Review: Picontier Is a Great Farming Life Sim for the Switch

There are a lot of farming and life sims on the Switch, so much so that a game like Picontier could easily fly under the radar. It probably doesn’t help that we first heard about it back in 2016, but it’s never gotten tons of attention. Which is a shame, because it’s a novel experience with an unexpected sort of sort surrounding it, and more people should really give it a chance.

Picontier begins with Pico’s grandfather, a scientist named Jeda, heading to the island with them. After doing some work in a lab there, he instructs Pico to go to sleep. So we watch as our avatar heads into a pod and sleeps for an unspecified amount of time. Upon waking, an AI being known as Aila is there to greet us and guide us toward a new life dedicated to farming end exploring the island. However, something seems a bit off. The other villagers all seem to have woken up at the same time, it seems all the food spoiled, there’s a huge hole in one person’s house-slash-safe, and there are remnants of blockades and things like tanks with vines growing over them around the area.

Farming in Picontier both does and doesn’t work like we expect. Seeds are acquired from shrines across the island initially. You need to find them to begin planting. You can then offer 30 of that item to a shrine for a stat boost. You also eventually get seeds from a seed maker, which offers 10 in exchange for three of an item. Monsters appear and drop an array of items when defeated. Crafting ends up being critical, primarily for equipment, though also for making food via recipes. Villagers can be befriended to get quests that advance the story or grant access to new recipes for items or dishes. Not to mention hitting certain hallmarks means unlocking new areas, which also tend to hint at the general idea that something happened and this island might be special somehow.

What I really like is how there are little quality of life touches and it’s so simple to keep moving forward in Picontier when playing this farming sim and RPG on the Switch. You can toggle a setting to show exactly how many days it takes for certain crops to grow. Expanding your inventory, shipping box, and storage box space is all done via money, with early upgrades being fairly affordable. It’s easy to fall into a pace of breaking boxes and gathering items from portions of the map you unlocked so you can continue to craft or earn more money. Your neighbors might not have a lot of depth or things to say, but they’re often entertaining enough and instead offer new material or recipe rewards that make the interactions with them worthwhile.

Plus it does have a great sort of look to it. Picontier possesses the same sort of pixel art style as other Kan.Kikuchi and Skipmore games like Fairune and Kamiko. It’s very effective at conveying an idea or rendering an item in a simplistic, yet stylish and recognizable way.

The only thing I wish Picontier did a bit better is explain things. For example, getting chickens for the first time is a good example. After completing certain mainline quests, you get a mini drone that lets you acquire animals. You then also get access to an item to befriend wild chickens. However, I didn’t catch that I’d then need to craft that item to do so until I went into the workbench in my house next, which ended up being two in-game days later. Also, it never tells you that hey, you’ll need to progress the main quest before the orbs blocking exploration to certain areas of the island will be removed, which might frustrate someone as they try to find a way to do more.

Though, if I really wanted a wish granted, it would be for greater equipment durability. Things break really easily in Picontier! I suppose it’s to give us an excuse to craft and spend money on things. But while a hoe, pickaxe, or axe gets an admirable 50 uses before it’s gone for good, some swords have as little as 20 “whacks” in them. Considering even the earliest enemies you’ll see take multiple hits before they fall, a lot of your inventory and money goes toward having enough weapons around and ensuring you’re ready for those situations.

Still, I really loved playing Picontier on the Switch! It’s a lot of fun, and it does a lot of streamlining that makes farming and exploring feel different than other life sims like Stardew Valley, Rune Factory, and Story of Seasons. The ambiance is interesting, as is knowing that something is off and “happened” while Pico was napping. The pacing could have been a bit different and equipment durability changed, but it’s still worth people’s time and attention.

Picontier is available for the Nintendo Switch and PC.

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