Release Date: June 2nd, 2021
Developer: Wonderscope
Platforms: PC
Price: $19.99

Now more than ever we've been seeing simulators take on a new form of popularity when they'd never really been able to keep up with mainstream popularity quite like other genres and the juggernauts that represented them. If you asked someone to say the name of a farming sim or any sort of sim, for the longest time the chances were they'd either tell you Harvest Moon or Goat Simulator, but over the course of the last few years they've found a brand new breath of life that has seen leaders of the pack like Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, Story of Seasons, and games of all types that have "simulator" in their names whether they're actually meant to be or not such as Thief Simulator, Farming Simulator, and Microsoft Flight Simulator spawn a new wave of titles from studios of all sizes to present their only version of games where you can start a new life, whether through survival design or pure eudaimonia and catharsis. Some of the more recent and notable titles like Cozy Grove and Craftopia have been so close to reaching that level of perfection and set the new standard, and others have missed the mark completely, but Hokko Life, despite it being in an Early Access state, is arguably the next best thing we finally have that can take the torch moving forward, though it's not without fault as it does suffer from the curses that come with releasing a title in such an early state, which at the time of this review is sitting at a 0.5 build.

One of the best things about Hokko Life right out of the gate is it makes you feel at home from the moment you're in the title screen as your character sits next to a tree overlooking the newfound town that you'll begin a new chapter of your life in. The music accentuates the minimal yet vibrant scenery and everything from the fonts to the cursor to the SFX of pops and warm hits bring every selection and hover you make on screen an inviting and pleasant one. The word "inviting" is a big theme of Hokko Life as well, as everything feels hospitable and welcoming—and this is just the title screen. Once you've started a new game or decided to continue, the character waves over to "come on" as they run towards the town and the screen fades to a brief loading screen before you're up and on your way. The character can be made to fit your style, though the character creation is extremely barebones, but it does enough to get you the look you want - and it's not like you'd need anything crazy anyways for a game like this, so the minimal character creation capabilities aren't truthfully that bothersome outside of the fact that the hair in particular mostly looks stringy and more like poorly put together wigs than actual hair. The most visually appealing hair in the game is basically the default one that your character starts with and is seen with on promotional material. Presumably this is due to its Early Access and things could be fleshed out later down the line, but thankfully once that happens you can easily change how you look later in the game with more clothing options and styles once those are unlocked, so there's no need to feel pressured or upset by the small selection at first, as I'm sure this will continue to grow over time, but as of now for the sake of this review, it's a barebones menu that really only looks decent enough when everything is kept at default settings.

Once you've selected the look you like, a short cutscene will play. You find yourself on a train to somewhere before passing out and reaching a stop that is unfamiliar to you, yet you wake and get yourself acquainted with the few townsfolk you run into as they tell you that they don't get many visitors, but also the fact that you can't help but notice is that they're all animal species. In Hokko, there's very few people living there, but as they're nice enough to give you a place to stay at the Inn once you begin the game, all they ask is that you help them restore the town and make it nice enough so people want to start living their again. In doing so, you'll get accustomed to the layout of your new life in Hokko and learn the ways of crafting, furnishing, fishing, and more. Those that have played their fair share of Animal Crossing will also find it hugely familiar that there's a shop that resembles and functions very similarly to Nook's Cranny, with a steady heap of supplies that are rotated every day, from furniture to seeds to resourceful upgrades and more. As you meet with new visitors and neighbors over time which are all randomly generated (though only 24 exist at this time), you'll get new requests to help you all the knowledge you need before you can practically play the game on autopilot and making it a routine to visit constantly, though one of the standout differences between Hokko Life and other games of this nature is that the way the clocks are interpreted are all done with in-game time rather than real-world time, so players can play at their own pace and not be as stressed about not being able to get to a store or meet with someone in time on a particular day as they can just take naps and sleep overnight to move the hours and days as needed before adding new homes and neighbors as the weather and seasons change as time passes.

Hokko Life’s presentation is undoubtedly beautiful and the visuals are extremely crisp and easy on the eyes, but there's no doubt that the Early Access caveats start to become prominent right away once you begin to speak to people, especially when they're sitting as once you do they'll turn around yet get pushed back due to some form of collision and spacing between the two characters speaking, and I even found myself at one point pushing one of the NPCs who was getting lunch completely behind the counter as constant interactions had them clipping through just about every object, and same happened just outside in the main plaza where not only was I able to push someone I was speaking too virtually out-of-bounds, but I, too, was able to make it over the fence with ease. There are a lot of borders within Hokko Life's design that undoubtedly need a more solid foundation, but for what it's worth unless you're someone like me who likes to look for stuff like that, chances are you'll only run into the more prominent ones like when you're talking to an NPC and, in my case, getting black screens that basically stop you from proceeding further as you're unable to teleport to a new location once you've exited a building. Thankfully when the game does work, there's barely any waiting outside of its initial bootup, so whether you're sleeping, changing locations, going through cutscenes, or waiting for certain events to occur, they all seem to happen without a hitch.

Hokko Life looks and runs great, but there's no doubt that I do wish the game was developed just a little bit more before it was made available for everyone to enjoy, though there's no denying that there's a lot of love and passion put into it by Wonderscope. It's just unfortunate that the way some quests work also leave a lot to be desired, as, for example, it took me quite a few in-game days towards the start of the game - arguably over a week - just to complete a quest due to the fact that I had sold items that were apparently needed for crafting. This could be blamed on me, sure, but when the backpack is opened, items that do have uses have a small description saying so, so while it's possible that the lack of descriptions on some items that do in fact have uses other than simply being sold or considered junk, it was immensely frustrating to have to wait days for flowers to grow, only to have to spend days before resetting the store time and time again before I was able to acquire one of the items and seeds needed in order to proceed with a quest, and then missing out on another request that was timed because of the inability to gather an item needed otherwise. This was due to many aspects of not being able to proceed correctly, though the initial thought is never made immediately apparent. Despite Hokko Life's comfortable atmosphere, though, intermittent frustrations where there shouldn't be any tend to arise as you play. Hokko Life remains strongest, however, as you're customizing, so for those that loved the interior and exterior design aspects of their life-sim games, Hokko Life is at its best here with a decent amount of assets to play around and spruce up your town with, giving more depth and features to the user outside of simply changing the color of an item. With what Hokko Life has available, you can take a normal bench and add other features, but these don't simply lock into place as they can be shapeshifted and changed in any way you see fit to put onto a piece of furniture as you'd like. In an interesting way, it has a similar look and feel to The Sims or Planet Coaster in the way that you place stuff down, rotate, resize, and customize what you've crafted any which way to make the furniture unique and to your liking. It's easy enough to go about controlling and utilizing the tools at your disposal, which add another plus to Hokko Life's accessibility.

I have no doubt over time Hokko Life will eventually close in on being a perfect 5 out of 5 for The Gamer's Lounge, and a perfect score for many players around the globe once Hokko Life finds its way out of Early Access and a potentially retail release that also sees it coming to other platforms as I can easily see it winning hearts over on Switch and through Xbox Game Pass. Even in its current state, however, Hokko Life is a perfectly playable experience that - while it has some odd keybindings and is best played with a controller - has a lot to offer and will only continue to grow over time, and even once all the currently laid out content is finished for the player, being able to customize your town and spruce up just about every location you go into makes it so you can build your dream life in your new town with new friends. It's just unfortunate that it's been riddled with bugs to the point that some players more than others will likely find themselves feeling frustrated and not wanting to continue anymore with how inconvenient some quests can be and the lack of workaround when some items have been already used and/or sold, making it unable to complete some quests in time (if at all) and sometimes finding yourself softlocked because of it. There's no doubt Hokko Life is cozy, but it takes a lot of adjustment before you're able to find that comfort.

Wonderscope lives up to their name as Hokko Life gives us a stunning, wonderful, and beautiful look and scope into an Animal Crossing-esque love letter that's almost been perfected by a one-man team. Hokko Life is all about making sure the player has a serene, go-at-your-own-pace experience that never feels demanding by any means even with the quests that are more time-based - also matching up with its inspired-by name of combining Hoko and Hokkori meaning to feel good and be warm and fluffy respectively - and though Animal Crossing is no doubt an incredible series in its own right that also has a similar philosophy, it's the quality-of-life aspects, care, and attention that really make Hokko Life dare I say succeed Animal Crossing in more ways than one. New Horizons in particular has been an ineffable experience that has allowed me to meet so many great people and creative minds, with mostly consistent support by Nintendo, but there's no doubt that the game has started to wane in its grasp and ever since day one there have been simple design choices, UI elements, and placement issues that have always caused a level of frustration to players around the globe, and Hokko Life gets rid of about 90% of those frustrations, coming at a perfect time when most people are arguably ready to move on and trying to find that perfect transition into a new village to call home.

PROS:

A cozy life-sim that, while in Early Access, holds a promising future with its already laid-back and inviting atmosphere
The quality-of-life enhancements that have been long-requested since New Horizons have all been touched upon here, making Hokko Life and immensely accessible game that sees placement, crafting, and simply playing feel comfortable and logical
The visuals are crisp, vibrant, and beautiful.

CONS:

Bugs are riddled just about everywhere from odd animations to softlocks and more that unfortunately are a part of its Early Access experience
A lack of features and barebones areas of the game undoubtedly hinder parts of the game that could easily strengthen its grasp
Some keybindings feel uncomfortable or don't work that well, especially when trying to switch or use tools, so it's highly recommended to use a controller instead despite its partial support.

Our gratitude goes to Team 17 and Wonderscope for providing us a copy of

Hokko Life for the purposes of this review!

Hokko Life (Early Access) Review