Reviews:
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While seasoned gamers will likely bristle at its simplicity, this is a great starter sim for the younger set
When considering the Switch audience it’s always important to remember that Nintendo has constructed a big tent here, and that people of any age and skill level should feel welcome. With that in mind I’ll submit My Fantastic Ranch, a game clearly made for people who skew to the more novice end of the spectrum, or at least people who may simply enjoy taking care of some sparkly unicorns and dragons. The initial stages can move at a pretty brisk pace if you are mindful about your objectives and taking every opportunity to maximize efficiency, but I’m assuming the intended audience would have a little more of a learning curve and would simply enjoy themselves over power-leveling. You’ll be walked through quite a lot in the tutorial, and as a plus for these sim titles I actually found the interface to be reasonably intuitive and friendly, though no doubt assisted by the general lack of complexity. Attention should be paid to matching people and their mounts based on their affinities to get the best results, and if you’re willing to take the time you can set the ranch up to best suit your aesthetic tastes as well. Understanding what it is, and what its goals likely are, this is actually a well-made overall package, perhaps not having loads of depth in the end but introducing many bedrock concepts that will serve people well in later more complicated sims. If you have young children, or are simply young at heart, you could do much worse than this.
Justin Nation, Score:Nindie Choice! [8.0]