FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time Review

The Nintendo 3DS was home to some truly fantastic RPGs, with Fantasy Life being one of my personal favourites. So, when developer Level-5 announced FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time in 2023, needless to say, I was pretty excited! Now, two years later, the game is finally here, and it looks just as charming as the first!

Your journey begins at sea; your created adventurer joins archaeologist Edward and his team as they are guided by a bright light emanating from a fossilised dragon they brought aboard towards an uninhabited island. The jaunty sea voyage turns dangerous as the group are attacked by a Dark Dragon, though thankfully the fossil turns out to be not quite as dead as it first appears and magically reawakens as a Bone Dragon.

After a few near misses, the Bone Dragon aids our hero in escaping through a mysterious portal. As it turns out, this tear in reality led to the same island they had just discovered, only 1,000 years in the past and teeming with life! Thus begins the overarching narrative of FANTASY LIFE i: finding out how the prosperous island of Mysteria came to ruin in the present day! As far as stories go, this one won’t have you hooked from start to finish, and often takes a backseat to smaller plots or the huge variety of gameplay elements. Regardless, it is endearing and silly enough at times to make even the grumpiest of gamers crack a smile.

This isn’t a typical “hero saves the land” type of game, though, as your character will go through different “Lives” (which are basically various jobs), with each of the 14 having their own unique tales. These Lives are the centre of FANTASY LIFE i, allowing you to try out an assortment of roles, from the combat-focused Mercenary to the humble Farmer. There’s an almost overwhelming amount of content that is daunting at first, but being able to easily switch between vocations allows players to take their time and progress at their own pace.

The original Fantasy Life was a great-looking title that pushed the 3DS to its graphical limits. On modern consoles, however, FANTASY LIFE i truly shines in all its chibified, almost Nintendo-esque visuals. The sequel has taken everything that made the first game so visually appealing and ramped it up with a broader colour palette and increased fidelity. You could easily mistake this for a new Animal Crossing title, due to the wonderfully colourful, diverse cast of characters and expansive environments that are begging to be explored.

The audio equally filled me with that sense of wonder when traversing the world. The range of tranquil tunes may not have you humming them after turning the game off, but they’re still very fitting depending on what's happening at the time. I did find the sparse voice acting to be hit-or-miss, though. On the one hand, the occasional word or line of dialogue uttered by characters adds to the charm and gives them a bit more personality. However, they can get a bit grating, especially when party members repeat the same lines over and over.

As for the technical side of things, I had zero issues with FANTASY LIFE i. Whilst admittedly, this isn’t a game that pushes the PlayStation 5 to its limits, there were no hiccups in frame rates or problems relating to any graphical bugs. The only minor nitpick I can bring up is that some of the character animations can look a little rough and are ever so slightly wooden. This is most noticeable during specific actions such as farming, and it’s not a constant throughout the game.

Although the first hour or so takes things slow, it isn’t long before FANTASY LIFE i opens up to a staggering amount of content. It all revolves around the 14 Lives that are split into three different types, and the game quickly allows access to the majority of them. This then gives you tutorial after tutorial, and whilst on their own the Lives aren’t overly complicated, being passed from one to the next in rapid succession does get a bit overwhelming.

I did like that I didn’t have to stick to one “job” at a time and see it through to completion, and could switch things up if I decided I wanted to sheathe my sword and do a spot of fishing. As an added bonus, you can change to the Life you want by interacting with their respective objects in the environment. Want to quickly change to a Farmer? Easy! Just head on over to some farmland, and you’ll be given a prompt to do so.

The first set of Lives are the four combat-focused ones: Paladin, Mercenary, Hunter, and Magician. These have you facing off against monsters whilst using simple combos and unique mechanics for each one (a Paladin will block attacks, whilst a Mercenary can gain a damage buff, for example). It’s not too in-depth, but I found myself enjoying it as I explored the world. Each of these Lives feels different enough and allows players to experiment by upgrading their skills, granting new abilities and special attacks as you gain levels.

The second set of Lives are centred around collecting: Miner, Woodcutter, Angler, and Farmer. These all have their own sets of mini-games used when gathering resources, for example, cutting down trees simply requires you to find the “sweet spot” to garner the most resources when striking it. Though they’re simplistic (thankfully, fishing is a tad more in-depth than the rest), they’re not too intrusive, making them ideal for when you’re farming for materials.

Finally, the crafting Lives. Here your choices are the Cook, Blacksmith, Carpenter, Tailor, Alchemist, and Artist roles. These also feature their own mini-games that, instead of raw resources collected in the previous four vocations, give you new items depending on the job. Performing Blacksmith tasks will give you new weapons and equipment, the Alchemist will provide new potions, and so on. These often boil down to pressing the same button over and over, and aren’t exactly engaging, but thankfully, they don’t take too long to complete.

These Lives are frequently intertwined with one another, and gaining experience in one usually leads to an easier time with another. For example, Mining for raw materials will increase your proficiency with the Miner Life, which then lets you grow as a Blacksmith to forge better weapons, which then helps you out in one of the combat jobs. The 14 Lives are all connected in some way or another, and it was definitely more efficient to become a jack-of-all-trades sooner rather than later.

FANTASY LIFE i isn’t simply a game about going from one mini-game to the next, though, as you’ll explore a vast land whilst taking on quests. You’ll travel between past and present versions of the island of Mysteria as the story unfolds, as well as smaller islands and an area in which you’ll create your own town! This is a surprisingly robust feature that lets you terraform the allocated space, as well as construct and decorate buildings, invite townspeople to move in, and so much more. It will take a while to really start to see some progress, but as someone who loves being able to create my own little paradise, this was one part of the game I could not stay away from.

But there’s also another area to explore: Ginormosia. This is a much more open world than the town and surrounding areas of Mysteria, and basically has every gathering point or material needed, provided you can survive long enough to find them. It did feel like a bit of a disconnected portion of the game, but it was still fun to go exploring its many dungeons and uncover all its secrets.

That said, there is a lot of grinding. This is a game that will take you many, many hours to see everything it has to offer. Yes, much of it is optional, but when a game is this good, I can stomach some repetition in order to see it through, and I have to ensure my town is completely developed and fully inhabited! There are so many surprises to be found, and the balance of so many gameplay elements is done perfectly. I had concerns that with so much to do, no one thing would be truly great, but everything in FANTASY LIFE i is wonderfully realised, creating one of the best life-sim games I’ve ever played.

There is a huge amount of content in FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time, and the majority of it is great! It’s unbelievably charming, and even though the story is rather cliché, it still had me grinning every so often. It’s a game that feels more concerned with the little things rather than the larger picture, and it reminded me of the Animal Crossing series in that it doesn’t pressure you into doing certain tasks; rather, it lets you do things at your own pace. This is absolutely a game I’ll be returning to for a long time to come, and though some of the mini-games and menial tasks can drag on, I can’t help but admit that I’m hopelessly addicted to this wonderful game.