Farming simulation games seemed to be unstoppable at one point. To draw in players who were unlikely to be interested in playing the games’ real-life versions, each game—whether it was Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, or Stardew Valley—tried to offer a distinctive touch to the genre.
Not Just a Sim for Farming
For the purpose of clarity, Rivenaar’s Grove is not a farming simulation, but it attempts to leverage this emotion. Rather, this is a variant of the classic sliding puzzle, which was originally a cheap plastic toy, as I remember.
Harvesting Crops with a Sliding Twist
The objective is to harvest your crops, which are attractively placed in various strange arrangements. The little farmer can only travel up, down, and side to side, and he will keep doing so until he gets to the end of the area.It is fairly feasible to make a mistake and have to start over by hitting the Y button because of these instructions.
Rivenaar’s Grove is very forgiving, though, as you may usually recover your attempt by returning and completing the level once more. The puzzles are so forgiving that you will almost never have to try again.
As you advance through the stages, you will encounter thorny vines and teleportation orbs. A single touch will end your attempt, as the deadly plants will appear and vanish in a predictable rhythm. They are scattered throughout all levels and are easily identified, thus time is essential before attacking.
The orbs will instantly take you to a different part of the level, so you need to think a bit more ahead of time. For example, you have to carefully time your journey through a portal to avoid being hit by one of those obnoxious vines when you emerge from it because you can’t stop anytime you want.
A Bountiful Harvest of Modes: Exploring Gameplay Variations
In all honesty, Rivenaar’s Grove is a rather simple concept that is executed quite well. The gameplay itself is mostly unchanged throughout, with the exception of a few modifications that slightly change things.
Not surprisingly, you will find it relatively easy to finish after just a few hours of playtime. No time or mobility restrictions apply, and there are fifty standard levels. The two other modes are different from the main mode, as you may obviously understand.
In order to make you think more carefully about your options before starting your harvest, the initial mode limits your movement. Although it should theoretically offer a little more difficulty, you have a number of extra moves that let let you fix things if you make a mistake.
In the second option, you compete against time to complete a set of five levels in a single run. This was actually my favorite mode because I did ran out of time a few times and found some of the 10 level clusters to be a little difficult.The obvious duplicate level layouts, however, which only changed the vine locations, were what let me down. This meant that once you had found out the solution, you could use it again immediately.
A Relaxing Puzzle Game for a Casual Harvest
Given that this is an Eastasiasoft game, it makes sense that you are already interested in the available Gamerscore. The good news is that simply completing the various levels could earn you 2000G. Oddly, the option that I thought was the hardest—which puts you against the clock—has no achievements attached to it.
The puzzle Rivenaar’s Grove is fairly simple and entertaining. It provides a way to kill an hour or two and isn’t at all stressful on the old grey matter.