As popular as cosy gaming is, it can be a difficult space to break into. While every life sim tends to have its own gimmick, the general formula remains the same. Players farm, cook, craft, build, and befriend NPCs. If you’ve sunk hundreds of hours into one particular title doing just that, it’s going to be difficult to convince you to divert your attention away to the new kid on the block. It’s why so many cosy sims fail to dethrone the likes of Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing: New Horizons and, more recently, Pokémon Pokopia. And yet despite this, I feel quite hopeful about the prospects of upcoming free-to-play cosy life sim Petit Planet.
Petit Planet is the latest free offering from miHoYo, the studio behind major hits like Genshin Impact and Zenless Zone Zero. This is, most definitely, miHoYo’s cosiest offering to date, taking the tried and tested formula of the genre and transporting it to space and, after several hours hands-on with the game, I’m optimistic it could become another mainstay within the genre with enough unique quirks on offer to stand out from the crowd.
Petit Planet Sees You Set Up Residence On Your Own Planet, Obviously
The game’s story centres around the fictional company Loomi Co which is in the midst of trying to establish a cosy colony in space. You are one of Loomi Co’s customers with every player getting their own planet. The idea is that you can farm, craft, and decorate your planet, luring in and befriending NPCs in the hopes that they’ll also set up residence, while exploring space where you can visit other planets either belonging to fellow players or offering resources.
I had the opportunity to partake in the game’s latest playtest where I could select from a forested or desert planet, so I opted for the forest option. I was, however, told that your choice doesn’t necessarily lock you out of vegetation options later on. I will admit, the first one to two hours of Petit Planet can feel slow as you’re led through the game’s controls by several anthropomorphic characters, including the likes of Yunguo, Isaki, Glenn, and Mobai.
You’ll catch your first bugs, plonk down your first house, cook up your first meal and so on very much guided by the characters with very little room for freedom. While there was nothing particularly original about these aspects of Petit Planet’s formula, it did all feel rather intuitive with tools easy to swap between without having to delve into your inventory every time or anything like that. Petit Planet does have a stamina bar, so you’ll have to keep your character well fed.
Completing Cosy Activities Unlocks Luca Which Levels Up Your Planet
As formulaic as the opening is, the game’s more unique offerings soon become available to you. Each planet within Petit Planet is home to a special tree which you’ll need to help grow by collecting Luca. Essentially, the more that you fish, build, decorate, grow and so on, the more Luca you’ll collect. Mobai will tell you when you have a full bottle of Luca and you can then use it to water the tree which dictates the growth of your planet.
To begin with, your planet will be rather small. However, your earliest bottles of Luca will unlock the nearby beach or a freshwater stream. As you progress further and further beyond that, players will unlock new terrain types or vegetation habitats. Eventually, you’ll have an entire – you guessed it – small planet to roam, although I can’t say I unlocked every level in the playtest. I had enough time though to know that Petit Planet’s progression feels satisfying.
It isn’t just your planet you’ll want to expand. You can extend your home too with that functioning much more similarly to Animal Crossing: New Horizons with players needing to put down a deposit. When you do unlock home extensions like this, they are – like several other things within Petit Planet – tied to real-life time, so you may have to wait until the next day to see the results of the build which can be irritating but it’s not unusual for the genre.
The Grand Bazaar And Starsea Voyages Allow Players To Leave Their Planet
Where Petit Planet really starts to sink its teeth into you is when the player is permitted to leave their home planet which they can do so via a car they’ll eventually unlock. You can travel to both the Grand Bazaar and embark on a Starsea Voyage. The Grand Bazaar is a hub where you can encounter and speak to other players via text chat. There are various minigames including a rhythm game and wheel of fortune where you can nab some free rewards, plus a cool coffee shop. The coffee shop features different server rooms so you can either hang out with random players or set up a private space with friends. The Grand Bazaar added a dynamism Petit Planet needed.
As for Starsea Voyagers, players can visit the planets of other players as well as various options provided by the game itself. I did the latter, driving my magical car through a small galaxy allowing me to pick a planet from several options with other areas of the galaxy clearly blocked on the periphery of the area, signalling additional options further down the line. The first small planet I journeyed to allowed me to collect various ores that I hadn’t yet found on my own planet, nor do I know if they’ll ever become available there. The second planet I visited featured an NPC who I was able to befriend and encourage to visit me.
I felt as if I really only just scraped the surface of what Starsea Voyages can offer, but there is one caveat to keep in mind. Your car operates on a battery and to begin with, it’ll only have enough power to allow you to visit one or two planets. The more you upgrade your vehicle, the further it’ll take you – and the further you journey out, the better loot you’ll find. It is one area though that I suspect microtransactions will come into play.
The Final Release Will Include Microtransactions
As a free-to-play game, Petit Planet will be monetised and it’s always difficult to see how that’ll be done during a free play test. I do wonder if players will be able to purchase car batteries to fast track journeying out on bigger Starsea Voyages. As I said, you’ll also need in-game currency to purchase home extensions and decorative items. This can be earned for free via selling but I expect players may be able to purchase currency too. I just hope that microtransactions don’t make those who wish to play a full free-to-play experience feel too left behind.
Petit Planet may not end up having quite the power to go head-to-head with the titans of the cosy genre, but there’s enough charm and enjoyment to be found in his free life sim that I expect it’ll have no problem accruing a loyal legion of fans following release.
Petit Planet is due to launch on PC (version tested), iOS, and Android later this year.
