Mechs and Meadows: Lightyear Frontier's Fresh Take on Farming Simulation

I've played many farming simulations, but none have taken me into the driver's seat of a mech, tending alien crops and gathering resources. Lightyear Frontier accomplishes just that, bringing a refreshing and novel approach to the genre. Leveraging a mech equipped with a variety of tools, the game makes the farming experience less laborious and more enjoyable.

From a Vacuum Harvester that sucks up fully grown plants to a Seed Shooter which plants seeds in vacant soil, and an Irrigation Hose that waters them, the mech is versatile. There's also a Spike Saw for breaking down trees and minerals, and a Sprout Canon for planting saplings, making the process feel streamlined and exciting.

Restoration

At the start of the game, you're tasked with restoring your mech after a rocky landing. Using a pickaxe tool to levitate and reattach its arm and front engine, you flip the mech upright to explore the surrounding landscape. Scattered tools, marked by yellow flares of smoke, need to be collected. The early missions, like building a basic homestead and planting seeds, serve as your tutorial.

Despite the initial instructions, the game could benefit from clearer early guidance. For example, it wasn't immediately apparent that a tool outside the mech can paint objects. While the mechanics are straightforward, additional explanations would be welcomed.

Progression in Lightyear Frontier is multi-faceted. Gathering resources and growing plants will unlock blueprints for more advanced constructs, from decorative items that enhance your homestead to new crafting stations. Various mech upgrades also become available, enabling you to access tougher materials, not unlike the tool upgrading system in Stardew Valley.

The world is segmented into different areas that need restoration, often involving cleaning up noxious weeds or slime. This, too, is tied to mech enhancements, which are necessary for more challenging cleanups. The satisfaction of restoring areas and unlocking new resources maintains player investment and creates a rewarding progression system.

Exploration and Crafting

Exploring Lightyear Frontier's world reveals its peaceful, inviting environment filled with vibrant trees, lush fields, unique wildlife, and starry skies. Whether solo or with three friends, there's plenty to discover and do. The excitement of exploring new areas and resources keeps the gameplay engaging.

Resource management, however, can be a challenge, especially when playing solo. The mech initially has limited storage, necessitating frequent trips to deposit resources. While upgrades permit larger carrying capacity, this feature takes some time to acquire. Thankfully, resource gathering aids such as storage spaces ease the burden.

Building your homestead and various crafting stations is user-friendly, thanks to a snap system that automatically adjusts the position of objects. However, the inability to tweak or move items after placement can be inconvenient, requiring recycling and rebuilding to reposition decorations. This is a feature that would significantly enhance the building experience if added in future updates.

Teamwork and Co-op

Playing in cooperative mode simplifies the initial stages. Teaming up to gather resources and build constructs fast-tracks progress. While I didn't test crossplay between Xbox and PC, co-op on Steam proved efficient. Each player commands their own mech and gathers their tools but collaborates on building projects. The game allows for easy hosting of worlds, but it lacks robust built-in communication features.

The world map is also limited in its marker system. Players can only see their homestead location and place just one other tag. More markers would make tracking resource locations easier, especially during solo gameplay. For instance, marking good spots for copper or coal would streamline collecting processes significantly.

Satisfying Progression

Despite these areas for improvement, Lightyear Frontier's Early Access offers a uniquely engaging farming experience. The peaceful world, combined with the innovative mech-based farming, provides a compelling reason to keep playing. Its sense of progression is satisfying, often leading to extended gaming sessions. The game's mechanics encourage discovering and unlocking new areas and resources, sustaining player interest and investment.

As a longtime enthusiast of farming simulations, Lightyear Frontier's novel approach feels like a breath of fresh air. The Early Access phase holds significant promise, making me eager to see how the game evolves. The potential for adding more features and fine-tuning existing ones is exciting, and I look forward to future developments in this captivating farming sim.