I Too Would Like To Spend All Day In The Woods Making Snacks

Since at least once a day I throw my hands in the air and declare “I am going to run away to the woods!” when I get too overwhelmed, I love living out that desire in a video game without having to give up my apartment. The demo for Good Folk Cafe lets me putter around the trees doing simple tasks, while also hinting at bigger mysteries.

Good Folk Cafe is an in-development game by Irish studio Not Here, Not There and has a demo up on itch. You play as a person named Aoife who lives alone in a wooded glen, spending their days wandering the countryside collecting real-world plants. The foraging mechanic is a simple timing-based minigame, and once your inventory is full you take the plants home to identify them using your plant book–which, delightfully for me specifically, includes their names in Irish.

At night, you use the plants you’ve foraged to cook meals for various mythological creatures who come to visit you. (The “good folk” of the title is another word for fairies.) Ingredients have flavor profiles, and you have to try out combinations to see what might please each creature. It’s satisfying to chop up plants and arrange them in your bowl, then watch a lovely animation of the creature curling up to eat. A satisfied creature rewards you with materials like wood, nails, and bike parts you use to fix up Aoife’s home.

Fixing things up unlocks useful tools like expanded inventory for plants or a bike to travel further (though using the bike isn’t available in the demo), and also seems to invite a neighbor over to tell you stories. This bit of the game is particularly charming: the stories are meandering and funny in the unique style of seanchaí, with one even having people chatting in the background.

The art is simple but lovely, in particular the quality of light as you wander the countryside. The description of the eventual full game suggests more of a narrative around Aoife, but I also just really enjoyed the contextless routines of her day, taking little walks and doing little tasks. There’s no release date yet, but I’m curious to see new areas and hear more stories in the full game.