Home Arcana [Game Review]

As gamers, we’ve played our fair share of farming simulators. In addition to literal farming simulator games, we’ve also played a number of games that allowed players to go into the fields, grow crops and build small farms. Homestead Arcana is probably the most interesting concept in a farming simulator game. You don’t just till the land and scatter seeds around it, you are a young witch planting the land through magic and spells! While you won’t be throwing spells around like you did in Hogwarts Legacy, Homestead Arcana seems to be for those who just want a different approach to the simulation genre. Are you planning to read about how best to brew your next crop, or is Home Arcana your spell left in a forgotten, dusty tome? We find out in our review of the PC version of Homestead Arcana!

The opening sequence of Homestead Arcana explains the situation very well. Not long ago, a strange miasma-like fog enveloped the world, and humans retreated into the mountains. The miasma continued to consume the land, making it uninhabitable. A small village decides to see if there is a way to survive in a miasmatic world, and you are the witch tasked with doing just that. Along with your talking Huckleberry cat – who’s a real treat – your goal is to farm the land and discover if there’s a way to defeat the threat of the miasma. Homestead Arcana does a great job of giving you the drive to become a powerful witch farmer right from the start. We never thought those two words would go together, but this is equally Homestead Arcana. Homestead Arcana is a bit of a flop…but more on that later. Now, let’s dive into the gameplay and what Homestead Arcana does right.

Unlike a farm in the traditional sense, Homestead Arcana allows you to use the power of spells and potions to help grow crops, reuse land, and grow recyclable items. We never get tired of using various magic spells to watch seeds grow into giant corn stalks or plants and harvest our fruits, plus as you gain more powerful spells you can clear the land quickly and get better harvests. However, cultivation is only half of Home Arcana, as there is another aspect to exploring the Miasma and the world around it.

You’ll soon discover that miasma is no joke. This purple mist-like entity is thick and full of dangers, but luckily you are a witch with the survival tools you need for a successful adventure. Early exploration is very minimal, but as you progress through Homestead Arcana you’ll gain more room to move around.

Homestead Arcana is a simulation game, which means you won’t get very far if you just run around doing nothing. You’ll need food and rest to survive, which means crafting meals, foraging for edible food, and building a nice shelter starting with a simple tent. Homestead Arcana performs well enough to feel like a traditional simulation game, which is exactly what we want! We think there may be other elements such as drinking water, but we wouldn’t be too picky.

We’ve talked a lot about Homestead Arcana and what it does right, but we can’t get around these flaws that might change your mind about buying this unique game. The first major issue with Homestead Arcana is overall progression, we have no doubt that farming the miasma-filled world will take some time, but it feels like Homestead Arcana takes a little while to really get going. In the first few hours we learned a lot about how to survive the miasma, the dangers that awaited us and how best to develop thriving fields, but it felt a bit boring at first. That being said, Homestead Arcana opened up and became more interesting when we had more freedom to move around and do our own thing.
Another complaint we encountered while investing time in Homestead Arcana was the lack of motivation to actually want to use our powers/farms to save the world. Yes, it’s fun to watch our land grow and find more ways to survive in this harsh land, but it never prompts us to truly care about the world and the plight of the people within it. You’re actually playing Homestead Arcana just for the simulation aspect, and probably don’t care much about the story.