Spiritfarer is a “cozy management game about death”, as the developer describes it. In Spiritfarer you play as Stella, accompanied by her cat Daffodil, she becomes the ferrymaster of the deceased and takes spirits onto their last journey. The player builds and expands their boat, helps their spirit friends on their last adventures, and cares for them on their journey to the afterlife. The game combines farming, mining, fishing, cooking, and crafting with touching storylines in a slow-paced journey through emotional memories until the final goodbye at the Everdoor.
Spiritfarer is first on foremost a game about dying and saying goodbye, but in its nature as management simulator and sandbox action game, the player also engages in environmental themes. This does not only take place through the interactions with the spirits animal forms, but also in the actions the player takes to shape the environment. One example of this is the spirit Summer (represented by a snake): Summer teaches Stella how to care for the plants in her garden to help them grow. She embodies empathy for nature and the environment. Spiritfarer encourages empathy not only with the (animal) spirits on the boat but also with environment.
At the same time, gathering resources is also a theme in the game. By planting crops, growing fruit trees, crafting resources but also re-using the byproducts of these crafts, the player is encouraged to participate to recycle and reuse resources and products, but also to conserve their environment by using part of their resources to grow new ones.