Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is the latest entry in the Fantasy Life series. Level-5 has brought us some of the greatest JRPGs. They have returned once more to show us another entry of their “cozy” games, brimming with adventure, options, and adorable characters and creatures with iconic designs.
In some cases, Level-5 goes into a more shonen approach with titles such as the recent Megaton Musashi, or even a Pokémon knockoff like the Yokai Watch games. Fantasy Life is best compared to something like Rune Factory combined with hints of, and I hate to say it, the job system from Final Fantasy XIV, due to its on-the-fly flexible job system.
Packing many ideas between vastly different games and throwing some home editor software in there and you are left with this curious and charming concoction of a game. Cozy gaming has become all the rage with their cute and relaxing, less than challenging environments and otherwise, cottage core approach. Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time might be the one to end them all.
This is a review coupled with a supplemental video review. You can watch the video review or read the full review of the below:
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
Developer: Level-5
Publisher: Level-5
Platforms: Windows PC (reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5
Release Date: May 21, 2025
Price: $59.99
Starting as a player-created avatar, you and a few others sail the ocean to discover a giant fossil of a dragon head. Returning home, a massive black dragon ambushes your return home, nearly sinking your ship to smithereens. At the darkest hour, the fossilized dragon reanimates to life and defends you from total annihilation with a large, powerful beam, staving off the threat.
During the battle, a device sends you back in time to an island that the player names. On this continent, you begin the adventure and a new life, which soon turns into many, many more adventures between going in time and out, and onto other lands and continents. The Abyss, a large cavity in one of the mainlands, contains a magical cog that must be found to stop a very threatening outcome for everyone.
There’s a total of 14 different Jobs or “Lives” as they are called to play and switch between. While there are sadly still only four combat jobs like the first Fantasy Life entry, they managed to include one more gathering life, as well as a crafting life, being the Farmer and Painter lives. Pursuing a combat life is essential to progressing the story, as combat will ensue every step of the way, further into your adventure in the story.
Fighting all the time may not be the most involving or efficient, as a lot of equipment, consumables, and other necessities can usually be obtained by crafting them. Playing as a hunter during my experience, it became immediately apparent that I should pick up the Lumberjack and Carpenter jobs as they would assist me in making better Bows to hunt down my enemies with.
In addition, the lumber I would refine would also be useful for completing some of the almost endless number of optional quests you will find in almost every inch of an inhabited area. This Progression felt pretty satisfying for a cozy game, as it made me have to go out of my way to get materials to make better weapons and equipment.
I often struggled to get better armor as I didn’t pursue the life of a tailor. Luckily, it’s possible to eventually pursue leveling and building up all the jobs/lives if you prefer a more omni-vocational experience. But it will take a lot of time and dedication to do that! One way to remedy the lack of pursuing other vocations can be to let your friends do it by having them gift you items they can make.
Combat itself isn’t exactly the most nuanced system for an action-based approach, but it gets the job done. Perfecting dodging takes patience, as performing one will allow you to follow up with a powerful counterattack. Dodging seems to take absolutely no resources when performed, so dodge spamming is a viable strategy when things gets hairy.
Leveling up a combat life seems to happen very frequently, and if the level cap is anything similar to the original Fantasy Life, it could be as high as 200. Coming from this, there’s always a lot of progression to look forward to, and this is only amplified further with the addition of an actual skill tree per each job.
As you level up, you earn skill points which can then be spent on upgrading yourself to your liking. Though this is a wonderful addition, I can’t help but feel the choices in it lack the indecisiveness I hoped they would induce per selection.
Traveling around the world also got a massive upgrade from its predecessor because you can now use mounts, so you can travel much faster.
In addition, climbing up ledges with some minor jumping and platforming allows you to explore in an almost Zelda-like fashion. Swimming, too, can be performed shortly after the early parts of the game. However, be mindful that swimming will scare away the fish at fishing spots.
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is truly the most vast and cozy game I’ve ever played. After playing for dozens of hours, I felt like there was still a lot more to discover just from the world map alone.
With the addition of finding hidden treasure and recipes for ultimate weapons all over the map, there are even your usual hidden creature types scattered around the world.
These hidden creatures reward you with special currency each time you discover one, a staple in any large-world game. Fishing, a necessary component, is in the game, too.
Fantasy Life nails the visual and charming aesthetic that every Level-5 game tends to aim toward.
Cute and charming people, a small animal sidekick at your side at every turn, and several recurring side characters that help you backstage the more you go in. “Trip”, the cute blue helmet-wearing bird, is PLAYABLE in offline couch co-op if you decide not to play online with other people’s main characters.
For the first many hours, the number of brief tutorials will shower the player, there’s just so much to do in this game. Right when it feels like there’s no more to learn and experience, another tutorial opens up.
This is yet another useful feature that will keep Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time a fun and warming game to enjoy between stressful tidings in one’s life.
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is a wonderful joy and delight to experience, not just alone but with a friend or spouse too. The sheer volume of activities, approaches, and lives to delve into keeps the game fresh and relaxing all the way through.
The story in Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is a much more involving one than the first game, though not the focus of what makes this game so enjoyable.
The combination of the enjoyable lighthearted combat, the nearly endless options of productive activities, or even the less important ones like designing your home and island, the co-op features, and the vast world makes Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time the be-all and end-all for all cozy games.
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time was reviewed on PC using a code provided by Level-5. Additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy is here. Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is now available for PC (via Steam), Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.
