Forager – Impressions (Switch)

This is a guest post from Contributor Joshua Shuttleworth.

Forager starts off like many games in the crafting-sandbox genre. You are alone on an island with nothing but a bunch of ever-spawning resources and the tool with which to collect them. 

Your first task as the cute Fez-like character is to make a furnace which you’ll find under the ‘Industrial’ build menu. Forager separates its crafting mechanics into 4 distinct disciplines: 

• Industrial – Here you’ll find things like furnaces, forges, and sewing stations. 
• Farming – Standard fare in this category include bridges, fish traps, and cookpots.
• Economic – Money related items, like banks and markets, can be had in this tree.
• Magical – Inscription tables, potions, scrolls, and other magical kit for those with a hankering for the mystical.

Forager never really pushes you into any specific crafting category, but you’ll find quickly that there’s no real way to progress by specializing in any of the four; eventually you’ll want to put some points into Economic to sell your stuff or a few points in Magical to make some healing potions. The main form of progression in Forager comes in the form of skills. At the beginning of the game the only real way to earn XP is by farming resources. However, after a few levels you’ll discover there are skills that can make even the most mundane of tasks, like selling items, net you XP. Every time you level up you’ll gain one skill point which can be used to unlock a new skill in one of the aforementioned trees. Some of the upgrades are basic, like faster forging or increased resource drops per node. However, there are also some more exciting skills you can get that really mix up the formula compared to other games in the genre. Skills can also be unlocked with ‘Spirit Orbs’ which are a consumable item that allows you to choose between four rewards: A permanent heart, extra energy, one immediate level-up, or increased damage.

One of my favorite skills was ‘Machinery’ under Industry, which allows you to build Flower Presses when unlocked. While a Flower Press may not sound like the most exciting thing to spend your hard-earned skill point on, it allows you to turn a previously useless resource, flowers in this case, into much more useful resources like sand or steel. I found that when the game started to feel monotonous, usually a new perk was just what I needed to get a new goal in sight and add some more variety to the gameplay. 

The other form of progression in Forager is islands, which serve two main purposes: to get new resources and to add new gameplay elements. One of the first islands you’re likely to unlock will just have a chest and some grass. Inside the chest, you’ll find another mechanic; Artifacts. Artifacts are equipable items that have unique effects – faster movement speed, better resource drops, increased experience, etc. Artifacts in Forager function like passive skill upgrades you’d earn in other games. Islands can also consist of temporary buffs, puzzles, and even dungeons. 

Dungeons in Forager, of which there are four total, are relatively easy if you’ve ever played any of the 2D Zelda games or anything in that ilk. Dungeons are laid out in a screen-by-screen style with enemies and puzzles intertwined. The dungeons, puzzles, and combat for that matter, are an interesting addition to the game but they don’t hold any real weight. Combat is very basic with only a few different weapon types and mostly the same gameplay loop as non-combat resource gathering. Despite this, I still found it refreshing to have a break from the endless treadmill that is resource gathering. 

I’ve really enjoyed the time I’ve spent with Forager thus far. At level 30 my skill progression has started to slow but interesting upgrades have continued to flow with time. The game’s depth of skills, items, and gameplay is familiar yet also different. There’s still plenty left for me to do in the game as I’ve only really scratched the surface on the Magic skill tree and barely made a dent in the museum. I expect I’ll end up putting at least another seven hours into my first playthrough and might even go back for a second round with more of an early focus on Magic rather than farming just to see how it changes the early game. If you like similar resource collection games, like Minecraft or Terraria, I think you’ll find a lot you can enjoy in Forager.