Spores of Fortune

This is yet another student project, one of literally thousands self-published on Steam Direct. It's from Hochschule Darmstadt in Germany. While student projects tend to be better quality than most "amateur" games, we must still question what value they have for gamers. This isn't a fully fleshed out game. It's the result of an academic exercise and has much more limited value than a professionally developed game. Educational institutions should not be using Steam as a dumping ground for homework assignments. It helps their marketing and makes students feel good, but it puts the business before the needs of gamers. The students made a potentially harmful game demo where you walk around and pick mushrooms for consumption... the students aren't experts in this field and you should never pick mushrooms or take advice from badly hacked together student projects on what's safe to eat if you don't know what you're doing. Anyway, this isn't a complete game, it's lacking polish and decent configuration menus (that's a must in any PC game and not being met here). Movement is sluggish and unpleasant (like you ate the wrong mushrooms I guess) and there's also issues with the game displayi…

Spores of Fortune is a really cozy little mushroom foraging game that I found surprisingly relaxing. I play as someone who has inherited a small shop from their grandmother, then head out into a large forest to search for mushrooms that can be identified and sold. I liked how peaceful the whole idea feels, especially because the game turns something as simple as walking through a forest into the main activity. The foraging itself is simple but satisfying. I explore the forest, look closely at the ground and try to identify the mushrooms I find. The educational side is actually one of my favorite parts because the game teaches me about real mushroom species rather than using completely fictional collectibles. I enjoyed gradually becoming more confident about what I was looking at instead of simply picking up everything I saw. The shop gives the exploration a nice reason to continue. After returning from the forest, I can sell the edible mushrooms I collected to local townspeople and use the money to improve my equipment. I can expand my basket, unlock more information in the mushroom guide and get a lantern that makes exploring darker areas easier. I liked this progression because…

It's not too long, but it's a pretty cute game. It could use a bit more quality of life (faster run speed, better menus), but for the low price of free, it's enjoyable!

magic mushrooms and I take no fall damage

IT'S A REALLLY FUN GAME BUT IT ACTUALLY KINDA SCARES ME BECAUSE WHEN IM JUST TRYING TO HAVE A FUN, COZY RELAXING TIME MUSHROOM FORAGING, I HEAR FOOTSTEPS BEHIND ME AND IT TURNS INTO A HORROR GAME AND I GOT DISCOURAGED FROM PLAYING BECAUSE OF SPOOKY EVIL SOUNDS I GOT SCARED UMM OTHER THAN THAT IT'S A REALLLY GOOD GAME GET RID OF HORROR FOOTSTEPS I TREMBLE UNLESS ITS AN ACTUAL HORROR GAME THEN IT'D BE KINDA COOL BUT FOR COZY? NO!!!!

Love this game. Super relaxing and visually really nice, just wish there was some more content. Maybe a black market or some other use for the "poisonous" mushrooms. Also some kind of customization or anything else to spend coins on aside from the base upgrades would be cool.