Leafblade convinced me monster taming games have been getting the whole caretaking thing backwards, and I have never been so happy to water crops with a giant flower fairy breathing down my neck.
Most monster taming games treat your creatures like unpaid interns. Pals get shoved into factory lines, Pokemon carry your bags and fight on command, and the actual bonding part gets skipped in favor of the grind.
Leafblade slows all of that down and asks you to feed your monsters what they actually like, watch them nap when they’re tired, and build them a proper home instead of just clocking their stats.
Leafblade Is The Farm Sim Monster Tamers Have Been Missing
Wayward Games has already put a demo in front of players during Six One Indie’s Demo Days 2026 event, which is up until August 7th. However, if you miss it, there’s always a second chance during Steam Next Fest this October.
During the demo, I spent five days as Rain, newly chosen to carry a disproportionately large magic leaf that bonds humans and monsters after that bond broke centuries ago.
Between fights, I ran a literal Farm Sanctuary, assigning tamed Mons like a scrappy little cactuar to till, plant, and water alongside me, then cooking what we grew to keep everyone fed and happy. Also, trading crops to the village earned me runes to upgrade my blade and my farmhouse.
It’s hand-drawn, it’s stupidly cute, and the loop of taming something just to hand it a house key is doing something genuinely different for the genre.
There is no confirmed release window yet, but with a demo already out in the world, our cozy monster taming farm sim itch might get scratched sooner than we think. We highly recommend you check out Leafblade before the demo leaves at the end of the week.
Still here? Good.
That means the article did its job! If you’d like to see more of them (and get first crack at what’s next) our Patreon’s the place.
About the Author
Discover more from Bonus Action
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
