Sword & Fairy Inn 2, published by EastAsiaSoft and developed by SOFTSTAR, is a relaxing game that allows the player to take a seat running an inn. While this makes the game more of a simulator it stands out due to the aesthetic it has being a mixture of popular anime caricatures with Chinese elements creating a blend between the two. The gameplay is simplistic, yet fun in all honesty allowing the player to be at ease as the game even having an auto function when running the restaurant portion of the game. Eastasiasoft crafted Sword & Fairy Inn 2 with a unique aesthetic in terms of inspiration and making the game a relaxing experience.
The overall ascetics of the game take great inspiration from Chinese and Japanese popular media that has made its way into the gaming market. What players will first realize is the characters all sporting Chinese inspired clothes with a more modern Japanese chibi designs similar to those seen in the popular collectable models called Nendroids by Good Smile Company INC. Aside from character designs, with the game being based on running an inn it has detailed rooms based on Feng Shui with a Chinese modern twist for the rooms the player can see. Moreover, with the game being an inn must include a restaurant to cater to the guests and the Asian inspirations are prominently found in the menu items the player can serve to customers in order to make a profit. This ties itself into the gameplay loop the game is establishing with the restaurant being main way to progress the story as a whole.
In terms of gameplay, the restaurant takes priority as it is the main way the player can move on. However, while the restaurant is a key feature there is also smaller side objectives as the inn includes a farm, stable and area to fish to ingredients for the restaurant. Overtime, the player will become more self-reliant to reduce the cost of buying ingredients needed at the start of the game. This ensures greater profit margins necessary to improve the inn to move forward with the plot. In simplified terms, the gameplay loop for Sword and Fairy Inn 2 is get ingredients by either farming or purchasing them from the market to make food for the restaurant to sell at a profit to upgrade the inn’s farm. Moreover, by establishing this loop the game can then divulge to include various minigames to keep the player entertained and break the monotony that occurs. This break ensures the longevity of the game and establishes the various minigames and micro managing various characters stats such as speed and strength. In regards to the minigames, they are standard minigames that feel simple as if the developers were unsure on how to give the players a more unique experience in every aspect of the game. While the gameplay is at times simple, it presents a good opportunity for the players to relax and enjoy a more casual game.
The story presented is more light hearted as it’s mostly been focused on running a restaurant as opposed to the characters fighting to save the world in the long run. This is due to how the developers and storyboard writers wanted to make the game to target a niche group of players. Furthermore, this focus on running an inn more enjoyable to those unfamiliar to the genre and style of gameplay making for a more relaxing experience for a wider player base. This can be attributed to the casual gameplay established, making this game an easy to pick up and learn game as opposed to others such as Remnant II, Atomic Heart, and other highly popular games released as of writing this review.
This game is just relaxing from its art style choices, gameplay, and more light hearted story. SOFTSTAR has made a wonderful game with some minor mistakes such as bugs occurring every now and then causing the game to freeze especially on the Nintendo Switch version. These minor bugs causing freezes derailed the overall experience in the long run. In general, Sword & Fairy Inn 2 remains a solid 7/10 game that needs more work to truly shine.
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Related: Reviews by Kyle Manila
I would describe myself when interacting with games as a strategist with a pension for stealth and loud explosions.
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