Meadowfell Review - An open-world beauty where you wander without purpose

Having an open world to explore has been a highlight for many games, enough to spawn an entire genre. From Zelda to Genshin Impact, exploring a world freely has become a staple in many well-known titles. But have you ever played something that is just exploring a world?

That concept — having a world to wander to yourself without needing to save it, or some local princess — is being offered to you in Meadowfell from solo developer Protopop Games, and will cost you about $5 on Steam right now.

Gameplay and Visuals

If you've somehow managed to dodge the open-world strain of games that have been steadily growing in number for the last ten years — first, how have you managed that? — the core concept is just that. You are in a world, you can go wander off in whichever way you so desire.

Meadowfell is an example of that concept played straight. There isn't a quest, there are no locked gates that require a long trek to obtain a key to pass. Just you and the wide open world before you, plus any animals or other creatures that may inhabit it.

Roaming around the world will lead to you encountering animals, creatures and what could arguably be described as monsters, such as the trolls. However, none of these are hostile.

The game is committed to this peaceful exploration of the world. Wandering without any particular purpose beyond the activity itself. You may encounter these animals and interact or take them for a ride, but you're not being told to do so. You simply do so if you want to.

This is a thing that Meadowfell does very well. Animals can be used as a mount, you can pet them or ignore them. Much of the world in this game feels very interactive as well. There are other animals that aren't quite as useful for running around like a horse, but you can still pet and "mount" them all the same.

The same can be said for furniture and objects. Nothing is stopping you from flicking the lights on and off or climbing into a bath after you wander into an empty home.

Beyond interactivity, another aspect that the developer handled well is the artwork and environment. When the game visuals hit, they hit harder than a Soulslike boss.

And they hit pretty often.

Sure, some of the time there'll be a situation where the random generation of the open world causes a bit of jank and an obvious mismatch happens. Or an exposed cliff face that looks bland, boring, and monotone.

These bits of jank are expected from an open world that's made like this, and they aren't particularly surprising. We will talk about them a little more in a bit.

In spite of them, the game, nine times of ten looks beautiful. It's bursting with vistas of treelines, brushes, forests, plus picturesque waterways like lakes and rivers. The animals and creatures roaming around alongside you are crafted with considerable care and character, helping to build the fantasy of the world you find yourself in.

Issues and Irritations

The stress-free world roaming in Meadowfell is a design decision, and perhaps one that isn't for everyone, even if it is intentional. However, some aspects of the experience seem a bit unintentionally rougher than they need to be, and the title feels a bit confused about its own identity at times.

Let's start with that identity topic. Meadowfell is a game that describes itself, in its own Steam trailer, as a procedural fantasy world generator. It offers no quests, no combat, no enemies and no stress. A perfectly coherent vision.

One that leaves me scratching my head at the fact I have a sword, staff, bow and an array of magical abilities. While some like "Butterfloat" seem quite harmless, others conjure down a lightning storm, seemingly solely for the purpose of harm.

Yet even then, nothing in the world seems to react much, if at all, to them. They seem like a forgotten aspect that has either yet to be properly enabled or fully removed.

Perhaps the idea here is that combat will be an opt-in choice for the player to initiate themselves. That however raises the question of the intended audience for Meadowfell.

My overall impression is that Meadowfell would be fantastic for, say, a parent who wants to give a child something cute to play with for an hour or so at a time. That audience might not care for combat, to begin with.

They also won't care about many of the quirks plaguing the game. For example, the quality of some aspects are wildly varying. While the art-style has been honed to a gleaming edge, but some options offered to the player are strained to keep up with it.

Also, when petting an animal, you won't move while the animation plays. Or at least, your feet won't, but your hands will, resulting in broken animations stretching the player model after a moving animal. Boats have a similar issue - the animations will behave if you row forward, but row backwards and you'll rewind yourself in broken animations.

The mount option, by comparison, has been very reliable. Some animals such as horses function as classic mounts, showing you sit atop them. Others though, such as Ents or Dragons will instead seemingly have you possess them, the player disappearing in the process.

Verdict

At it's core, Meadowfell is a charming, light-hearted title that provides a world for you to do as you see fit. If it just so happens you don't like that world, nothing stops you from simply making a new one — this freedom is one of the most consistent and greatest strengths the game offers.

Consistency, however, is a sore spot as Meadowfell is a bit of a rough diamond because of that inconsistency. It seems a bit unsure of committing fully to its own identity. All that said, the thing with a gem in the rough is that the potential is there, it simply needs to be polished enough to bring it out.

A copy of Meadowfell was provided for review by Protopop Games.