PREVIEW : Hokko Life (PC)
Simulators are gaining popularity now more than ever, even though they’ve never been able to keep up with public appeal quite like other genres and the juggernauts that represent them. For the longest time, if you asked someone to name a farming sim or any type of sim, the chances were they’d say Harvest Moon or Goat Simulator, but in recent years, they’ve found a brand new breath of life, with leaders of the pack like Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, Story of Seasons, and games of all types that have “simulator” in their names whether they’re farming sims or not.
One of the best things about Hokko Life straight away is that it immediately makes you feel at home, as your character sits next to a tree overlooking the newfound village where you’ll begin a new chapter of your life. The music complements the basic yet vivid backdrop, and everything from the typefaces to the cursor to the SFX of pops and warm hits makes every option and hover on-screen inviting and pleasurable.
The word “inviting” is also a major element in Hokko Life, since everything feels hospitable and welcoming—and this is only the title screen. The most physically beautiful hair in the game is the one that your character starts with and is shown with on advertising material.
Presumably, this is due to the game’s Early Access status, and things may be fleshed out later down the line, but thankfully once that happens, you can easily change how you look later in the game with more clothing options and styles once those are unlocked, so there’s no need to feel pressured or upset by the small selection at first, as I’m sure this will continue to grow over time, but for the time being,
The presentation of Hokko Life is undeniably beautiful, and the visuals are extremely crisp and easy on the eyes, but there’s no denying that the Early Access caveats start to become apparent right away once you begin to speak to people, especially when they’re sitting, as once you do they’ll turn around but get pushed back due to some form of collision and spacing between the two characters speaking, and I even found myself pushing one of the NPCs who was getting lunch completely behind the counter as constant interactions had them clipping through just about every object, and the same thing happened just outside in the main plaza where not only was I able to push someone I was speaking to virtually out-of-bounds, but I was also able to easily make it over the fence.
Hokko Life looks and performs amazing, but there’s no doubting that I wish the game had been developed a little bit more before it was made available for everyone to play, even if there’s no denying that Wonderscope put a lot of love and effort into it. It’s just a shame that the way some quests function leaves a lot to be desired, as it took me many in-game days near the beginning of the game – possibly over a week – only to complete a quest since I had sold things needed for crafting.
This may be blamed on me, but when the backpack is opened, goods with uses have a tiny description stating such, so while the lack of descriptions on some items may have purposes other than merely being sold or considered junk.
It was extremely frustrating to have to wait days for flowers to grow, only to have to spend days before resetting the store time and time again before I was able to acquire one of the items and seeds required to proceed with a quest, and then missing out on another timed request due to the inability to gather an item needed otherwise. This was owing to a variety of factors, including an inability to proceed correctly, albeit the basic concept is never made clear.
Hokko Wonderscope stands true to their name. Life gives us a fantastic, wonderful, and exquisite view and scope inside an Animal Crossing-esque love letter that a one-man team has practically perfected. Hokko Life is all about giving the player a calm, go-at-your-own-pace experience that never feels demanding, even with the more time-based objectives – also matching up with its inspired-by name of combining Hoko and Hokkori, which imply to feel pleasure and to be warm and fluffy, respectively.
Thus, while Animal Crossing is a great game in its own right with a similar premise, it’s the quality-of-life components, care, and attention that make Hokko Life, dare I say, outperform Animal Crossing in more ways than one.
New Horizons, in particular, has been an ineffable experience that has allowed me to meet so many great people and creative minds, with mostly consistent support from Nintendo, but there’s no doubt that the game’s grasp has begun to wane, and there have been simple design choices, UI elements, and placement issues that have always caused a level of frustration to players aroused.
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