It’s only natural to draw direct comparisons to Animal Crossing when observing screenshots and gameplay footage of Hokko Life if you haven’t already played it. Whilst I do feel the development team did probably draw inspiration from the super popular franchise on Nintendo, this title does its own thing too. If you’re fed up with the cost of living crisis, the war in Ukraine and all the bad in the world, then this is a game where you can just relax and forget everything and just feel great for hours. Published by Team 17, I knew the creation from Wonderscope was worth my time investment with two extremely talented teams behind this project. Is the world of Hokko one worthy of your gaming hours? Read on and hear my thoughts on this quirky and fun adventure.

Introduction

The creators of Wonderscope are a super tiny games studio situated in Stockholm, Sweden and from my research, I believe this may be their first major outing into the gaming universe. As I’ve mentioned already, Hokko Life takes those very cutesy aesthetics and a similar formula to Animal Crossing and runs with it by itself and this isn’t a bad decision by any means. You arrive in the quiet and empty land of Hokko after alighting a train and you must use this opportunity to bed in with the locals. It is here where you’re offered a room for the night after going to the nearby inn and not being about what to do next. You decide it’s quite nice in the ghetto of Hokko and decide to remain, it is here where your journey starts as you build an almost silent area into a thriving community.

Gameplay

Much of the early game is wandering around Hokko and getting to know the introductory characters and establishing yourself amongst the locals. Be prepared for extremely slow pacing during the beginning and a lot of running between people as you work to get quests done. It is extremely laid back and it’s up to you when you want to nip home for a kip and speed along to the next day. What I loved about it in comparison to games like Stardew Valley, was that there are no stamina bars to constantly keep tabs on so you can get as much or as little done as you like.

You’ll only be granted access to a small portion of the land at the beginning and as you progress, you’ll open up much more of the world such as woodlands, mines, shopping and residential areas and more. Gaining entry to these areas is done so by performing ongoing tasks such as grinding resources and then crafting stuff like stairs and bridges.

Mayor Merits

After a short period, you’ll be told by the local inn how to be rewarded with mayor merits. These are essentially medals that are presented to you for ticking off and achieving certain tasks. If you hit a dry spell during the game with no tasks to do within the community, then you may want to work towards the goals offered here. There are several to be awarded and you do have to finish off one first to work on unlocking the next. It is well worth paying attention to these since they will give you vital upgrades to progress during your time in Hokko.  You’ll be able to unlock a world map, backpack upgrades, sprinting abilities and even sacks of extra cash to spend on what you choose.

Housing & Crafting

Building houses and crafting items is perhaps the most satisfying aspect of the entire time spent with Hokko Life. Whilst there are only four different types of dwelling you can build at the present time, fine-tuning the interior and surroundings of these homes is where you’ll be spending a lot of time and most of your money. Each house requires certain materials and a set number of in-game coins to put together. Whilst you start your personal life in Hokko with nothing but a sleeping bag on a stone floor, it won’t be long until the cash is rolling in and you can decorate and furnish your mecca.

Bring Your Paintbrush!

There is a huge catalogue of furnishings, wallpaper, fittings and flooring to choose from. If you’re not a fan of the preset items in the store then you can always go and craft your own to put your own personal mark on everything you’ve worked hard for. The creative freedom to be able to customise furniture and wallpapers gave me some vibes that I’d only ever seen in something like The Sims. It gives you the ability to spend time building everything unique to you, it’s just a shame you can’t share it with anyone online. The one bugbear I had was not being able to access my inventory within crafting screens, so often you had to back out of a menu to look at another, it was a minor annoyance but one that could possibly be tweaked in future.

Fishing, Farming & Bug Hunting

There are plenty of activities to become involved with around Hokko outside of just chopping down trees and building new houses. Fishing can be done at several spots at various points of the day. I found that I had to be mindful of the behaviour of the fish and the type of bait I was using whilst attempting to catch them. Some fish are much rarer than others and have different values of worth. Fish long enough and you can even start pulling treasure chests with unknown loot out of the water.

Watch Those Crops

Farming bought an addictive element of the gameplay loop to me and made me delve into a session for many hours more than I intended. There is a huge array of crops that you can harvest that all can be grown with a range of fertilisers and harvesting time periods. These can then be sold off for more in-game coins, but you will have to look after your crops like they are your babies and ensure they are watered each and every day. You can gain sprinklers and an upgraded watering can, to make this chore less time-consuming by ticking off some community quests.

Gotta Catch Em All!

Bug hunting became another feature that I became hooked on, running around the land and seeing fluttering butterflies begging to be caught. You must use your net to catch, you’ll then be presented with the breed and size. What I loved about this was each time you collected one, it was filled into a collection book. To me this was just like collecting football stickers and filling them in my album as a kid, it was just as compelling.

Graphics & Audio

Hokko Life has a fantastic art style which suits the entire atmosphere of the gameplay loop. Again, it is aesthetically akin to the already mentioned Animal Crossing with its own array of eccentric and intriguing characters. The world does feel hollow, to begin with, but the entire premise is to build the entire world exactly how you want it and before you know it, you can make it your own. The visual package is pleasing to the eye, and it is displayed with such cuteness and joy with a fusion of vibrant and warm colours. I did not encounter any visual bugs or glitches during my time with the game and that would partly be thanks to its early access period on Windows PC to fish out any issues. Animations and mechanics are solidly presented in your ever-expanding world and the art team should be proud of their achievements here.

When it comes to the audio, there isn’t really much to get your teeth into here. There is no spoken dialogue aside from all the sound effects throughout the game that perform exactly as they should. Music is quite repetitive and whilst it can be switched off in the settings, I found it nice and calming for a relaxing time

In Conclusion

Hokko Life is usually a game that I would dismiss immediately, as when I look at titles like this normally, they don’t really cater to my gaming preferences. But I really enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I was slightly concerned at the beginning about whether there would be enough content to remain interested, as the first few hours doesn’t really have a lot of discovering or exploration involved. These concerns were swiftly brushed aside as the game is cleverly written so that you’re constantly engaging with the community with some sense of which direction to steer you in. There are some fantastic customisation options here, both with character design and the interior of buildings. Crafting elements are much deeper than I expected them to be, and you can literally design and construct your surroundings to suit you.

A Beautiful Title That Warms The Heart!

I know the comparison to Animal Crossing has been done to death here and I’d imagine it will across other reviews. But if you’re a fan of that formula and other popular titles such as Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon or My Time at Portia then I think you’ll adore this wonderfully presented indie. I really hope that the developers take the brilliance that is already there and build on the solid foundations they have created. Unfortunately, there are no local or online multiplayer options in Hokko Life, but depending on how successful this game is, it is something the teams could perhaps look at as I think it would work exceptionally well. If you’re looking for a super casual package with dozens to hundreds of hours of intriguing and fun gameplay, then this is well worth a buy at an extremely reasonable price.