Magical girl farm sim Fields of Mistria is bringing '90s anime sparkle to early access in August

We may be spoiled for choice on Stardew Valley-style farm sims right now, but that is not keeping me from getting excited about another one. Magical girl-infused life sim Fields of Mistria is one of the upcoming cozy games I've been most excited for this year and, in what I choose to believe is a favor to me personally, has announced the release date for its early access launch: August 5.

Fields of Mistria calls itself a spiritual successor to the farm sims of the late '90s but it's definitely also inspired by anime of the same era. Truly, I can't look at any of those characters with their colorful hair and high-waisted pants without imagining I've just popped a VHS tape into a chunky combo VHS and CRT television and I'm super here for it. And that theme song in the trailer? This is the nostalgia I was asking for.

The developer NPC Studio says that the early access version of the game will have many of the bits we've come to expect as standard farm sim fare: framing, crafting, mining, romance, and ranching. It will also have a system of unlockable magic spells and 50 sets of museum collections (think Stardew's community center, I suspect) for you to collect.

One big bit that won't be in at early access launch is marriage, NPC studio says in its announcement post. Marriage candidates are there, of course, but you won't be able to tie the knot quite yet. Mistria uses a 10 heart relationship system similar to Stardew Valley's and NPC Studio says you'll be able to unlock 2 and 4 heart scenes with all those candidates as of the early access launch. Additional scenes and progression will be added in later updates as it approaches a 1.0 launch.

Fields of Mistria will launch into early access over on Steam on August 5 for $14, it has announced.