> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://simstructures.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Faraway Lands: Rise of Yokai - URL: https://simstructures.com/faraway-lands-rise-of-yokai/ - Published: 2026-09-18T21:55:21.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-18T21:55:21.000Z - Description: A side-view colony sim set in feudal Japan, shaped by myth and folklore. Take on the role of a local lord as you build a lively village, explore faraway lands, trade across the world, and defend your… - Author: ENGN GAME STUDIO LLC - Tags: Colony Sim, Base-Building, Survival, Crafting, Exploration, Economy, #w3 A side-view colony sim set in feudal Japan, shaped by myth and folklore. Take on the role of a local lord as you build a lively village, explore faraway lands, trade across the world, and defend your people from the Yokai lurking in the dark. ### Screenshots ![Screenshot](https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/1303940/b71c34a7b5f2789d7588b2e0e481a191bb8a0591/ss_b71c34a7b5f2789d7588b2e0e481a191bb8a0591.1920x1080.jpg?t=1788621291) ![Screenshot](https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/1303940/50f0f3bf34fdd39928eb00482ed8f2c1ed9456be/ss_50f0f3bf34fdd39928eb00482ed8f2c1ed9456be.1920x1080.jpg?t=1788621291) ![Screenshot](https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/1303940/e4f9a8469414c5f6f2aa00d12789b17de5e56bf9/ss_e4f9a8469414c5f6f2aa00d12789b17de5e56bf9.1920x1080.jpg?t=1788621291) ![Screenshot](https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/1303940/d541725c858a1329c2f1c9df9df4f55b9d404c63/ss_d541725c858a1329c2f1c9df9df4f55b9d404c63.1920x1080.jpg?t=1788621291) ![Screenshot](https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/1303940/070ca58e9b6f64751fb477049ccf59500b274b93/ss_070ca58e9b6f64751fb477049ccf59500b274b93.1920x1080.jpg?t=1788621291) ![Screenshot](https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/1303940/e361e64b4bcc6c05a65a1f98dc51c57720be354c/ss_e361e64b4bcc6c05a65a1f98dc51c57720be354c.1920x1080.jpg?t=1788621291) ![Screenshot](https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/1303940/6fa534f2edc17c799dc408079673ecc64e148c1b/ss_6fa534f2edc17c799dc408079673ecc64e148c1b.1920x1080.jpg?t=1788621291) ![Screenshot](https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/1303940/b3312a6a7a595d2bb546a8439f6eb9fb1d21330b/ss_b3312a6a7a595d2bb546a8439f6eb9fb1d21330b.1920x1080.jpg?t=1788621291) ### Trailer ### Technical Architecture - **Engine:** Unspecified (Pending Dev Claim) - **AI Systems:** Unspecified - **State/Architecture:** Unspecified - **Status:** Pending Dev Claim ## World Map Redrawn, Controller Support, Blessings, Ofuda & Sandbox Mode I hadn't realized it's been so long since the last devlog, sorry again😔 I've been heads-down on finishing the game, and there's a lot to show. Here are the biggest updates from the past 4-5 months. ### The World Map Got a Full Rebuild I spent a lot of time redoing the map. It was the only thing I hadn't touched in years, and I kept getting comments that it looked weak and I agreed. For me the most important thing about this game is liveliness, and the map just didn't have much. So I redesigned it from scratch, added detail everywhere, and tried to honor each civilization on the map properly, with historical and cultural touches where they belong. Previously the map looked like this: Now it looks like this: The new map also comes with a new HUD: - a route bar showing where your ship is heading and its ETA \[/\*\] - a progress bar with the details of the current journey \[/\*\] - your ship's cargo at a glance, so you're not guessing what's on board \[/\*\] - you can call a ship back mid-journey if you change your mind \[/\*\] Expeditions also aren't quiet anymore. Your ship now runs into dilemmas at sea, small interactive events where you have to make a call with incomplete information. I really enjoyed doing all of this, so no regrets! ### Controller Support Controller support is complete. In hindsight I should have done it after launch. It took much more time than I anticipated. Then again, what has not? 😅 A lot of things had to be reconsidered to make it a comfortable experience, rather than something that technically exists but annoys you the whole time. My UI was especially problematic, it had a lot of buttons and tooltips covering other things on screen, which did not work well with a controller at all. Most of the UI work further down in this post started as "this doesn't work on a controller." There is now proper button prompts everywhere instead of mouse-only hints. I haven't been able to test it with other people yet. If you'd like to try the demo and you own a Steam Deck or a controller (any should work), let me know, I'll put it out sometime next week after testing. ### The Mines Are Part of the Town Now I moved the mines region under the town, so you no longer need a button to switch between them. It just feels better, and it also freed up screen space, which let me add a minimap. The minimap is especially useful for not getting lost in the mines, but it also lets you move around quickly, and it marks threats and important events so you can see what needs you. The mines are receiving some new content along with the move: cave-ins that block your paths and must be cleared, a Mine Guard Outpost, and a Mine Depot so ore doesn't have to be carried all the way back to base. You will also encounter Cursed Boulders, which periodically spawn monsters and have a chance to rupture. If they rupture, a wave of enemies will be sent to your town unless the boulders are sealed by an Onmyoji for a cost. ### Ofuda Ofuda are talismans crafted by the Onmyoji. Each one has a different purpose: boosting nearby soldiers, protecting buildings from natural disasters, and so on. They have a limited lifetime and limited uses, and they aren't free: they need worship points, plus an Onmyoji actually conducting the ritual to make them. ### Bosses Now Reward You With Blessings Beating a boss lets you pick a blessing, and it stays with you for the rest of that game. Each boss has its own set, themed to what it is: Raijin's blessings chain lightning between enemies, Yuki Onna's cover your soldiers' hits in frost... ### Adjacency Bonus and Info Panels I added info panels to the buildings, removed some redundant floating buttons, and included more useful information. In this game warehouses are very important. Gatherers drop resources into warehouses, and producers take materials back out of them. So placing a sawmill next to a woodcutter's hut did nothing at all, which is not what people expect, and I think that expectation is fair. So some buildings now get a small synergy/adjacency bonus. Put a sawmill next to a woodcutter's hut and the sawmill benefits. It's a 5% bonus, so it's absolutely not something you need to micromanage. It just rewards you for laying your town out sensibly. It works the other way too. Industry buildings disturb the ambience of buildings like shrines, so you can't just cram everything together. ### Resource Graphs I added daily resource tracking and a graph showing your in/out per day, for people who want to know exactly where everything is going. Global resources like coins, worship points and food are included. You can scrub back through previous days to see when things started going wrong:) ### Assigning People Makes Sense Now My wife kept assigning people who were already working other jobs, because nothing told her they were already busy. Here's what the old worker assignment panel looked like: And the new one: It clearly groups people by their role, and lets you replace a worker right there in the popup. I updated every assignable list the same way, so it's also hard to accidentally pull a soldier off a tower or off a ship. #### Automatic Villager Assignment This one isn't something I use myself, but I added it for people who'd rather not micromanage. There are three settings: manual (the default), one that assigns unemployed villagers to open jobs, and a fully automatic one where the game periodically evaluates who is best for each building and swaps them around. ### More Ways to Make the Town Yours A Discord member shared a custom portrait they'd made to match the game's art style, and that turned into a whole set of features. You can now: - upload your own lord portraits \[/\*\] - create custom decorations \[/\*\] - build custom color palettes, so you can color your roofs however you like \[/\*\] I may look into Steam Workshop support for these later on. ### Sandbox Mode People playing the game as they wish, at their own pace, is very important to me, it's also why I keep adding customization settings. Sandbox mode is a natural extension of that. It comes with extra rules you can turn on, like infinite resources or invincibility, and a proper sandbox/cheat menu where you can: - spawn resources, villagers and soldiers \[/\*\] - complete research instantly \[/\*\] - change the weather, skip day or night \[/\*\] - trigger events on demand \[/\*\] - build custom enemy waves and defend against them \[/\*\] - and more \[/\*\] If that's not your thing, you can ignore it completely, it will be a separate mode. ### UI and Quality of Life Between the controller work and my wife and friends finding a few things confusing, I did a lot of polishing. #### A New Placement Menu The build menu is down to three categories now: Buildings, Ofuda and Decoration. Each one has subcategories, which let me organize things much better. Resource production is split into gatherers and workshops, for example. I also updated the icons for buildings, and added icons to their descriptions, so you can understand what a building does at a glance instead of reading a paragraph. Here is the old one in comparision #### A Proper Start Screen We now have a real start screen, and a setup flow for new games where you pick your region and rules step by step instead of being dropped into a wall of options. #### Panels That Look Like They Belong Together All of the UI panels got a redesign. No more floating title and X button in the top right of the screen, everything is grouped together now and looks much more cohesive. Here are just a couple examples: #### A New Research Building I replaced the research building: it's the Terakoya now instead of the Pagoda. A Japanese player pointed out that it suits the role much better, and I agree. The Pagoda didn't go anywhere though, it now generates worship points passively and lets you train warrior monks. ### More Content, Systems and Quality of Life Alongside all of the above: - New events and visitors: a travelling chef, a wandering monk, a travelling engineer, the Shogun's rice tribute, market booms, crashes, warehouse floods, workplace accidents, boat encounters, and a pool of smaller incidents so quiet days don't feel empty. \[/\*\] - The Admiral, Ronin and People lord paths are finished, along with 12 new relics \[/\*\] - Children have more of a life now: new play behaviors, and snowmen and snowball fights in winter \[/\*\] - Villagers remember each other, including the coworker they can't stand \[/\*\] - Gate Expansions : Expand your gates up to two times to gain more territory for your settlement. Just be careful, as doing so puts you much closer to where the Yokai spawn! \[/\*\] - In game Achievement Menu \[/\*\] - Another performance pass for large populations, and a lot of bug fixes \[/\*\] ### Wrap up So where is the game? Lord paths and relics are finished. Buildings, traits and research are around 95% done. The enemies are nearly there, with animations for several of them, and the bosses, still to go. The second map is in progress, and I'll show it properly once it's worth showing. I'm not putting a date on it yet, because I have been wrong dozens of time, and I'd rather give you one I can keep than one I have to apologize for later, again and again. Thanks for being patient with the silence, I know five months is a long time between posts. If you want to help me test controller support next week, or you just want to yell at me about something, (When release!!!!?) the Discord is the best place to reach me. As always, love you all. [Read the original announcement on Steam →](https://steamstore-a.akamaihd.net/news/externalpost/steam%5Fcommunity%5Fannouncements/1839041357032851?ref=simstructures.com) --- *Imported from [Faraway Lands: Rise of Yokai on Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1303940/?ref=simstructures.com). Steam genres: Adventure, Indie, Simulation, Strategy.*