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This long-winded review spoils a few really interesting concepts of the game, so be warned if you want to go in blind. TL;DR: This game is fantastic, and I highly recommend trying it out.
This game is more than just "something to fill the void" between Stardew Valley and Haunted Chocolatier, as some people might claim. This game innovates on the townsim/farmingsim genre in ways that few other games of its kind dare to experiment with. What separates Roots of Pacha from its peers is its setting, and the numerous ways in which it utilizes its setting to its fullest potential in terms of the world's lore and game mechanics. I'll break down each of the game's components and review them individually.
Farming:
I've always found the progression system in other farming/townsim games like Stardew Valley... strange. You upgrade your tools from one metal to the next, build bigger crop fields, get more animals, marry whoever you want, complete whatever big collection bundle you have to do, buy new crops from the crop seller each season, etc. Roots of Pacha makes you feel like you're actually making brand new, fresh discoveries.
The basic way that you improve your farm and settlement is through a progression system called 'ideas.' Ideas come up when certain requirements or conditions are met, such as the prosperity of the village needing to be a certain number, a specific crop/tool/produce needs to be obtained, etc. You'll need to develop ideas to progress your village through the ages, such as the ability to domesticate animals, develop beekeeping, creating the first cheese cloth, and so forth. For example, at the beginning of the game, you and your tribe don't know how to keep track of time, and thusly, you have no way of knowing what precise time it is outside of the general lighting (day, evening, etc.). It isn't until you've developed the idea of a sundial that you're able to tell exactly what time it is.
Additionally, the way the game progresses your "farming ability" is different than other games of the genre. For comparison, improving your faming skill in Stardew Valley unlocks recipes to create various recipes, like stone fences, sprinklers, mayo machines, etc. Pretty boring, and not really indicative of your skill actually improving. In Roots of Pacha, you first need to find seeds in the wild to bring back to your farm to plant and care for. You can then harvest these crops, but they'll usually be 'wild' versions of these crops. As your knowledge of a crop increases, you'll begin to see domesticated versions of this crop instead. And as your knowledge further increases, you'll start to see higher quality crops. It feels rewarding to specifically plant these crops, like you've developed a natural affinity for them, and it feels like these crops sort of become your "specialty."
There's also an animal progression system beyond just being their friend (though that certainly helps). There are various different types and colors of animals that you can find, including rare and legendary skins. You can breed animals to create new generations of animals that produce higher quality goods or produce them more quickly. Optimization!
Mining:
Aside from progression of the farm, the game also has a cave system that the player can explore for metals, rare gems, and a few other interesting things. What I appreciate most about the cave system is that it isn't randomly generated, but a fully fleshed-out map that feels deliberately designed. The cave itself almost feels like a mini metroidvania that you can play while in the game, giving the player puzzles to solve and new routes to explore whenever you obtain a new "power-up" via the totem animals. This is so much better than other cave systems in similar games because you actively engage with the system rather than hack and slash away at monsters or slimes or rocks (though you do have to hack away at rocks from time to time, I at least never found it to be too much). The cave system is also how you obtain the metals required to upgrade your tools, and I was pleasantly surprised by how thought-out the tool progression was as well. Instead of a weird progression ending with gold or a made-up metal or something radioactive, the best tools in the game are bronze, which fits with the timeline progression of Stone Age to Bronze Age.
Townsim:
The village of your tribe serves as the "town" through which you can conduct your townly activities, including talking to people, giving them gifts, dancing with them, or dating/hanging out with them. Like all other farmsims, villagers follow schedules that take them to various places throughout the day, including leaving the village for other areas of the map. The townsim half is just as important as the farmsim half, as it is where you'll be spending the majority of your time when you aren't farming or exploring. The "dance" action is refreshing, as it gives the player a new way to interact with townsfolk that isn't just talking to them. And each villager has their own unique little dance animation, giving them so much personality. In order to buy things from the villagers, you'll have to "contribute" to the village through putting any of your products into a contribution box. It's essentially just selling your goods for cold hard cash, but they give it a different name.
I haven't been able to go through every character's relationship events, but what I have gone through is interesting. Each character seems to have their own individual flaw/problem that the relationship events focus on, making the characters feel alive and realistic, but not boring. You even get glimpses of these characters' personalities, history, etc. through speaking with other members of the village. It feels rewarding to speak to Villager B, who talks about Villager A in a way that tells you something new about Villager A, that adds depth to their character. Now, I don't know exactly how common or frequent these happenstances are, but it was frequent enough for me to comment on, at least.
Another fun thing is, with the addition of children, you have to actually care for your children. Can't just make a baby and leave it alone at home all day. Assign it a babysitter and nurse it/change its diapers.
Exploration:
There are several different maps outside of the village that you can explore, each with their own seeds (depending on the season) and animals to tame. At first, you'll only have access to one area, but your options will pretty quickly expand. Because each season provides different seeds, you'll want to explore every biome in every season. The areas are beautiful and provide a sense of the area where a Stone Age tribe might settle. The music for each of these areas, seasons, and times of day is also top notch. You can also meet and trade with other tribes, though you can't visit them.
Critiques:
- Animal breeding is fun, but far too time-consuming compared to domesticating crops. It can take 6 or 7 generations to get a "perfect" animal, and you need to get both animals to relationship level 6 in order to breed them, meaning it takes foooooreeeever to breed animals.
- Children don't attend festivals. Your spouse won't bring your child to the festivals and you can't take them either, they simply disappear on festival days.
- Spouses won't help take care of children, even if they're standing in the room while they're crying.
- Map diversity is a bit poor. There's 4 different biomes to explore, only 1 of which is large enough to feel expansive.
- Some methods of turning a profit with your produce seem inferior, such as fermenting vs pickling vs aging. It could use a bit more balance.
- Needs the ability to meet with other tribes in their villages.
Overall, I'm excited to see where updates take this game, and I would highly recommend anyone who enjoys farming sims gives this game a try.