Moonfrost is a gorgeous pixel farming sim that breaks traditions in all the right ways

There are a lot of farming sims available these days, and many of them have remarkably similar storylines and almost identical mechanics. Don’t get me wrong, the patterns are duplicated because they work, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room to do things a little differently. Moonfrost is proof of that. 

Moonfrost by Oxalis Games is a farming sim that follows many of the conventions we’ve come to know and love from the genre while putting its own spin on others. With gorgeous hand-drawn pixel art and a fascinating story, Moonfrost feels like it could be something really special. 

Freedom to explore

I have a test that I like to carry out when diving into any life-sim game, and it essentially boils down to ignoring instructions, at least for a little while. It’s not that I dislike hand-holding tutorials. They’re incredibly useful, but I like having the option to wander off and explore in my own time. Moonfrost passed this test with flying colors. 

The only instructions Moonfrost gives you upon waking up in the forest are “explore,” and I spent a good deal of time wandering around through the trees and picking up resources like wood, stone, and even a couple of eggs from some presumably lost chickens. You don’t need tools to pick up wood or stone, either. It’s just there for you to pick up, which is rather glorious compared to many other similar games. 

Even when I eventually made my way into town and met Ash, who told me I needed to go and gather resources as if my pockets weren’t already filled with them, I was able to head straight back out and hoard regenerating resources like it was the end of the world and my survival depended on carrying three tons of stone and a forest’s worth of logs. 

I even harvested an entire field of sunflowers. Probably not the best move when you’re new in town, and I still have no idea what I’m meant to use my pilfered flowers for, but having 51 sunflowers doesn’t seem like a bad thing. Nobody stopped me, and that's what matters. 

Back on track

I think it was only because I started my playthrough of the demo this way that I got a full understanding of how gorgeous the world in Moonfrost is. If I’d immediately followed instructions and played through the story, I might never have realized just how much space there is to explore. But Moonfrost does have a wonderful story that you can’t skip over forever, so I did eventually give in and talk to Ash. 

After making some tools, I headed to bed in my tent and went straight into town the next morning. Ash had said that the town was not doing well, but I was not expecting to walk into somewhere that looked like it had just survived the apocalypse. The place was filled with boarded-up windows, piles of rubble littering the streets, and not a person in sight other than Ash at our designated meeting spot.

And that’s where the story really kicks off and immediately drags you in. The village was destroyed by Frostfall from the second moon, which seems to be a long series of meteors. Now, the appearance of a Shard marks the end of the meteors, meaning the village is finally safe. Of course, this is a farm/life sim, so now that the meteors have stopped falling, it’s pretty much down to you to help put the place back together. 

How? By farming, of course!

Breaking from tradition

I have to be completely honest; while I’ve gotten used to crops taking multiple in-game days to grow in most farming sims, I absolutely hate the mechanic. Yes, I know it’s realistic, and I know rapid growth may remove some of the “rewarding” feeling you get when you successfully grow something, but I’ve grown tired of waking up, watering the crops, and immediately going back to sleep just to move them onto the next stage. 

Luckily, Moonfrost seems to support my impatience, because things seem to grow remarkably quickly on your farm, to say the least. Maybe it’s a side effect of the second moon, or maybe it’s just a lovely little break away from established farming sim mechanics; either way, I’m incredibly happy to reap the benefits. 

I should note that, when opening the demo, it is described as “a streamlined version” of the first few days in-game, which could mean that this sped-up farming is simply a perk of the demo and will take longer in the full game. However, even if the full game does take a more traditional, longer approach to farming, there are plenty of other things to do and places to explore while waiting for your crops to reach maturity. 

In another break from tradition, rather than giving you a dilapidated farmhouse to restore, Moonfrost gives you nothing more than a tent and a lot of space. You’re free to build your own house however you want it to look, provided you have the resources available. Build mode introduces Sims-like mechanics that let you construct rooms using wood and stone. You’re then free to fill them with whatever furniture or decorations you can craft, buy, or find. 

What comes next?

I’ll be honest, it was around this point that I decided to stop playing the demo because I knew for certain that I would be buying the full game on the day it releases into early access. Speedy crops and free rein over design choices are enough to tell me that I'm firmly part of Moonfrost's audience, and I don’t want to get too invested in my progress within the demo only to lose it once the full game is released.

Moonfrost may seem like another in a long line of farming sims, but there’s something about the freedom it gives you that makes it stand out. I’m really excited to dive in during early access and figure out what’s going on with the second moon, restore the town to its former glory, and build up a farm that makes me proud. 

Moonfrost doesn’t have a release date for early access yet, but the demo has plenty to sink your teeth into and still leaves you wanting more. You could easily get a few hours of gameplay from it alone, so I’d highly recommend giving it a try if you’re a fan of farming sims looking for something slightly different.

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