Littlewood

While I do recommend this game (I love the pixel graphics and it's got fun music with a cute and cozy vibe, and a wonderful cast of villagers) there are some caveats which I'll mention in a moment. A lot of the game mechanics are fun and pretty standard for a farm sim (if you like SDV you'd probably enjoy this).

Having said that though, it feels unfinished. The dev is no longer working on it so far as I can tell in the discussion section. There have been pretty heated debates on feeling as I do, but it's just my honest opinion. The unfinished feel is due to the story and characters seemingly building towards something really awesome and I couldn't wait to find out what. But for me, there was nothing that felt like an ending. Nothing that felt rewarding after all of the grind. At one point there are game credits... but the latter part of the game afterward feels unpolished, it feels like all of the villager build up is for nothing. Once you are done grinding... that's it unfortunately, and it's sad because Littlewood has a lot going for it and it sucks to have to say this.

The premise and beginning are solid and great, but the only thing to really complete isn't a story, but achievements... and if you don't care about those? Then really you just play until you get bored? I don't know if the game was meant to be this way, but that feels confusing and jarring given all the cool build up with certain villagers. Here and there it feels like hints and foreshadowing of things to come are dropped... but in the end if feels more like the dev dropped the project. There's no kind way to say it.

However, having said all of that... I still very much enjoyed the game otherwise. I hope the dev comes back with either a sequel, or perhaps some other content, though I think it's been around 4-5 years since there was any activity so new content is unlikely. Despite what I've stated above, I didn't dislike this game at all, in fact I played it for a little over 100 hours - and if you like cute and cozy farm sims, I still recommend this.

Been playing this game non-stop for a week. I love the whole idea of building the town, collecting the townfolks as if they were pokemons, and them giving you blueprints to expand the town more. However, the game has some serious issues that piss me off:
1. The RNG is disgusting. It took me FIVE YEARS in game to get the rare fish/bugs for the travellers. One particularly infuriating instance - the Chimaeras, after spending years checking the bug tree, I found all 3 at the same time in the town square. There is 0 logic of when, where, what time, what season, or anything like that, to the spawn of fish, bugs, new crops, magical trees, etc.
2. The Edge of Solemn is pretty much nothing. The only reason you have to go there is to get the achievement. Combine this fact with all of the grind needed to get there - all of the items you need to get (with the disgusting RNG not helping at all), selling them to the travellers, checking the forest and cavern for the other travellers. I'm sorry but how does 5+6+4+99+5349+54389 equal 0. Absolutely zero payoff for all that grind.
3. You know what else has zero payoff? The Museum. My face when I completed the first room, walked out, expecting a message, a reward, a nudge to check tomorrow for something, a gift from Laura, a... whatever, ANYTHING. No. The museum gets a golden thingy in the hall to symbolise which room is completed. Groundbreaking. And the townfolks keep rubbing it in my face "oooh you've done so much for the museum" yeah and you didn't, where is my reward ffs.
4. The story is left in the dust. There is some great potential and I really hope they work with what they have in the future, but for now there is nothing. Ooh I don't remember anything, ooh the Dark guy doesn't remember anything, but he looks just like the Dark Wizard, oo do you know there are floating continents, ooh The Edge of Solemn, oo Lilith might be the next Dark Wizard, oo when i'm ready i will find out something, oo what if we need to fight again, oooooohhhh NOTHING. NOTHING. NOTHING. That's what you will find. There is 0 explanation or resolution for the memories gone plots for you and Dark. There is nothing in the Edge of Solemn. There is no way for you reach any other place, continent, floating whatever. There is nothing more about Lilith. I expected something like a magical train station where you can go visit those magical places everyone keeps talking about, new quests, new towns, maybe new house, like how Stardew Valley did the Ginger Island plot. Nope. Excuse me for expecting something after the dozens of hints that I have to expect something.
5. Things are not really explained. I had to google to find out that the boat doesn't require 10,000 planks for example. I had to find a guide for the flower breeding, because even tho Willow does tell you to put the flowers together, it's not really explained which flower + which makes what. I could respect that maybe it's on purpose so you can experiment with the combinations, but the combinations don't make sense. Since when does white + white equal blue? Found out at the 4th year you can sell more than 1 item per stall. The coffee shops allows you to buy 3 coffees at once, but then doesn't give you 3 separate boosts? It's not bad per se, you still enjoy the game, it's fine, but it is annoying and could save you time.
Overall the whole story needs a lot of work to make this a full fledged game.
Things I love:
1. Flowers. They are pretty, the breeding system is unique (once you learn from Google about it), and watering them doesn't take energy.
2. No annoying mechanics. Cutting trees, fishing, cooking, nothing is annoying or hard.
3. The townfolks. They all have different personalities, their houses beautifully represent that. Most of them give you blueprints for buildings.
4. Decorating. The houses, statues, buildings, decor, everything is beautiful. The paths are fun and colorful. You can spend hours just decorating. That to me is probably the most interesting thing in any games so I appreciated it. It's kind of annoying what the requirements of some people are, just because I imagined some townfolks being neighbours with others, but the buildings they want or don't want to be near are not really compatible. I had this beautiful design from the start with my house, Willow's house, the Marketplaces, and then I come to find out Willow doesn't want to live next to the Marketplace. I had to put her just close enough to me but still far and it messed up with the other part of town. It was a bit disappointing, but hey, I'm not gonna run across the map to get my money so she can go, lol.
5. The house pages. It was fun looking for the specific beds and decor each of them want.
6. The tarot monster game. At first I wasn't interested and didn't get it, but in one day I went from level 5 to level 90. It's cool once you understand what's going on.
I do like the grind, I love completing games, finding out as much as possible as soon as possible. I love that there are a lot of things you can do in the game, lots of skills to max out, items to buy, etc. The lack of story and payoff does leave you disappointed in the end. I will still get it to 100%, just because I like it, and I haven't done all, like I'm still wondering who to marry and if it makes any difference. God, I've never left such a long review of a game before.

Do you like farming sims, but hate feeling pressured by the typical day/night system? Do you enjoy games like Act Raiser or Dark Cloud that want you to place town items in specific places for added bonuses? Well Littlewood is the game for you! Littlewood circumvents the day/night system concept in both town-sim genre, and in real life! You'll look down, look back up, and an arbitrary number of IRL hours will have passed!

I have to give this a positive review because I do love this game a lot, the premise is great, would love to play more games like this, but there are two major problems:
1) The ending location is so underwhelming. I had read reviews saying this so at least I was a little prepared but even going into it with that expectation I was so disappointed. It really does feel like nothing and it needs just one cutscene to at least give any wrap up
2) If youre an achievement hunter youre going to hate this game. I have grinder for hours, leveled up every skill, collected every item, and only just got the achievement for chopping 3500 wood… and theres an achievement above that for chopping 6000 wood. It’s a seriously ridiculous threshold that is not balanced with the rest of the game at all

*Update at the end*
I am addicted to this game, it is SO FUN! It is so cozy & comfy & easy to relax while playing. The characters are all really cool and I think that the storyline is actually really interesting. I like the challenge of going into a game knowing absolutely nothing and just figuring it out. I am about 45 hours into this game and I know I still have a lot more to go so if you are looking for something that you can play for a couple months, this is for you. I think that the style & gameplay are really interesting and refreshing as usually most life sims have the same mechanics but Littlewood puts their spin on it. I highly recommend!
*Update (SPOILERS)* - I am actually really disappointed right now. I grind out a ton of work excited to get to the Edge of Solomn and then its just... nothing? I literally just stopped playing the game bc there was nothing to do and it felt super anticlimactic and like a waste of time. This game would be so good if they would fix the RNG and finish the story... i had fun in the beginning so I do recommend but just be prepared.

♡ Evie's Review ♡
Pros:
♡ Perfect if you finished Stardew Valley and want something more
♡ Extremely relaxing and cozy gameplay with no pressure or time limits
♡ Energy based system encourages exploration without stress
♡ Town building feels meaningful and fully customizable
♡ NPCs are charming and actually feel worth talking to
♡ Progression is smooth and rewarding
♡ Great soundtrack that perfectly matches the calm vibe
♡ Perfect “wind down before bed” kind of game
Cons:
♡ Combat is very simple and not very deep
♡ Pixel art style might not click for everyone
♡ Can feel slow at the very beginning
Overall:
♡ Littlewood feels like a game made for people who love life sims but hate being rushed. There’s no clock yelling at you, no pressure to min-max every day, just steady progress and cozy vibes. Building up your town, getting to know the characters, and slowly unlocking new areas is genuinely satisfying. If you like games like Stardew Valley but want something even more relaxed, Littlewood is absolutely worth your time.
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Good job distracting my impatient ass from thinking about Haunted Chocolatier...