial.
The world space of Immortal Life can feel a little small, separated between your housing area and the ferry town where you’ll find most of the game’s NPCs. Walking between the two triggers a load screen, and each space is pretty compact, so there isn’t a lot of wandering around and, as a result, not a ton of exploration, either.
The cast of characters is relatively small, but each has a somewhat unique personality shaped further by the mystical world you live in. My end-game romance option was definitely the woman from a trading family whose clever financial movements were responsible for turning our wreck of a town into a successful venture.
The game’s effective localization brings these characters to life, avoiding the confusion arising from translation errors. However, the entire cast sometimes appears overly friendly, afflicted by the usual issue of excessively pleasant writing that can render interactions somewhat insincere. A bit more edge, disagreements with the cast, and various personalities would have really brought the cast to life.
I didn’t experience any bugs or significant issues when playing Immortal Life. Overall, the game really shines in a few aspects, such as the inclusion of magic to mix up the farming simulation mechanics, and does plenty of other things (combat, cooking, relationships, and quests) just fine, without any glaring issues or overly ambitious changes.
The game could improve in a few areas, especially customization. Players are stuck between two preset models for their character choice, and housing options are limited to placable furniture. Expanding the map and enhancing the depth of mini-games like fishing and combat would greatly extend the longevity of an Immortal Life playthrough; however, in its current state, it remains a decent game for a modest price of $16.
The Final Word
Immortal Life makes some great innovations on farming sim stables and successfully delivers plenty more fun if not incredibly unique or inspired, mechanics. Fans of the cultivation sim series and farming games will surely find something new and interesting in this title, successfully bringing a popular Chinese gaming genre to a Western audience.
7
Try Hard Guides was provided with a PC review copy of this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in the Game Reviews section of our website! Immortal Life is available on Steam.