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▲ Recommended 4 hrs

The Merry Fairy is a lovely little fairy cottage simulator/idler with cozy scrapbooking and zero challenge or obstacles. As an urbanite fueled by stress and inflammation, I picked it up at a friend's insistence… and then set it aside because what does "inner peace" even mean?

Fast-forward two months or so, and with everything happening in my life and the world, I've been emotionally messy. Constantly spiraling. Long story short, I finally queued up The Merry Fairy.

Four days later, I feel… centered? ~~And like maybe there's a reason why every psych prof and therapist I've ever talked to recommends journaling?~~

This isn't a substitute for therapy, and it's not really a game. It is a space to breathe. To gaze out the window at nature and ambient weather (which must be selected before "starting your day"). To collect stickers by clicking through everything at the titular Fairy's desk. To soak up soothing harp and Celtic radio. To enjoy the world's most subtle and inobtrusive pomodoro timer. To jot down your thoughts, create art using intuitive tools and all the bits you've collected, and just… be.

It's also a very personal experience. The dev, "Laura Fae," freely shares her artwork, voice, and philosophies while you settle into this fantastical world inspired by the gorgeous wilderness of Kinnekulle in Sweden. All artwork is lovingly hand-crafted with ink, aquarelle (a type of watercolor I'd never heard of), Illustrator, old-fashioned camera, and any other medium a forest fairy can play with. She was kind enough to chat with me a bit, and shared that her inspiration was a combination of creating a safe space and encouraging journaling as a means of self-expression, even when words are failing you. In my opinion, she more than succeeded on both counts.

The Merry Fairy still receives regular updates, so I know it will be just as wonderful the next time I have a crisis; however, the soundtrack is a little too relaxing for my average workday, and I'm still not sure what journaling is or if I'm doing it right.

I don't recommend this if you're looking to explore the wilds, or if your favorite part of Sticky Business was time/space management. I do heartily recommend this if you feel overwhelmed in general, or want some extra chamomile with your chamomile tea, or enjoy zero-stakes creativity. This is basically the glamping spacation we all secretly long for.

Treefrog ribbited at me to buy this, so check out their review. The lovely Amjara summarizes settings and offers pro tips in her review. BohoLibra talks about the game's performance on handheld and the dev's charity donations here.

Follow Eekz Today for more crafting, life sim, management, strategy, and story-rich recommendations.

Check out IndieGems for more detailed reviews and the best of indie gaming, or subscribe on YouTube!

39 found helpful Steam ↗

▲ Recommended 3 hrs

🌿✨ The Merry Fairy ✨🌿

The Merry Fairy had been sitting on my wishlist for a while, so finding it at such a good price felt super nice.
The moment you open the game, it already wraps you up in warmth and cozyyyy!

The main menu alone sets the mood! it feels like a gentle “welcome to the fairy garden” before you even start the game completly. You get to choose the weather right away based on your mood, and my absolute favorite is the slow, peaceful rain. It instantly make me feel calm.

You are welcomed into a tiny cottage style cabin, and I completely fell in love with it. Its cozy in that quiet, comforting way! You can turn the radio on or off, change the music whenever you like, and the songs just fit the whole theme perfectly!

One of the best features is the little scrapbook ofc! You can decorate it with stickers you find all around the cabin (even in the settings and credits menus which is such a fun surprise)
There are flowers, cute quotes, and other many tiny details to collect.
But what makes it perefect for me specially, is that you can also write your own text, choose the font, and change the colors. You can turn it into a cozy decoration, a to-do list, a journal, or even a little diary just for yourself.

And! every day you receive a gentle, supportive letter. it is a small little detail, but it adds so much warmth and sweetness to the game.

Overall, The Merry Fairy is not demanding at all, its gentle, calm, comforting, and perfect for me in any shape of form, since i love the aesthetic and making lists, quotes and decorate everything (specially with stickers) Its the kind of game you return to when you want to slow down for a little while. 🌧️🕯️🍄

23 found helpful Steam ↗

▲ Recommended 1 hrs

This is a lovely nature and magical themed... I'm not sure what to call it really. An environment for scrapbooking and contemplation?
If you're considering this mainly as a straightforward productivity tool then you'd probably be disappointed. It has a few such traits, like lists and the offer of a gentle and supportive companion every 30 minutes. But Spirit City and others are a lot better if you're looking for easy access and structure. I also don't think a full-featured productivity tool would fit so well into The Merry Fairy's whimsical little world.
Personally, I'm mostly here for the old-fashioned cottage aesthetics, having a calming place to escape to, and because I found playing around with the decorations in the demo surprisingly inspiring.

There honestly doesn't seem to be that much yet. You can choose between 5 (?) kinds of weather each time you enter. You can examine a couple of things on the only screen we'll get besides the welcome outside - a good old wooden desk inside the cottage. You get kind letters and visits with life advice and Fairyland lore. You can gather decorations all over the place and rearrange them in your scrapbook with some basic editing. There are several books with very promising titles, but only a few pages filled out. There are abundant typos, but I've started to see them as part of the charm and the personal atmosphere (:

If the Fairy's track record with the demo is any indication then we can look forward to responsiveness to feedback and plenty of updates.
This feels like the beginning of a journey you can go on together with the dev, err, Fairy. Not a journey into enchanted woods (however tempting the ones around the cottage may look) but you know, into yourself and all that.

* * *

If you like chill and story-driven games, check out my curator Peaceful Adventures and Stories. You're also welcome to join the group.

22 found helpful Steam ↗

Reviews are by Steam users, hosted on Steam.

Latest updates

Build 69: The ASAP ritual, spring pictures and a little Redo feature

11 days ago

Dear friend,Once, I was in a constant rush and made all sorts of things as soon as possible. But when Fairyland found me, and I remembered my magic, everything slowed down. At first, I was simply too tired to accomplish anything. Then, I slowly started to build The Merry Fairy, guided by my tree friends, the forest, the garden, and so many little seeds and flowers. They are all teaching me patience, and the restful, powerful magic that comes with softly slowing down. What wants to bloom will bloom without a need to rush, without deadlines, and without stress. This is me now, and this is my cottage, The Merry Fairy. The focus of this small update is my recreated ASAP ritual, which often slows my pace as I walk in the forest, and grants me the serenity I need to let my creativity flow. May this ritual guide you, too!New decorations in build 69(and a tiny little Redo feature)Numbers are something I seldom think about, but since I have recently been made aware that The Merry Fairy has limited profile features on Steam, I felt compelled to make more calculations. This is why I somehow ended up knowing precisely just how many decorations are coming with this new update, as well as how many decorations are currently available in general at my cottage. So far, I have added 958 decorations that you can use at my desk, and precisely 30 of them are brand new with this update, specifically:7 flowers3 birch tree frames1 flowery background1 flowery arrangement1 title decoration in art deco style17 so-called text stickers9 new pictures of Fairyland in springThis may well be the last time I make this calculation, too, unless I face some other problems, such as limitations in space. But I did notice that it has become rather cumbersome to reach the new decorations I am adding, which is why I will be focusing on making it a little easier to sort and organize everything I am leaving around my desk, for you to enjoy. For now, however, thanks to a wonderful report I received via the Lad...

AMA about The Merry Fairy, my enchanted life and the future of my cottage

48 days ago

Dear friend,Since the grand opening that took place on July 9th, 2025, 1245 guests have been buying a ticket to visit The Merry Fairy. The gross revenues less returns, chargebacks, and taxes total as of now $6,759. In the video games industry, this is called a failure. But to me, this is a success, and I want to explain why.This year, I am turning 45 years old. For most of my life, I did not do what I really wanted to do. My life was mostly guided by obligation, fear, and shame, chasing fuzzy shoulds and trying to fit into other people's forcefully imposed realities. But at 40, awakened by the Covid situation, I decided to give myself a chance. I let go of everything I had and everyone I cared for, and moved closer to where my heart belonged. No one followed, and no one helped - nor did I ask, either. Everything untrue melted away, and I remained with nothing but myself. I remember the chilling fear I felt, I remember the great struggle to keep myself afloat, alive, to not let myself drown from despair.This is when I started to take journaling seriously. Slowly, it made me understand myself better, become my own friend, and timidly follow my heart. One day, I wrote in my journal: "What if it will be better than I can even imagine?" and almost instantly, the Universe gave me everything I ever wanted, and more. I met the Caretaker, moved to Fairyland, and got the incredible chance to try every single dream I had. I started to grow everything from tomatoes to enough pumpkins to give to an entire (little) village. I discovered my love for cooking, foraging, crochet, pickling - you name it. I even learned how to drive a car and am about to get my license, even though I was convinced I would never be able to drive. And after a decades-long career in the video games industry, where I supported many other people's creative endeavors because I didn't believe I could ever create my game, I made The Merry Fairy.Only The Merry Fairy is not a game.The Merry Fairy is my home, my ...

Build 68: sacred mandalas, new Soul Candies & a cozy Pieced Together collab

53 days ago

Dear friend,For the past month or so, my focus was largely absorbed by the sacred geometry of mandalas. I have been fascinated by mandalas for as long as I can remember, but now that I finally gave myself permission to draw them to my hearts content, I understood their magic. For a very long time, mandalas have been used by various religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism as a form of meditation. The gentle exercise of composing a beautiful geometric structure, and then adding colour and details, feels a lot like a reverie, not at all unlike how it feels to take a stroll in my beloved forest. So the highlight of this content update is a spread in the Fairyland Book of Wonders dedicated to mandalas. I hope you will enjoy the decorations I prepared for you, in watercolour with a touch of lineart and pastels. While the mandalas are my favourite highlight, they are not the only new decorations in this update. I tend to avoid counting and keeping track of what I am adding (or, frankly, I completely forget to do so), but to make this update easier to understand, I decided to at least give it a try:New content by Fairya mandala spread containing full and tileable quarter mandalas that can be combined creatively, a handful of lovingly hand painted aquarelle backgrounds, a poem written by me where every verse can be used as a quote, and my favourite quote by Ursula K LeGuina dozen more Soul Candies added to the Soul Candy jar, but for you, this number will double the Soul Candy content as I realised that a lot of candies were not taken into account and never shown when interacting with the jarmore Fairyland pictures in the Fairy camera, where I focused on capturing the joyful signs of spring that I notice ever day as Fairyland becomes warmer Someone's home, in the forest!Pieced Together bundle and decorationsThe popular way to market indie games on Steam these days is to bundle. This idea inspired me to reach out to magical souls who create experiences that complement your vi...

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