I needed a new chill game to play, and now I can’t stop playing Fantasy Life i

Life is stressful. I don’t know about you, but my days usually consist of working, preparing for the next day, and then running to the gym for a couple of hours a night. Sometimes, I just need to unwind, turn off my brain, and immerse myself in something fun and refreshing.

That’s where Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time comes in. While I never got the chance to play the original Fantasy Life on the 3DS—by this point in time, I was shoulders deep into a Minecraft obsession that lasted over seven years—I decided to try out this latest entry on a whim.

Fantasy Life i is a casual game where you, the protagonist, live in a fantasy world revolving around “Lives.” These Lives are day-to-day professions, from chefs and blacksmiths to powerful sword and magic-wielding warriors. Unlike most folks who specialize in one or two Lives, you have the freedom to explore all 14 available options while tackling the game’s main storyline and exploring several in-game worlds.

Don’t get me wrong; I’ve played dozens of casual, cozy games that mostly consist of questing, grinding for resources, and testing my design skills by slapping random decorations everywhere. Lately, though, I’ve been burnt out of these games and desperately needed something different. At least, that’s until I hopped into this and remembered just what, exactly, makes me so happy while playing these.

I wasn’t anticipating picking this game up at all. It looked fun, but I wasn’t eager to deflate like a balloon after watching USD to CAD conversion rates turn a $60 game into over $90. Nonetheless, I needed something to get my spirits up after a series of stressful life events, and boy, my mood is higher than it has ever been.

I went into Fantasy Life i thinking I’d spend about five hours completing its story, 10 to 15 hours to max out my stats, then return to it a year later if I found time. Instead, I’m 25 hours in at the time of writing, and I’m nowhere near done with my playthrough. I haven’t even gotten my first maxed-out skill, let alone all 14 on top of a main questline and optional requests. There’s more to this game than it initially lets on, and it’s easy to sink dozens of hours in without noticing.

I even have it open on my other monitor as I type this. You already know I’m swapping right back to it once I’ve finished spilling my thoughts on this page.

There’s something about playing adorable games that makes me happy. Maybe it’s from spending most of my life playing these types of games, or it could be the snowball effect of life’s stress that makes just about anything cute affect my mind and mood more than usual. At this point, I’m not worried about thinking very hard about it. And yet, I’ve managed to play this for 25 hours in three days.

Why? What makes Fantasy Life i so different from other casual farming and life sim games I’ve played previously? Admittedly, not as much as you’d think. Where there’s an interesting story, lovable characters, and funny puns scattered about, there’s repetitiveness in nearly every skill behaving the exact same way. At times, it feels like I’m leveling the same skills repeatedly. Do I say that as a bad thing? Not at all. There’s nothing I need more at the moment than familiarity, simplicity, and an excuse to sit back in my chair with a controller in hand as I spend several hours straight cutting down some trees. I even experienced an adorable scene with dancing leaves, which I happily showed my best friend the second I discovered it.

I love it all. I’m the same type of person who’s invested over 1,000 hours into games like Disney Dreamlight Valley, The Sims franchise, and even MMOs like Runescape, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’d enjoy familiar, albeit somewhat repetitive gameplay loops, inside a cute, cheerful game. My only regret is not playing the original Fantasy Life to pull at some nostalgic heartstrings, but honestly, that might be for the better.

This has been a fresh experience that I’ve enjoyed far more than I anticipated, and I’m happy to finally have some stress relief. Now, don’t mind me; I’m just going to go back and build up my Base Camp for the next couple of hours.

Do you have a fun, relaxing game you’ve been playing recently? I’d love to hear some of your favorite stories in the comments below.