The hottest farming sim since Stardew Valley just got its second major update, adding lava caves and pets you unlock by having a ‘pet dream’

Throwback farming sim Fields of Mistria proved pretty darn popular when it launched into Steam early access late last year, with over 16,000 reviewers showering it with ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ praise. It was likewise well received in PC Gamer’s own little agrarian community, with associate editor Lauren Morton selecting it as her personal pick for 2024’s GOTY. “Fields of Mistria is so intimately in touch with its roots, both the classic farm sims it’s emulating and the magical girl anime of the ’90s,” she wrote last December.

Now, developer NPC Studio has sowed its second major update across the game’s virtual fields, yielding a bountiful crop of new features in the process. Chief among these are two new explorable areas, the Lava Caves biome and an expansion to the Deep Woods. The former can be found inside Fields of Mistria’s mine (specifically floors 61-80), while the latter is located, er, inside the Deep Woods. But this extra area is only accessible after completing the questline ‘breaking the fire seal’.

Beyond these new areas, the biggest mechanical update to Fields of Mistria is the addition of pets. These furry friends can be accessed after completing the ‘pet dream’ cutscene (stop sniggering at the back), after which you’ll be able to ‘create’ your pet. Let’s not dwell on how pet dreams lead to pet creation, and instead focus on what newly created pets can do. Alongside regular pet functions, like providing emotional connection and pooing in your house, pets can be assigned jobs to collect resources, specifically wood, stone, and ‘forageables’, thus lightening your load.

Other additions include a purchasable farm expansion, water sprite statues that make crop irrigation easier, golden tools and armour, an ‘animal festival’ you can submit critters to with a chance to win beastly cosmetics, and an unlockable spell called “dragon’s breath”. NPC Studio doesn’t explain what dragon’s breath does, but I reckon we can all hazard a guess.

The update also makes various tweaks to gameplay, such as an adjustment to fishing, to make levelling easier and rejigged item pricing. Finally, there are the obligatory bug fixes. Busy farmers will be pleased to hear that animals will now eat grass even when you aren’t watching them, while aspiring mystics will be relieved that the ‘weather crystal ball’ can now accurately predict blizzards. Oh, and players can no longer perform a jump attack while holding an animal, though this frankly sounds like a downgrade.

You can check out the full list of changes now. Fields of Mistria is also currently on a 20% discount as part of Steam’s summer sale. This means you can grab it for just under a tenner in the UK, and a smidge over $11 in the US. The discount ends on March 20.