Parents' Guide to

Fer.al

By Erin Brereton, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Online adventure provides player confusion, lots of bugs.

Fer.al Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this app.

Community Reviews

age 13+

Based on 2 parent reviews

age 13+
This game shut down in March of 2022 barely 2 years after its launch, it originally supposed to be shut down in the February before. However, due to a week prior notice which is against their tos, it was pushed to the end of March, and would be playable for only 3 more hours before closure. That's one reason why this game kinda sucked. The creators, WildWorks, also known for creating Animal Jam, didn't even intend for Fer.al to stay open, which was said by the CEO in a post near the end of the game's life. It was originally supposed to be a test run for another game that is now available, Cinder. What's that you may ask? A stripped down version of Fer.al with one room, which the only thing you can do is chat in, and it requires a purchase of one of their NFTs to play. Which also means, that you'd be playing as that NFT in game and you cannot customize it, which was of Fer.al's strongest features. This game had so much potential, but unfortunately wasn't executed well. During it's years, it had so many bugs that made it impossible to complete the season pass. I actually spent so much of my summer in 2021 grinding the season pass. The game constantly gave me errors about items not loading and then inevitably closed itself out upon clicking ok. It wasn't just my computer, since it happened on others as well. Updates, even just for bug fixes, were few and far between. I miss this game so much and it will always remind me of 2021, which may seem odd but was one of the best years of my life. I'll always remember this game.
age 13+

Good Game for Those Out Growing Animal Jam

I've been playing Animal Jam since I was a kid, but as I got older the game got frustrating due to lack of updates and an extremely restricted chat. I stayed for the community and friends that I made over the years, but now fer.al was introduced and it's pretty good so far. It has much more mature themes than Animal Jam so I wouldn't recommend it to kids under 13. You can almost say anything in the chat do that's another reason

This title has:

Easy to play/use

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2):
Kids say (3):

While this game's visually beautiful, the lack of instruction and direction, as well as its bugs, makes this a very confusing game to play. Fer.al sports impressive graphics, with varied scenery that includes villages, meadows, and other settings. Characters can gallop across fields, climb hills, and trek through snow. Generally, players will find a lot to explore in Fer.al -- yet not too much direction. After a rundown of the controls and other basics, they're essentially left on their own to figure out where to go and what to do. A map provides some information, such as which worlds contain games. They may still need to find where to access the games once they get there, though.

The developers made an effort to include activities that will keep players engaged, such as picking up ingredients and other items by holding down a button that appears near them, trying out games, and performing other tasks. Since the app doesn't offer a linear, structured experience, players can end up wandering around aimlessly, trying to determine what they can interact with. There are a lot of elements to wrap your head around, ranging from where to find ingredients to how to later craft dyes or accessories with them. In some instances, players may need to backtrack if they get stuck -- after realizing, for example, they can't climb out of the other side of a lake they've jumped into. That's less of an issue, though, than the game crashing, which may happen periodically -- and can require you to have to log in again. As such, the current overall game experience can be a toss-up. Not being under any time pressure to meet defined goals may delight players who enjoy games that feature an exploration aspect. Others, though, may find Fer.al's lack of direction somewhat frustrating.

App Details

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