Video games are a great tool for escapism. With a world this shitty, it’s no surprise that many folks feel like they want to escape to someplace better. Our Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time review will let you know if this particular piece of escapist entertainment is worth full-diving into, or if you’d be better off with the 3DS original.
What Is Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time?
If you’re not already familiar with the series, Fantasy Life i is the latest entry in a JRPG/life-sim series that tasks the player with living out a brand-new life in a cartoon fantasy world. Just like the first game, you’re basically living out a bunch of different ‘lives’, which all function like different jobs or classes for you to try out. Unlike the previous game, the entire thing sort of revolves around a time-travelling dragon…wait, what?
So, yeah, Fantasy Life i has a few interesting points to it. This time around, rather than being a singular connected world, the different gameplay styles are relegated to three different areas: a strange land for farming mobs and completing minor puzzles, a base camp where you can build structures and hang out with companions, and a region back in the past where you can actually live the different lives you’ve unlocked. What that means for gameplay is a little complicated, but basically, it feels like you’re getting a puzzle game, Animal Crossing, and the original Fantasy Life all rolled into one.
Running a Gamut of Gameplay
So, the real crux of the Fantasy Life i gameplay revolves around typical action-RPG shenanigans. You run around an overworld, fighting monsters, harvesting resources, creating items, and completing quests, all of which will level you up in your various different lifestyles. You also spend an inordinate amount of time playing basically the same crafting mini-game, but luckily, it’s quite a well-made mini-game.
The mini-game in question is a cross between a rhythm game and a QTE sequence. It has that hard-to-achieve quality of being easy to learn but requires some perfection to get just right. You have to bounce around amongst various different stations completing various tasks in the mini-game, depending on which life you’re living, from bashing stuff, to sewing stuff and everything in between. You press the button in different ways for different stations, and you have to craft as quickly as you can to get higher-quality items, and improving your tools, companions, and skills will make your work much quicker, for even better results.
A Little Bit of Everything, All of the Time
Jokes aside about the gameplay, there’s an insane amount of different shit to do as you make your way through Fantasy Life i. Sure, you’ve got a lot of mini-games to play, but when you get bored of that, there are about 1,000 other things to do. You can go out and find one of the four different types of quests, wander one of the numerous dungeons looking for items or mob loot, or even spend time managing your base camp, building new structures and unlocking new companions to help you in the mini-games.
It honestly feels a bit ridiculous the amount of stuff at your disposal. Even after sinking several straight days into the game, I didn’t even feel like I scratched the surface of what was going on here. Hell, I’m not even sure I’ll be able to see everything it has to offer without devoting my life to it. It’s a lucky thing that there’s so much in the way of gameplay variety, because the story is about as interesting as wallpaper paste.
An Okay Story, Crappily Told
Normally, narrative is a vital component of an RPG, and you’d probably expect Fantasy Life i to be no different, but clearly the developers felt differently about it. The story is technically present, but it has about as much appeal as watching paint dry without even the hint of chemical assistance. There’s something to do with a magical island, a time-travelling dragon, and a comically inept royal sibling, but that’s genuinely the amount I have managed to retain since I stopped playing. Oh, there’s also something about the end of the world, but I probably could have told you that before I even played the damn thing.
So what? Don’t get me wrong, normally I’m the one to go waving the narrative-led gaming flag, but honestly, this game doesn’t need a plot. If you want a plot, stick on an audiobook while you play it. Reasonably, you’re here to go zen-mode and mangle monsters, craft creations and watch the numbers go up. It’s simple fun for the exact type of freak like me that wants to just lose myself in a literal Fantasy Life.
Music & Visuals
When it comes to the music and visuals, Fantasy Life i once again comes into the ‘meh’ sort of territory. By no means does any of the game look or sound bad, but it also fails to really capture any sense of spark or excitement. Honestly, when it comes to the music, it feels like there’s a bit of an over-reliance on something that sounds suspiciously like a first-school harmonica. It ends up with a decent chunk of the tracks sounding like they’re more suited to a YouTube Kids video that is trying to teach you colours and shapes.
As usual, the art style is pretty on point, at least when it comes to the 2D art, but once registered in 3D, things start to feel a little cheaper. The designs are great, of course, but much like the music, the main in-game graphics just feel a bit lacklustre. Once more, this isn’t anything that kills the experience, but it also isn’t about to hook anyone in either. Personally, I got through it mostly by listening to podcasts or audiobooks. I have a feeling that if I listened to the music too much, I might have gone slightly mad.
The Verdict
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is everything I wanted in a sequel to the first game. It’s basically the same as it but with more stuff to do. It’s effectively an adequate, cutesy RPG that I subjectively enjoy more than I recognise as being objectively good. Despite its lack of a central hook or a good story, I find myself continuing to play the game, and that has to say something about the addictive quality it has. All those faint praises aside, I wonder how much of this game will still be in my head by the end of the year.
Developer: Level5 inc
Publisher: Level5 inc
Platforms: PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Nintendo Switch
Release Date: 21st May 2025
