Farmagia

Farmagia
Developer(s)	Marvelous
Publisher(s)	JP/EU: Marvelous NA: Xseed Games EU: Marvelous Europe
Director(s)	Hiromi Sakamoto
Producer(s)	Tsuyoshi Nagano Toru Mase Kenichiro Tsukuda
Designer(s)	Norikazu Miwa
Programmer(s)	Yoshiyuki Takahashi
Artist(s)	Hiro Mashima
Writer(s)	Hiromi Sakamoto Makoto Sato
Composer(s)	Tetsuya Kobayashi Shioto Hamasaki
Engine	Unity
Platform(s)	Nintendo Switch PlayStation 5 Steam
Release	WW: November 1, 2024
Genre(s)	Action role-playing, farm life sim
Mode(s)	Single-player

Farmagia (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese action role-playing video game developed and published by Marvelous, with character designs by Hiro Mashima. It was released worldwide for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and Steam on November 1, 2024. An anime adaptation has been announced.

Gameplay

Ten plants a seed that will grow into a "Fang" monster.

Farmagia is a single-player action role-playing game and farm life sim in which the player grows, harvests, and trains monsters. Monsters are divided into multiple categories: Battle Buddies, which are used to battle enemies encountered in mazes; Agri-Buddies, which assist the player with farming; and Research Buddies, which award points used to purchase additional farming and battle skills. Besides using monsters for offense and defense, the player can perform a Legion Attack, during which all of the player's monsters attack at once; a Unite Blitz, which combines monsters of the same type into a single, stronger Union Buddy; and a Fusion Summon, which combines all monsters of different types into a Fusion Buddy that targets all enemies on the battlefield.

The game's story is divided into twelve chapters, featuring 2D visual novel-style cutscenes. As the player progress through the story, they form pacts with Elemental Spirits that unlock access to more Fusion Buddies. The game also features in an affection system in which the player upgrade their Fusion Buddies by deepening their relationships with a certain Elemental Spirit. Additionally, player characters and monsters receive temporary benefits by equipping Fairy Skills, which are acquired from fairies found in mazes or purchased from the shopkeeper Charlot, and are reset after the player exits a maze.

Plot

Setting and characters

Farmagia is set in Felicidad, a fictional land in the underworld where its human-like denizens magically farm and grow monsters to use in battle and society, with these farmers known as Farmagia. The land is comprised of five continents, with the town of Centvelt on the continent Avrion serving as the game's central hub. The continents are protected by the six Elemental Spirits, who strengthen any Farmagia with whom they form a pact.

The game's player characters consist of the Farmagia Ten and his childhood friends: Arche, a cheerful yet sickly girl; Leii, Ten's self-conscious best friend; Chica, Arche's pacifistic friend; Emero, an older brother figure to Chica; and Anzar, the group's admired senior member. They are guided by Nares, Avrion's noble-minded ruling general, and Dentro, their elderly caretaker at the orphanage in Centvelt. The group is also followed by Lookie-Loo, a fairy who lacks conventional Fairy Skills.

The primary antagonists are Nares' fellow generals from the Oración Seis, who govern Felicidad's other continents on behalf of the underworld's ruler, the Magus Diluculum. The group's leader is Glaza, a tyrannical archmage who rules the continent of Nadeset'sya. The other generals are Lisan, a bewitching newcomer to the group who controls no continent; Manas, a mad scientist who rules Perfectus; Corpus, the brutish yet honorable ruler of Rahatluk; and L'Oreille, the treacherous ruler of Sonrisa. In addition, Glaza is served by Zanas, his armored second-in-command who hides his own identity.

Story

Following the Magus Diluculum's apparent death, the Oración Seis general Glaza establishes an oppressive regime over Felicidad as its new Magus, while Nares leads Avrion in rebellion against him. Ten defiantly battles Glaza's legion when they invade his hometown of Centvelt on Avrion, but is defeated by Zanas. Ten draws the attention of Nares, who accepts him into Avrion's army alongside his friends. After driving Zanas's forces out of Avrion, Ten's party is entrusted with liberating other continents by freeing their captured Elemental Spirits and eliminating their ruling Oración generals.

After killing Manas and Corpus, Ten's party learns that Glaza has blackmailed Arche into deciphering Diluculum's grimoire, which contains knowledge of the Harvest Festival, a spell that reaps the souls of every denizen and monster on a continent. During the party's operation on Sonrisa, L'Oreille murders Lisan and betrays Glaza alongside Zanas, leaving him to be killed by the party. In the process, Zanas is unmasked as Anzar, whom the party learns has been working against Glaza for his friends' protection. L'Oreille performs the Harvest Festival on Nadeset'sya before being killed by Ten's party, ending the war.

In the aftermath, Diluculum reveals himself to have faked his own death and consumed the souls reaped from the Harvest Festival to restore his youth. Abducting Nares and resurrecting the other generals, Diluculum transforms the Oración Seis into mindless demi-beasts and sends them to rampage across Felicidad, forcing Ten's party to kill them while he prepares the Grand Harvest Festival, which would reap all souls in Felicidad. Through clairvoyant dreams experienced by Arche, it is revealed that the archangels Diluculum and Eleonora created Felicidad alongside Dentro, their seraph friend, after a failed uprising against God, who would consume human souls to amass power; when God afflicted Eleonora with a curse that rapidly aged her to death, Diluculum consumed her soul to keep her vital connection to the Elemental Spirits intact, which also passed her curse onto him. Driven mad with grief, Diluculum intends to strengthen himself with Felicidad's souls to kill God.

Diluculum successfully casts the Grand Harvest Festival after Dentro allows him to absorb his soul. Ten survives the spell by drawing strength from his friends, which transforms him into the powerful Farmagia Hyperion; meanwhile, Diluculum's strength quickly deteriorates due to him consuming Dentro's soul, unaware that Dentro was also affected by God's curse. Ten revives his friends, and together they defeat Diluculum and restore Felicidad along with the souls lost in the Grand Harvest Festival. Ten and his friends then become Felicidad's new leaders, returning the land to prosperity. In a post-credits scene, God's cherub messenger Chariel—who befriended Ten's party while disguised as the shop worker Charlot—chooses not to report Ten's transformation to God, sparing Felicidad from God's interference.

Development and release

The game was announced at the Marvelous Game Showcase in May 2023 under the title Project Magia, with Hiro Mashima designing the characters and monsters. The current title was revealed at the following showcase in May 2024 along with the game's release year and opening sequence. The game's theme song is "dis-dystopia", an image song performed by Ayane Sakura and Inori Minase as the characters Arche and Chica, respectively. Another theme song, "Life is Beautiful" by Asian Kung-Fu Generation, was featured in an extended trailer released in June 2024.

Farmagia was released worldwide on November 1, 2024, published by Marvelous for the PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Steam. Following the game's launch, Marvelous began releasing weekly "buddy skins" for in-game monsters as free downloadable content throughout November 2024.

Reception

The Nintendo Switch version of Farmagia launched at #8 on Japanese charts, selling 4,296 physical copies within its first three days of release. Reviewing the Switch version, Paulo Kawanishi of Nintendo Life praised the character designs, writing, and technical performance. However, he criticized the farming aspect of the game, noting the lack of diversity regarding the designs of its dungeons, monsters, and the farm itself. Leigh Price of Siliconera called the game "mediocre", considering its farming and training aspects to be "undercooked", but enjoyed the story and sidequests for their character writing.

Other media

Before the game's release, an anime adaptation was announced on June 20, 2024.

External links

• Official game website (in Japanese)
• Official game website (in English)