Summary
Some farming simulators make a point of sustainability and preserving the natural world while working in harmony with it. The upcomingFloraMancer: Seeds and Spellstakes this messaging to the next level, as players become a defender of nature against a resource-hungry swarm of robots. Another result of this is howFloraMancerblends combat action games with farm simsin ways not normally seen in the genre.
InFloraMancer, the player takes on the mantle of the titular magic user, who grows spells in their farm and takes that magic out to fight a robot swarm intent on carrying outaHorizon-style resource extraction apocalypse. Defending the last patch of forest on the planet has been the role of floramancers created by the wood itself, but that wood has fought since before the fall of humanity and only has one champion left to summon.
RELATED:Six Ways Breath Of The Wild Is An Environmental Tale
Developer Joe Sullivan recently spoke to Game Rant and explained the nature of the world’s downfall and the importance of the final floramancer’s quest to preserve the final forest of Earth.
“Humans were on their last leg, so they built these machines to go get the last resources on Earth. The machines outlived the humans and quickly just conquered the whole globe until they reached this last forest that is defended by nature itself. Nature would summon stuff to defend the forest, but it’s on its last legs… The reason this forest lasted longer than all the rest of them on Earth is because there’s something living in there that can spawn floramancers and protect the forest. But that thing is near the end of its life, and you are the last floramancer.”
As the final floramancer, the player’s charge isn’t just to hold back the machine horde, but to ensure the forest survives the passing of the last strength of the entity or entities that summon floramancers. It isn’t about maintaining the status quo, but preventing further damage to the forest for future generations.
This philosophy is born out in the aesthetics of thisdying apocalyptic world. Where the premise evokes images of a barren and lifeless Earth,FloraManceractually starts players off seeing what it is that they’re trying to protect. The forest, Sullivan says, is beautiful. The floramancer lives in a tree, there are flowers in bloom, the area is even replete with mushroom friends. But farther out from the floramancer’s home, mines burn and dead, toppled trees dot the landscape.
Further hammering the apocalyptic nature of the game home, it deviates from typicalfarming simswith its lack of a hub city full of NPCs to deliver crops to and support. Instead, it is a lonely experience, where seeds become weapons of war for the sole purpose of ecological preservation.FloraMancerfinds this passion for the environment from Sullivan’s youth, where he was a self-styled “forest kid,” spending time playing in woods and enjoying nature. But through his life he’s been keenly aware of the nature he enjoys becoming more and more scarce.FloraManceris, then, the logical conclusion to that trend, and the player is Sullivan’s attempt to fight back and act as a preservationist for the natural world.
“I grew up as a forest kid with my friends; hanging out, you know, having sword fights with sticks, hanging by the lake, crossing rivers. I think it’s important that we don’t lose it for parking lots or industry or start selling tickets to it. I’ve just loved nature forever. I just feel it needs to be protected.”
Sullivan was quick to point out that the game doesn’t take aim at any particular person, corporation, or philosophy. The robots symbolize nothing more thanthe threat posed to naturein general, and players are asked only to protect that nature for the forest kids like himself who may, one day, return.
FloraMancer: Seeds and Spellsreleases on Steam in 2023.
MORE:Horizon Forbidden West May Be Gearing To Tell Another Ecological Cautionary Tale
