I have not played any daughter simulators before, but I enjoyed this little narrative game jam effort about a hermit in the woods raising a little mushroom child that they received from a witch.
A witch arrives at the hut of a recluse and offers to create a daughter for them to ease their loneliness… for a price. At the beginning of the game, you play as the recluse. The choices you make in creating and raising your child will impact the color, type of mushroom, personality and attributes that your daughter will have as she grows. Once she matures to the age of independence, she moves out, either with the love and support of her hermit parent or as a way to escape them. At that point in the game, you play as the mushroom lady as she lives out her shroomy life.
The game is narrative, similar to a visual novel, and the extent of gameplay rests on making choices. There is an element of combat in that you can choose to use powers or brute force to solve problems, depending on what you’ve unlocked for the character, but there is no character sprite or avatar to control or move around the world. You’re reading the story and making choices based on random events the recluse or mushroom daughter encounters as they live their lives in the forest. My favorite random encounters involved an alien you find in the woods who wishes to experience life on your planet, which can lead to some heartwarming events if played that way. You can also create and be a mean mushroom and die violently.
I did three playthroughs at it is a relatively short game, and got three very different endings, but still I’ve barely unlocked all of the possible combinations and attributes the mushroom daughter may have. It’s impressive replayability for a game with such an incredibly short development time. It’s also pay as you’d like, so you can technically play for free, although I did pay for it since it’s an indie game.
Worth a curious afternoon if this type of game is appealing for you!

We had a game when I was a kid, on Windows 3.1 I believe, that was about packing things. Like packing a suitcase before a trip, or the briefcase before a day at the office. I thought it was extremely satisfying, and wished there were more games like that. Unpacking is of course the exact opposite in theory, but scratches the same itch. It feels very satisfying to neatly arrange a drawer or a shelf in this isometric world.
Seeing the story of the main character unfold in the clues taped up in packing boxes was a storytelling device that I really enjoyed. When she moved into the apartment with her boyfriend and the only place I could fit her diploma was in a forgotten spot where it wouldn’t be seen, I yelled, “no, girl, get a partner who values you and makes space for your accomplishmeeeents!” Such are the lessons we learn in our 20s. The story was sweet, the graphics were cute, but overall it’s just really relaxing to unpack a pixel box in a way that unpacking real ones is not. I would not pay full price for it, though, it’s pretty short, although they tried to add replay value through the sticker collection achievements. I wish there were more games like this.