I absolutely adored the original Fantasy Life on the 3DS, and thankfully, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time has proven to be a worthy successor, sinking its claws into me all over again.

Kate Gray reviewed the Switch 1 version and said, “It's beautiful, it's robust, it's got multiplayer, it's got three fully-fleshed-out areas to explore, it's got crafting and foraging and cooking and fishing and minigames and beautiful music and sidequests and more. And it's all really, really good.”

Well said, Kate, and I wholeheartedly agree. It's one of those wonderfully addictive games where there's so much to do, so much to see, and all the numbers go up and up making you feel really good about your progress. You could argue that it does little to meaningfully evolve the gameplay from the 3DS original, but when it's this good, I'm really not that fussed.

So it’s great news, then, that the Switch 2 version makes the overall experience even more enjoyable thanks to a small batch of noteworthy improvements to the presentation. We’re mainly talking about resolution and frame rate here, so don’t expect any fancy mouse controls or HD Rumble 2 or tie-ins to a mobile app.

Fantasy Life i admittedly looked pretty nice and performed reasonably well on Switch 1 at around 30fps. That said, the significant bump up to 60fps on Switch 2 is very welcome and I can’t imagine going back now. It doesn’t always hit its target, particularly in the larger open-world environments, but I didn't get anything more serious than a few minor dips here and there.

Similarly, the visuals are much crisper than before, especially noticeable when playing in handheld mode. The blur effect is still in place around the edges of the screen, but it feels slightly toned down to allow the game’s world to shine brighter than ever. You can turn this off completely, if you wish, but I find the focus blur adds to the charm; kinda like Link’s Awakening and, to a lesser extent, Echoes of Wisdom.

A small patch applied shortly after release also boosts shadow quality and the object render distance; a minor improvement, but one that further widens the gap between the versions. Load times were acceptable on Switch 1, averaging between 5 and 10 seconds, but this has been cut down significantly to 3 or 4 seconds for most scenarios.

Given how cheap the upgrade is for Switch 1 owners — you’re looking at £2.04 / $2.59 / €2.27 or your regional equivalent — the performance improvements for Fantasy Life i on Switch 2 are more than worth the price of admission. Other publishers have the gall to charge full price again (looking at you, Sega), but this is an acceptable middle ground. If you’re keen on trying out Level-5’s long-awaited sequel, this is absolutely the best way to play on Nintendo systems.

What score would you give Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (Switch 2)?

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