With a dash of Satisfactory’s automation to boot
Image credit: Radical Forge
A new farming game is planting the seeds of recent PC hits like Stardew Valley, Human: Fall Flat, Satisfactory and, yes, Minecraft and hoping to have them grow into an entertaining co-op offering that’s as cozy as it is chaotic.
Southfield – apparently named for Middlesbrough developers Radical Forge’s local pub, as well as having a sort-of agricultural vibe – is a third-person farming sim with the chaotic physics of your Human: Fall Flats, Gang Beasts and Kerbal Space Programs applied.
Players – whether in solo or multiplayer with up to three other players – are Buds, blobby humanoids with the clay-like look of Gang Beasts who apparently grow from the ground like plants. Those Buds are farmers on the island of Southfield, tasked with planting crops and building up their dwellings in Minecraft-like fashion by collecting resources and refashioning them into walls, roofs and so on.
The game’s loose physics-y sandbox means that the crops you plant can take on all manner of strange behaviour, from levitating and shapeshifting to bouncing or exploding. Some will just get really, really big, while others will electrocute or freeze characters. The Buds can also get silly with the physics, chucking objects – and each other – around, adding to the drunken chaotic nature of the movement and interactions.
As your farming ambitions get more advanced, you’ll be able to start automating parts of your harvest with conveyor belts, trampolines and cannons to fire fruit and veg around. I expect the same kind of people who build massively impressive machines in Factorio or Satisfactory to quickly build some wild contraptions.
Beyond the farming, there’s a dash of survival game to Southfield, as your farm will apparently come under attack by Ruffians at night, who will wreck your crops if left to roam. Other threats include the weather of the island, while the game makes reference to the strange presence of shadows and Monoliths elsewhere in the world.
Southfield’s entertaining physics toybox has a solid foundation in Radical Forge, with the team having worked on drunken clayperson brawler Gang Beasts in the past.
The developers say that the game will likely stay in Early Access until the summer, with plans including additional environments, more crops, quests and customisation options for your Buds on top of the more than 40 chaotic crops and automated machines that’ll be available from the jump. There’ll be some other inhabitants of the island you can meet and chat with, too.
Southfield doesn’t have a date for its Early Access launch just yet, but a demo will go live during Steam’s Next Fest event in February.
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