Stardew Valley, Studio Ghibli Collide in Charming New RPG You Can Try Free Now

You can currently try out this adorable, Studio Ghibli-esque solo dev indie game for free right now, ahead of its impending full release next month.

When Stardew Valley released back in 2016, indie devs across the world learned a valuable lesson from its success: millions of people want to play games that let you take things at an easy, breezy pace, unburdened by the stress of time-constrained goals.

Today’s example seems to have taken said lesson to the extreme however, because this looks like one of the most ridiculously charming games about doing nothing that I have ever seen (and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible).

Fading Serenades is a "casual" 2D action-adventure game on Steam about delivering packages and helping out random NPCs, from solo developer and publisher Bernie Wick.

I cannot stress how oddly relaxing this one looks. The chill, acoustic soundtrack paired with the cutesy, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past art style just activates a neuron in my brain that compels me to waste hours playing it and achieving absolutely nothing in the process.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that this one looks akin to a 2D Death Stranding simulator by the way, because the only aim of the game is to make the NPCs you encounter happy.

In fact, the only real challenge seems to come in the form of the minigames you encounter by delivering the items that the distrustful villagers give to you.

If your backpack is too full or too heavy, certain sections will be harder to navigate, which means that you’ll end up spending more time backtracking through Fading Serenades’ beautiful 2D landscapes instead (which sounds more like an intended feature than a punishment to me).

Still, if you’re not convinced yet, then, luckily for you, there’s a brand new demo for the game that you can try out right now.

Bernie Wick has been steadily updating the demo for Fading Serenades ahead of its October 23 release date, with version 1.2 dropping back in June.

If you’ve already tried it out ahead of version 1.2 dropping, Wick suggests that, due to the overall polish and new added content in the latest version, you start a completely new playthrough to get the best experience.

I hope the full launch goes off without a hitch next month, because this one looks like it has the capacity to be the next big hit in the cosy indie game space. Plus, in this day and age, I’ll always root for a solo dev. Make sure you add it to your wishlist if you like what you see!