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You might have noticed that this review looks slightly different to other reviews on VideoGamer.com. That’s because we look at games clearly designed for younger gamers in a slightly different way to other games. We’ll endeavour to tell you just what you need to know in a clear and concise way so you’ll be confident it’s the right purchase for whatever your situation.
What is it?
Enchanted Folk is a life-simulation game that lets you attend a magical school. After designing your character and naming your college, you’ll be free to explore the local area. There are lessons to attend, friends to make and mysteries to solve. Players will also have to earn money by fishing or collecting items to sell. This cash can then be used to buy clothes, spell ingredients and decorations for your dorm room. The ultimate goal is to become the world’s greatest wizard by learning every spell and investigating all the game’s secrets. Enchanted Folk is extremely similar to Animal Crossing, although it does offer a few more things to do.
Complexity
There’s a surprisingly large amount to keep track of in Enchanted Folk. There are a great many things to see and do, but the pace of the game is extremely gentle. Most actions are controlled by single button presses or via simple actions with the stylus, but there are rather a lot of commands to remember. The most complicated actions relate to the performing of spells, whereby the player must create a chain of several icons by selecting them on different menus. For example, the treasure hunt spell requires you to select the icons “magic”, “treasure” and “seek” in that order. Younger children might find this tricky.
Suitability
There is really very little to worry about in terms of the content of Enchanted Folk, with nothing that could even vaguely be described as violence. However, there is quite lot of reading to do, and some of the text uses complicated words like “linguistics”. There isn’t a lot of action in this game; it’s more about learning magic, exploring the town and chatting to other characters. For this reason, we suggest that this might not be such a good choice for very young gamers.
Production value
Graphics are cute and colourful, presented in a cartoon style that is very similar to that used in Animal Crossing. Most of your school mates take the form of talking animals, although there are some weirder characters, like a sentient mobile phone. Some of the music is quite catchy, and voices are entirely represented as strange babbling gibberish.
Anything for adults?
Grown-ups who don’t mind the rather cute graphics will find quite a lot to enjoy here. Since there’s so much to do, it’s quite possible that adults will enjoy their own second life as a Harry Potter wannabe. There are also quite a few jokes and characterisations that will go over kids’ heads – such as the town’s spectacularly camp hairdresser.
VideoGamer.com’s Verdict
Despite the fact that it is clearly being marketed at children, Enchanted Folk is a surprisingly deep game. Fans of Animal Crossing may feel that this is a little too similar for its own good, but other young gamers should have plenty of fun with their magical studies. The slow pace won’t be for everyone, but kids who do like this will probably play it for a long time.
