Steam finally gets fun cosy farm sim after long Epic Games Store exclusivity
Ooblets has arrived, and it's bringing its Halloween event with it.
Quirky indie farming sim slash dance battler Ooblets is offering a "hefty" 40% discount on Steam this week to celebrate its launch on the storefront, following the end of the game's Epic Games Store exclusivity on PC.
Playing like a mix of Stardew Valley, Story of Seasons, and Pokémon, Ooblets sees you grow the titular critters in your garden before siccing them on each other in battle. However, since this is the very definition of a cosy game, said battles are firmly non-violent, non-contact affairs involving friendly card-based dance-offs.
Ooblets is, frankly, a ludicrously twee game, made charming by the fact that its tongue is lodged firmly in its cheek on the subject of its own quaintness. The Steam launch coincides with the return of the game's annual Halloween event, which runs until November 15th and this year includes both new and returning seasonal content.
While Ooblets was technically only exclusive to the Epic Games Store for a little over a year, you'd be forgiven for feeling like it'd been much longer. Prior to the launch of the full game last September, Ooblets spent over two years in early access on Epic, meaning that it's functionally been around since mid-2020. Nevertheless, some prospective players will have waited until the game launched on Steam to play it, with that 40% launch discount presumably intended to act as a lure for anyone who'd forgotten their interest in the meantime.
Ooblets had a rather unfortunate rise to prominence in 2019, when developers Glumberland announced their deal with Epic for timed exclusivity on PC. Ooblets quickly became a lightning rod for the debate raging around Epic exclusives, which were still a fairly recent concept at the time as well as the preeminent gaming controversy of the moment. Glumberland were inundated with hateful and even threatening messages following their announcement of the deal, and unfortunately, that's still the biggest reason Ooblets has ever made the news.
However, reception of the game itself by critics and players alike has been largely favourable, and indeed it's already garnered a Very Positive rating on Steam just a day after launch. If you've ever wanted to make fantasy animals fight each other in a world that's nevertheless so bright and lovely it'll make your teeth ache, this could be a game for you.
Ooblets is available on the Epic Games Store, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and — now — via Steam, where it's on sale at a discount until October 12th.