Most farming sims drop you into a half-empty town with a letter from a grandparent and a parcel of overgrown land. You know the rhythm before you've cleared the first weed. Roots of Pacha solves that familiarity by winding the clock back to the Stone Age, where nobody has invented a shipping bin yet and the land itself is still learning what a crop is. You're not inheriting a farm—you're helping a clan discover the idea of one.
What you'll do in Pachan life
- Farm wild grains and gradually domesticate them into reliable crops
- Fish with hand-carved tools and later refine your approach with better materials
- Shape clay into pottery, a craft that feels tactile and tied to your settlement's growth
- Romance clan members, building relationships through shared discoveries instead of gift economies
- Design your character's appearance when you arrive, then watch their role in the community deepen
A village built from the ground up, together
Where the game really departs from the genre is in its multiplayer. Soda Den built it from scratch with co-op in mind, so you're not bolting a second player onto a solo world. You and your friends share the same settlement, the same calendar, and the same slow transformation from foraging clan to ironworking community. The version 1.3 update expanded that world with two new regions, introduced ironworking as a late-game technological leap, and added bug catching—a small pursuit that brings the wild edges of the map closer to home. Music stands in for spoken language, giving conversations a melodic, pre-verbal texture that suits the setting. Tested on Apple Silicon and 64-bit Intel Macs alike, the whole thing runs quietly on a 2020 M1 MacBook Air.
A herder's afternoon in the savanna
Imagine someone who spends their workdays in spreadsheets and their evenings craving a game where progress is measured in seasons, not sprint deadlines. They've played their share of farm sims, but what pulls them into Pacha is the animals. Not the buying-a-cow-from-a-shop routine—the actual taming, where an aurochs is a wild thing you have to understand before it trusts you. One afternoon, they spot a herd near the new savanna region and spend two in-game days just watching movement patterns before approaching. The flute melody that plays when the animal finally accepts them is earned in a way a store purchase never is. Later that night, they tell a friend over Discord that they've been naming every oryx calf.
From idea board to beehive before the morning fades
A typical session starts just after dawn. You check the idea board first—your clanmates have been contributing, and now there's a new concept for a beehive that needs raw materials. You grab a stone axe and head into the forest, gathering wild honeycomb and a few logs. By mid-morning you're by the river, working a shallow fishing spot while an NPC hums nearby. The catch isn't just food; it's part of a festival dish you're planning for next week. Around noon you duck into the caves, torch flickering, and chip away at a new ore vein. The iron bar you smelt by evening feels like a milestone the whole settlement shares. You end the day by placing a new pot in your house, a small shift in the room's shape that makes it feel like yours. It's not a checklist of chores—it's one day in a long story your clan is writing together.
Version 1.3 opens two new regions to explore, adds ironworking as a major technological step for your settlement, and introduces bug catching across the wilder corners of the map.
- macOS (tested on macOS Sonoma)
- Apple Silicon or 64-bit Intel processor
Questions from the booth
Yes, the game was developed from scratch with multiplayer support and you can build a settlement cooperatively with friends online.
