Village in the Shade review round-up: farm idyll with horror after dark
Nippon Ichi’s farming game launches in the West on 27 October for PS5, Switch 2, Switch and PC. Nintendo Life, Shacknews and Siliconera each give it 9/10.
Photo: Takashi Hososhima from Tokyo, Japan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped and resized)
Trailer: YouTube · NIS America · youtube.com
Critics' rating
Scores: Nintendo Life 9/10 · Shacknews 9/10 · Siliconera 9/10
- Platforms
- PS5, Switch 2, Switch, PC
- Studio
- Nippon Ichi Software (NIS America)
- Release
- 27.10.2026
+ Pros
- Satisfying, rewarding farming
- Dense atmosphere from lighting, art and music
- A horror story with real depth
- Scares can be switched off with a separate mode
– Cons
- Fiddly controls when positioning
- Dialogue-heavy, over-tutorialised opening
- Forced story progression limits freedom
Critics' verdict
A clever blend of cosy farming sim and genuine horror – the control and pacing issues barely matter.
Summary of published reviews – sources below.
Village in the Shade from Nippon Ichi Software launches in Europe and North America through NIS America on 27 October for PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Switch and PC; it has been available in Japan since 30 July. Players settle in the Japanese mountain village of Kagatsu, grow crops, furnish their home and befriend the residents. But the village has strict rules: talking to strangers, leaving the village and going out at night are forbidden. Breaking them uncovers secrets – at your own risk. A separate mode, Village in the Sunshine, removes the consequences.
The first reviews are very positive: Nintendo Life, Shacknews and Siliconera each award 9 out of 10. OpenCritic does not yet show a critic average. Reviewers praise the satisfying farming, the atmosphere created by lighting, art and music, and the horror story, which according to Nintendo Life also comments on escapism and the cost of a seemingly perfect community. Shacknews calls the game scary and cosy at the same time, while Siliconera says the art recalls Nippon Ichi’s horror series Yomawari.
The main criticism concerns the controls: Siliconera finds positioning fiddly on Switch 2, and Shacknews calls the controls a little fumbly. Nintendo Life criticises a dialogue-heavy opening with lots of tutorials, forced story progression and a character creator without complexion options. In North America the game costs $49.99, according to Nintendo Life.