Mirthwood is a mix of farming sim and survival game. It implements a hunger and energy system that can be a little rough to deal with in the beginning. This isn’t the game to do this though, with Echoes of Plum Grove being released a few months prior with a similar system, with diseases in play sans combat. Speaking of combat, the controls are clunky, and while I didn’t try this on my steam deck (I had enough trouble with my keyboard and mouse), I’d imagine it would feel even worse. Hit boxes are off with the bow (aim for legs not heads), and exploration’s rather punishing in the beginning, with enemies aggroing you out of nowhere and taking a chunk of your hp. I’d say it might be a good idea to focus on the life sim aspects of the game in the beginning, slowly building up to a point where you can buy new equipment before heading out into the wilderness and doing some exploration. There is an easy combat setting in the options that would help streamline things and make it viable (but still not easy) to start exploration and combat right away.

There’s currently local co-op in the game, though I haven’t had the opportunity to try it out, and they’re planning on adding online multiplayer at some point in time. It was slated for November 2025, but as of January 2026, it hasn’t happened, though it still is getting updates with the most recent being their end of year update in December 2025.

Overall, I’d say that Mirthwood is in a bit of a rough state right now, though it is still being updated. The aforementioned Echoes of Plum Grove might be a more polished game currently, though if you’re interested in the combat part of survival, it won’t scratch any itches.