Common Sense Media Review
By David Chapman
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Repetitive resource gathering that's hard to put down.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 8+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
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Forager
What's It About?
FORAGER is a game that challenges players to live off the land, and to build and expand their world with creative use of the resources harvested. Starting with just a small plot of your very own, you'll need to mine rocks, chop trees, and gather some food to sustain yourself. From there, you'll use your skills to craft new additions to your island getaway, increasing your productivity while expanding your available harvesting options. As your island continues to grow and evolve, you'll need to expand your lot to cover more ground, eventually moving from a small, empty isle to a grand empire filled with new technology and wonderous crafts. All of these items will work together like a well-oiled machine to keep your productivity high as you discover new puzzles to solve, hidden secrets, and dungeons to explore.
Is It Any Good?
In most games, collecting resources is little more than a means to an end, or a bit of a side chore to serve as a distraction from the main game. Forager, however, makes harvesting those precious goods your main priority, and the game is all the better for it. Things start off simple enough, with players on a tiny island clicking on the occasional tree, rock, or bush to collect wood, stone, and fruit. Before long, though, players are crafting new buildings and items, which in turn unlocks more harvesting options and more complex crafting materials. After collecting enough money and resources, players can expand their island and continue the cycle, opening up more of the game in the process.
Make no mistake about it, Forager's gameplay is about as simple as it comes, but it's also more than a little repetitive. Outside of some basic inventory management and crafting, most of your time is spent just clicking on things to attack, harvest, or collect. In fact, the more you play and the more you build, the less you're actually needed. Things like mining rods, ballista, and even droids can handle most of the harvesting and defense duties, freeing you up to explore nearby dungeons or solve different puzzles you stumble across. Admittedly, this means that late in the game, you can't help but feel a bit useless. But Forager is more about the journey than the ending, and that journey to the end is so surprisingly fluid and strangely addictive, you just can't help coming back for more.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how industrialization helps with quality of life. What are some of the ways that technology and industry have made our lives easier over the years?
What's the appeal of easy-to-play and simple looking games like Forager? What do these games offer when compared to some of the bigger budget, more complex and detailed blockbuster-type games?
Game Details
- Platforms : Linux , Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4 , Windows
- Pricing structure : Paid
- Available online? : Available online
- Publisher : Humble Bundle
- Release date : April 18, 2019
- Genre : Adventure
- Topics : Adventures , Fantasy , STEM , Animals ( Wild Animals )
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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