Village in the Shade ▶ Trailer
Village in the Shade screenshot 1Village in the Shade screenshot 2
AdventureSimulationHorrorFarming Sim2DExplorationCute

866 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 1,186

Peak in the last 7 days: 1,379

Village in the Shade Steam store

Game description

Enjoy quiet, countryside living in a Japanese village in this brand new farming sim! Just make sure you follow the rules—or else!

Basic info

DeveloperNippon Ichi Software, Inc.
PublisherNIS America, Inc.
PlatformsWindows
Steam DeckVerified
Release dateJul 29, 2026
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 10/11
ProcessorIntel Core i5-6400
Memory8 GB
GraphicsGeForce GTX 750 Ti
Storage9 GB
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Review Analysis Score

Based on 468 reviews from the past 1 year

82.5/ 100
Top 50%

Steam rating: Very Positive (92%)

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 19, 2026)

Farming by day and uneasy horror by night define Village in the Shade, which scores 82.5 across 468 reviews.

👍 Strengths

90 reviews praise the visuals and music, saying the look promised in the trailer is delivered, with finely detailed scenery. Visuals & Sound ranks 181st of 1249. 83 find it fun, enjoying deep farming mechanics despite some frustrations. 59 love the atmosphere of rural village horror, with some describing the mood of a light horror film, and Story & World ranks 452nd of 1096. Content Volume ranks 412th of 1351.

👎 Where it falls short

61 reviews dislike the controls and saving, with no manual save outside of bedtime and an awkward keyboard layout. 47 feel the price is too high for what is offered, noting the lack of voice acting. 29 describe tedious progression, with long crafting times, blocked tool upgrades and heavy grinding for ore. Others say farming barely ties into the main story, and some find dialogue lines repeat often. Pricing & Fairness ranks 975th of 1399, and Gameplay ranks 1144th of 1396.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“PV atmosphere and visuals delivered as promised without deception” · 90 reviews
“game is fun and enjoyable despite some frustrations” · 83 reviews
“good atmosphere, rural village horror and work gameplay are enjoyable” · 59 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 60% of reviews · Bottom 20% of the games we've analyzed

Controls & feel -1.70 · Responsiveness, precision, and how the menus handle
Negative “manual save not implemented, can only save at bedtime causing player frustration” · 61 reviews
Positive “refined UI and controls, excellent game feel and comfort” · 5 reviews

Progression 31% · Difficulty 14% · Onboarding 16% · Freedom 10% · Strategy 8%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 73% of reviews · Top 50% of the games we've analyzed

World +3.38 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “good atmosphere, rural village horror and work gameplay are enjoyable” · 59 reviews
Negative “rural horror atmosphere from exploitation, not ghosts” · 6 reviews

Story 50% · Characters 24%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 39% of reviews · Top 40% of the games we've analyzed

Volume +2.59 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price
Positive “over 100 hours of content with extensive collection goals” · 29 reviews
Negative “insufficient content, especially after ending with no post-game changes” · 15 reviews

Variety 17% · Replayability 3%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 50% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +3.97 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Positive “PV atmosphere and visuals delivered as promised without deception” · 90 reviews
Negative “graphics not improved, feels like handheld port” · 1 review

Audio 32%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 1% of reviews mention this.

Playing together +2.00 · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals

Community 0% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 27% of reviews · Bottom 40% of the games we've analyzed

Pricing -0.35 · Whether the price, DLC and microtransactions are reasonable, and how much paying gives you an edge
Negative “9000 yen is too expensive for the content offered” · 47 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Balance 2% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 14% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Stability -0.22 · Crashes, freezes, save loss, and game-breaking bugs
Negative “gamepad stick operation bugs and unstable item respawning” · 23 reviews
Positive “no major bugs encountered during gameplay” · 1 review

Performance 2% · Developer support 6%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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