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NIS America’s Village in the Shade involves a mash-up of genres. Part of it is a farming life sim about moving to a small village and getting along with villagers to enjoy a more rural life. However, there’s also the side that takes after the established Yomawari series and involves dealing with possible urban legends, yokai, and unknown horrors that stalk the shadows after dark. After getting a better look at Village in the Shade in a hands-off preview of PS5 gameplay, it’s even more clear how the farming sim and Yomawari style horror elements blend together. The session also involved NIS America confirming the worldwide and US release will include all
The hands-off preview of Village in the Shade involved an avatar already somewhat established in Kagatsu Village. The character owned their own home already and started setting up a farm. The first portion involved looking at actually tending to crops in the farming sim, as our character can plant various familiar veggies in plots around their home. These need to be watered daily, to ensure they grow at a steady pace, and weeding must also be done in order to prevent the invasive plants from taking over or even killing a crop. Apparently, placing boards on the ground can add a decorative pathway and help stop their spread. By becoming proficient at tending and raising certain crops, with an onion being an example in the gameplay I watched, you can get a star on it showing proficiency and increasing its value when shipped.
Village in the Shade features a stamina system, like similar titles, and tools can be upgraded to increase efficiency and offer a perk like watering a 3×3 space at once. Of course, getting those upgrades also means heading to a mine with a pickaxe to acquire materials. Smashing the rocks could show a rope to the next floor. There’s also a checkpoint system every 10 floors. However, enemies also lurk in mines.
Also, like similar farming sim games, Village in the Shade features a village life with shops. During the segment I watched, the avatar character headed to a shop that carried seeds and things like backpack upgrades. When doing that kind of shopping, you can add an item to your notebook to keep track of what is on your wishlist to save up for. The preview also involved a look at the restaurant. Everyone in town gathers there on Sunday for a meal and socializing. Eating meals there also can mean getting recipes to cook them yourself at home.
However, Village in the Shade does feature Yomawari style chases, investigations, and horror elements if people choose to play it as-is and not choose the Peaceful Life Mode option. Prior to the gameplay footage and demonstration, we were told there was a situation in which the avatar got a chicken that grew mysteriously quickly, but then was involved in an incident that resulted in it being attacked in the coop. Despite the eight rules for the town and one of them being an 11pm curfew and not going out at night, we got to witness the player ignoring that to investigate after a strange message was left at the house.
This is when the more clear Yomawari element showed up in Village in the Shade. When exploring in the evening, a ghost chicken leads the player through the forest and town. However, when that happens, it also means happening upon a flashlight and discovering an entity roaming the city streets. By following the chicken’s ghost and carefully maneuvering, we were able to see the character slip away. However, that meant finding a mysterious tree and seeing something else quite spooky.
The Village in the Shade gameplay footage seemed designed to offer an early look at the balance between farming sim and Yomawari horror. There seem to be the sorts of upgrades and progression we expect from that sort of slow life game, down to villager gatherings and farm upgrades. Meanwhile, the after dark denizens seem as large, forboding, and hazardous as in past games.
Village in the Shade will come to the Switch, Switch 2, PS5, and PC on October 27, 2026, and the most recent Yomawari entry Yomawari: Lost in the Darkshowed up on the Switch, PS4, and PC worldwide.
