Everdream Valley is an upcoming farming adventure game that follows a main character who has come to stay at their family’s farm over the summer. Developed by Mooneaters and published by VARSAV Game Studios, Everdream Valley will allow players to rebuild their grandparents' farm, grow crops, and experience nightly dreams that let players embody different farm animals and complete unique challenges.
Marek Maruszczak, the CEO of Mooneaters and lead game designer of Everdream Valley, recently spoke to Game Rant about various aspects of the game, including the quests, characters, and animals that players can expect to encounter. Maruszczak spotlighted the various animals players can expect to see in the game and how they're categorized.
Everdream Valley Gameplay
Based on other farming sims like Stardew Valley, the gameplay involves the player arriving at a mostly barren farm with few animals or plants. From there, they embark on a journey to rebuild the farm and increase its productivity. This involves creating new pens, finding lost animals, and rebuilding the animal population. The player is also able to purchase animals and equipment to aid in their efforts, with the primary sources of income coming from growing plants and raising animals for their products. Additionally, the player can earn money by finding various items, plants, and catching animals around the farm.
Throughout the game, the player is guided by their grandparents, who teach them how to build new facilities and provide them with items they collect. As the player progresses, they acquire blueprints for new buildables, seedlings of new plants, and the option to bring new animals to the farm. With each successful task completed, the player is able to expand and improve the farm, leading to a more prosperous and successful venture.
The Animals of Everdream Valley
In addition to the cast of characters and quests throughout, it was also very important for the developers to interact with the animals and make each serve a specific purpose. The animals in the game are divided into four groups: Farmed animals, Wild animals, Helper animals, and Collectible animals. Farmed animals are typical animals such as cows, pigs, chickens, and more. Some can be ridden, and all can be petted, each offering the player something different as a reward for looking after them.
Wild animals roam the map freely, and many can be tamed at some point in the game to add to the farm to offer unique benefits. Those that can’t still serve some gameplay purpose or still give the player some benefit from interacting with them. Helper animals like the cat and the dog have some interesting mechanics to offer, e.g., tracking by scent and detecting sick animals. Collectible animals include dozens of species of butterflies, beetles, frogs, fish, and more that players can collect, similar to Animal Crossing: New Horizon's Museum. According to Maruszczak, players will also have the opportunity to use the building customization feature to their advantage when it comes to the animals in Everdream Valley. One of the first quests in the game is to rebuild a fence for some of the farm animals. Maruszczak explained that there will be functional items available such as animal feeders, hay dryers, and shelters.
“Most of these can be bought, created, or found by the player and placed almost anywhere. As long as, of course, there is no water, rock, or too steep a slope. Wild animals however can destroy some of the structures like fences. There can also be fires which are a hazard to your buildables.”
Everdream Valley's Dog Companion and Cooking Feature
Everdream Valley also features two important animals - the cat and the dog. These animals play different roles in the game, with the dog having a training level and the cat having a friendship level. The player can level up their dog by playing fetch and performing tasks, while the cat requires playing agility games. As an animal's level increases, it sticks closer to the player and gains more functions. As Maruszczak explained,
“The dog can help herd sheep, in which case we control both it and the player with a shepherd's whistle. It can also track animals and objects. For example, if we give it wool to smell, it will lead us to the nearest sheep. The cat, on the other hand, detects sick animals from a considerable distance and catches pests and insects, giving them back to the player. In the case of the dog, we also have several different breeds to choose from. We wanted to add different cats, but they didn't get along with each other.”
In Everdream Valley, players also have the ability to cook using a variety of ingredients, including fruits, vegetables, water, eggs, and milk. However, the game does not allow players to kill or eat animals. Throughout the game, players acquire recipes that they can use in a mini-cooking game or experiment by combining different ingredients to discover new recipes. The more ingredients used in a dish, the higher the maximum stamina level is raised. However, if the player is stung by a bee or bitten by a goose, the maximum level will drop, and they may require medicine to return to the basic stamina level.
Everdream Valley will be available on PC, PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch on May 30, 2023.