Tales of Seikyu Preview - Cute, Yokai Farming Fun

One of the hardest things to nail in games is worldbuilding, especially in a farming sim, and Tales of Seikyu does it so well that the bugs that crop up are hardly noticeable. The Early Access game is full of potential, and the roughly one-month in-game content is as gorgeous and vibrant as developer ACE Entertainment promised.

Tales of Seikyu begins with the main character and their sister, Kon, moving to the town of Seikyu. The siblings are fox yokai, and Seikyu was founded by their ancestors to be a haven for yokai of all kinds.

However, now the fox clan has almost completely disappeared, including the player and Kon’s parents. The last note they have from their parents is to travel to Seikyu, where they’ll uncover secrets and hopefully find the last of the fox clan.

The Early Access launch of Tales of Seikyu only dives into the game’s first chapter, where Kon and the player learn the very beginning of the story and mingle with the town of Seikyu.

Welcome to Seikyu, Home to All Yokai

Seikyu itself somehow feels natural. Despite being filled with yokai characters, the town feels like a living, breathing town that has its own schedule regardless of the player. This is something that even the most popular farming/life sims struggle to do, and Tales of Seikyu nails it from the start. 

It also felt relaxing to play. Most games in the genre create a sense of urgency in terms of profit and optimizing how your time is spent, and Tales of Seikyu didn’t create that rushed pace. Instead, I felt no remorse for spending my time however I wanted – there was no rush, a hard thing to manufacture. 

There’s currently about one season’s worth of content to play through, with Spring being the only season with a festival. However, the Carp Festival is incredible, and – dare I say – one of the best festivals I’ve seen in the genre. 

The Carp Festival has two mini-games for players to enjoy. The first is an egg hunt, which isn’t too special (though it is incredibly well-done). The second is a game where players are flying with carp, collecting different symbols in the air that flow with the beat. 

The graphics and music were beautiful, matching the rest of Tales of Seikyu. In general, the game is gorgeous. While there are a few stutters in performance, I was able to play with Medium settings on a ROG Ally X and High settings on my PC. Considering it’s in early access, these types of stutters were expected.

The characters are as gorgeous as they are well-written. The character portraits are gorgeous and fun, and they capture the characters’ personalities well. 

Getting to know the characters was a pleasant surprise, and spending time with them was more fun than I expected. Tales of Seikyu has a unique system that lets players spend time with characters as they level up their skills.

It combined the two gameplay loops in a way that I haven’t seen in other farming sims, and it was refreshing and made the world feel even more alive. 

Combat in Tales of Seikyu Is Rewarding

The combat was also integrated with the other systems in the game. At the Early Access release, there’s one main dungeon where players will fight. These are broken up into 40 different rooms, and players will need to either beat the enemies or solve light puzzles to get through.

There’s a variety of weapons that sort of play differently, though I didn’t notice much of a difference between them. The stats of the weapon determined which I used – the more damage, the better. 

Additionally, getting closer to one character in particular opens up the ability to buy weapons. This feels rewarding and, again, very natural. 

There are two main bosses currently in Tales of Seikyu, and both of them were a challenge (though I did get the second boss stuck in a hole and cheesed the fight). Between them and several of the tanky enemies, combat felt pretty rewarding. 

Players also learn about different yokai forms in the dungeon, and these yokai forms are helpful in both combat and farming. For example, who needs a boring watering can when you can transform into a slime and quickly water everything?

Early Access Bugs

While there are endless positives, it’s worth noting the bugs. Every time I wanted to buy something from any shop, I had to save and reload the game. This applied to every shop around town, which was frustrating until I realized the quick workaround. 

Other bugs included falling through the map (though I got lucky and was pulled out by events each time) and clothes not fitting the female main character correctly. Though, to be honest, the skirts that didn't fit just looked like a skirt with slits in it, so it wasn't distracting, either.

Tales of Seikyu is in Early Access. These bugs are expected to an extent, and nothing was so bad that it was unplayable. In fact, some of them were funny. Every time I went to bed, my player jumped at the same time (the A input being both jump and interact). And let’s be honest, who doesn’t like hopping into bed at the end of a long day?

Tales of Seikyu | Final Thoughts

Overall, Tales of Seikyu is an enjoyable experience, and one that I can’t wait to explore more as content is released. While there are a few things to iron out in terms of bugs, it manages to do what even the biggest farming sim names can’t with worldbuilding and interconnected gameplay systems. 

With games like Fields of Mistria releasing in the genre as well, it's clear that the genre is making a return to the basics and completely polishing them.

Tails of Seikyu was previewed over approximately 9 hours of gameplay with a key provided by the developer. All screenshots were taken during the preview process.