To dive straight in, one of the most beautiful and most enjoyable games I've ever played. I genuinely felt sad when I knew the game was coming to an end.
It's worth knowing that, for me, it's one of the best games because it fits perfectly into the genre I love to play. On the Nintendo Switch I love playing so-called cozy games. And even within that genre, there are certain elements I have a preference for.
Spiritfarer is a management cozy game.
Let me take you into the world of the Spiritfarer Stella, and hopefully you'll give it a chance.

Stella, the Spiritfarer

The title of the game already makes it fairly clear what the goal of the game is and what your task is. As Stella you return to the spirit world. In that world you're appointed as Spiritfarer. It becomes your task to help the spirits you come across. You help them find peace with the death, with the life they're leaving behind. Once they've found that, you literally sail them to their final resting place.
To find the spirits, you sail your boat to various islands. On these islands (not all of them) you come across spirits who, by helping them, you can convince to temporarily come live on your boat. Once they're on your boat, you get various tasks from that spirit to help them along further.

Stella's abilities

To your frustration, you'll have to leave certain islands again because you haven't discovered all of Stella's abilities yet. There are six in total, which you need in order to eventually be able to help all the spirits. For example, you have ziplining. It's a really fun and fast way to get up higher, but it does take a bit of fiddling to get the hang of it. Especially when you have to jump across at just the right moment. Because the abilities get unlocked gradually throughout the game, there's always a new ability to get the hang of. This keeps discovering a new island exciting every time.

Stella's boat

You start with a fairly simple boat. You can (and need to) gradually expand this boat. These expansions have to be bought with specific materials. With these expansions you build houses for the spirits, but you also build workshops. For example, you get a weavery, but also a kitchen. It's also nice that you can garden on your boat once you can build the orchard. The great thing is, everything is connected to everything else. You need one workshop to produce materials for the next house, and what you find in the house, you might need again to build the next workshop. Eventually you end up with a boat that almost resembles a city.

The spirits

In total there are 10 spirits to help and bring to the Everdoor once they're ready for it. Each spirit has their own story. Some spirits were even woven into Stella's life in the past. What I love most is that the makers really gave each spirit their own distinct character. For instance, Giovanni the lion is confidence itself, and he and his Bruce and Mickey look like they walked straight out of a mafia film. Each spirit also has a preference for certain dishes, and each spirit also leaves behind their own kind of flower at the end. What I never expected is that you start to feel a bond with the spirits, and that it can feel bittersweet when you take a spirit to the Everdoor.

Events

What's completely great are the events. Each event only unlocks with a certain spirit. Because of the graphic quality and the style, the events are a real experience in themselves. At first it's a bit stressful, since you don't fully know what to do. Atul, for example, lets you collect thunder during a storm. That thunder is then also needed as a material for houses or workshops. So you run around the boat collecting the thunder with little bottles. To start an event like that, you have to sail through certain parts of the map. The events sometimes also have deeper meanings. The stages in the jellyfish event, for example, represent the stages of the spirit Gwen's lung cancer.

So

Wait for a sale, or don't, but give it a try. Even for just a small price it's a fantastic game. The artwork is genuinely gorgeous, the music magical, and the gameplay has just the right pressure to it. Everything feels achievable and within reach, but you do need to put in just enough effort to keep it interesting.
Play, and fall in love with the characters and the beautiful visuals it keeps delivering along the way.