A Farming Game With 1 Million Copies Sold
✦ The Game at a Glance
Fields of Mistria
On August 5, 2026, the healing farming game Fields of Mistria released its version 1.0. It came exactly two years after its early access launch on August 5, 2024.
The developer NPC Studio announced around the 1.0 release that cumulative sales had passed one million copies, and on Steam it holds an "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating, with about 25,800 English reviews at 97% positive.
One thing to know first. This is a single-player game you enjoy alone. The partners you date and marry are village NPCs, characters inside the game. Still, the romance and marriage systems were greatly expanded in 1.0, and that is what this post is about.
What Kind of Game Is It?
It is a cozy life simulation RPG where you farm, go down into the mines, and grow close to the villagers. The 90s anime and JRPG feel is strong enough that people call it Stardew Valley with Sailor Moon added. That is a comparison used by media and players.
The Steam price in Korea is 15,500 won, and the price was not raised for the 1.0 release. Korean comes as a beta. At the time of the 1.0 release the translation was about 75% complete, and untranslated text shows up in English.
There are no restrictions on buying and playing from Korean Steam.
There Are 12 Romance Candidates
✦ The 12 Candidates
By who they are
The village has 12 candidates you can date and marry. Six are women and six are men.
March is a blacksmith who starts out gruff and slowly warms up. Valen is a calm town doctor, and Celine is a shy gardener. Reina is a lively, kind inn cook. Hayden is a neighboring rancher who shows up on horseback.
Juniper is a confident bathhouse witch, and Balor is a traveling merchant with a flirtatious streak. Adeline is a diligent village leader, Ryis is a bright-eyed rookie carpenter, and Eiland is an archaeologist who likes D&D campaigns.
What makes March a popular pick is the size of the change. March first appears as a blacksmith who keeps people at arm's length, but after opening up becomes a partner who stays steadfastly at your side.
For someone just starting out, the shy and soothing Celine is the candidate people recommend.
The other two are hidden candidates that unlock late in the game. They are the dragon guardian Caldarus and the dragon priestess Seridia, and the fact that you can marry a dragon became a talking point.
Gender does not matter. The candidates are not locked by gender, so you can marry any of the villagers regardless of gender.
The Road to Marriage
✦ How a Proposal Unfolds
From hearts to the forge
Affection goes up to 10 hearts. When you reach 10 hearts with a candidate you are dating, Elsie hands you the engagement ring recipe the next morning. Once the ring is made at the forge, you can propose to your partner.
Each candidate has a separate 10-heart proposal event and wedding event.
You decorate the wedding by talking with your partner. You choose the flower colors, the cake flavor, and the reception meal together.
✦ After You Marry
What changes
Once you marry, furniture shaped by your spouse's tastes unlocks for decorating your house. A few weeks after the wedding, a cutscene gives you the Mystical Feather, and you can have a conversation about whether to have a child.
You can skip it if you don't want to.
You can also date several candidates at once.
When you get engaged to one, the other people you were dating change from "dating" to "best friends." This is the default setting, and there are options to turn off the breakup letters and the dialogue that goes with them, and the relationship change itself.
How Fans Share Their Romances
Though it is a game you play alone, there are many places to share impressions. Articles ranking all 12 candidates have appeared, and in one ranking March came first. One outlet described March as the fan favorite.
✦ Where the Gifts Went
Developer stats from the first month of early access
The stats the developer released are fun. Of the roughly 3.75 million gifts given during the first month of early access, about 910,000 went to March. That is about one in every four gifts piling up on March.
On the Steam discussion boards there are threads where people write why they like each candidate, and a comment saying "I want to marry March and have March babies." The unofficial Discord server has about 28,000 members.
The characters are rated highly too. The New York Times said the characters charm with well-written dialogue. Fan art is active, and an official merchandise collection has come out from Fangamer. It is a structure where tastes gather around fictional people.
Recent News
✦ Recent Patches
The latest two updates
On October 12, the v1.0.7 patch notes were released. New fall outfits arrive and the date tutorial card text was polished. The v1.0.6 before it addressed memory leaks and stability problems.
The development team says 1.0 is a beginning, not an end, and keeps the updates coming.
For someone without a partner, this game does not introduce real people. Instead there is the fun of agonizing over whom to marry and sharing that agonizing with people of similar tastes.
If romance with real people has you worn out, it could be a good healing game that soothes loneliness.
Well then, shall we begin today's adventure?
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