If the world has ever felt like too much for you and you've dreamt of running away to start a farm in the Japanese countryside, then SunnySide is almost certainly the game for you. It's an open-world JRPG-inspired farming sim coming to PC and consoles later this year.
What is SunnySide?
SunnySide developer RainyGames describes its effort as an "open world farming JRPG with deep social sim aspects". You'll build and maintain a farm in the Japanese countryside, but you'll also come into contact with the modern world, so you'll need to find a way to achieve harmony between the two. Along the way, you'll also meet a village full of unique and diverse residents, getting to know them and building relationships with them. If you love games like Hokko Life (which got a new update recently, if you haven't checked that out), then it looks like this will be right up your street.
SunnySide is pledging to bring the farming sim "into the 21st century". You'll be able to build time-saving measures like solar panels, food production systems, and water pumps to help you take care of your farm's day-to-day tasks. The game will feature nine different types of farm animals, as well as a wide range of crops to grow including trees, herbs, and tea plants. There will be a cave system to explore, too, which is where the JRPG elements come in; you'll need to explore the caves to unlock more of SunnySide's map, and there will be a combat system to engage with as well. The village's residents will be available for both friendship and romance and will offer special Harmony Quests once you get to know them well enough. All in all, SunnySide looks perfect if you're a fan of the cozy life sim revolution as encapsulated by games like Stardew Valley or Palia.
When is the SunnySide release date?
At the moment, we don't have a SunnySide release date; we simply know the game is launching for PC and consoles sometime this year. RainyGames recently put out a press release in which they announced that Merge Games had signed on as a publisher, though, so the game is gaining momentum. Hopefully, we'll get a more concrete release date in the weeks and months to come, so watch this space for more info on this one.
When it does launch, you can check out SunnySide on PC, PlayStation consoles, Xbox platforms, and Nintendo Switch. It's available to wishlist on Steam right now so you can stay abreast of any potential release date information. Between this and Epic's upcoming collaboration with Spry Fox on a non-violent MMO, there are lots of games to look forward to if you're a fan of cozy non-confrontational games (assuming you don't mind bashing a few slimes, of course). We'll bring you more on this as soon as we get it.
