There are many things I expected from the afterlife. Judgement. Existential admin. Possibly a man with a shrunken head side-eyeing my life choices.
What I did not necessarily expect was farming, fishing, village restoration, desert exploration, and a cosy little Nile-side routine. Honestly? Rude of real life to make that sound more relaxing than most weekends.
Fields of Aaru, the Ancient Egyptian afterlife life sim from Zymartu Games, has just released its first public demo on Steam, revealed during the Women-Led Games Showcase as part of Summer Game Fest. The game invites you to begin a new eternal life in Aaru, the paradise of Egyptian mythology, where farming meets ruins, obelisks, offerings, and the very specific fantasy of fixing up a village after you have already shuffled off the mortal coil.
Official Demo Launch Trailer
Welcome To The Good Place, But With Irrigation
In Fields of Aaru, you settle along the fertile banks of the Nile, building a home, farming the land, fishing, gathering materials, and helping restore a struggling riverside community.
The cosy sim bones are all here. Grow crops, craft tools, shape the land, meet locals, upgrade the village, and slowly turn your corner of the afterlife into something a little less “dusty eternity” and a little more “I could put a cute pot plant there. Nice.”
The setting is what gives it a proper little spark. Rather than another familiar woodland village or suspiciously cheerful island, Fields of Aaru leans into Ancient Egyptian mythology, with shrines, gods, obelisks, pyramids, tombs, oases, and ancient crafts woven into the loop.
And look, as someone whose cosy game brain has been trained to see a patch of dirt and immediately think “I could absolutely grow something here,” this is dangerous information.
The Desert Is Calling, Which Is Worrying Because I Am Very Indoorsy
Outside the calm Nile-side farming life, Fields of Aaru expands into open desert exploration. You can search for hidden oases, wander through ancient ruins, uncover buried tombs, and gather rare materials and lost knowledge beneath the sand.
A big part of progression seems tied to restoring long-dormant obelisks, which unlock new regions, powers, and fast travel options across the world. You can also earn blessings from Egyptian gods through offerings and shrines, adding a mythological twist to the usual “please accept these ten turnips and love me forever” cosy game economy.
You will also be able to learn ancient crafts, including:
- Stone shaping
- Clay firing
- Canal building
- Tool crafting
- Irrigation systems
- Resource gathering and land shaping
That irrigation bit is especially interesting because any farming sim that makes the actual relationship between water, land, and survival part of the design immediately gets my attention. Give me systems. Give me little canals. Give me the dangerous illusion that I am organised. It’s nice to dream.
A Husband-And-Wife Indie Team
Zymartu Games is an indie studio founded by Marcel and Thu, a husband-and-wife team who have been building Fields of Aaru together for more than three years.
Both come from software engineering backgrounds at Google and Amazon, and started the studio to create original games built around atmosphere, worldbuilding, creativity, and strong technical foundations.
That combo makes sense here. Fields of Aaru looks like the sort of project where the cosy systems need to feel satisfying, but the world also needs to feel rich enough that you actually want to keep poking around every suspicious ruin like a nosy little archaeology goblin.
Game Info
| Detail | Info |
| Game | Fields of Aaru |
| Developer | Zymartu Games |
| Publisher | Zymartu Games |
| Genre | Cosy life sim, farming sim, adventure |
| Setting | The Ancient Egyptian afterlife |
| Platform | PC via Steam |
| Demo | Available now on Steam |
| Release Date | Coming soon |
| Showcase | Women-Led Games Showcase, Summer Game Fest 2026 |
Accessibility Snapshot
Accessibility information checked June 2026. Confirmed details are currently limited, so this section will be updated if the developer shares more.
| Category | Feature | Options | Notes |
| Confirmed | Platform | PC via Steam | Demo available now |
| Reported | Controller Support | Not confirmed | Steam tags list controller support, but detailed implementation has not been confirmed. |
| Not Confirmed | Text Size / UI Scaling | Not confirmed | No public details found in the provided release |
| Not Confirmed | Remapping | Not confirmed | No public details found in the provided release |
| Not Confirmed | Colourblind Options | Not confirmed | No public details found in the provided release |
| Not Confirmed | Camera Shake | Not confirmed | No public details found in the provided release |
| Not Confirmed | Difficulty / Assist Options | Not confirmed | No public details found in the provided release |
| Not Confirmed | Subtitle Options | Not confirmed | No public details found in the provided release |
Accessibility settings can vary by platform, build, and demo version. You should check the in-game settings menu, Steam page, and developer updates for the most current information.
Why This One Has Our Attention
There are a lot of cosy games out there, and bless them, I love a cute field and a suspiciously overworked local blacksmith as much as the next emotionally tired little gremlin.
But Fields of Aaru has a more specific hook. An Ancient Egyptian afterlife sim where farming, village restoration, mythology, exploration, and crafting all seem to feed into one another. It is a cosy life sim with sand in its shoes and gods in the group chat.
The new demo is available now on Steam, so if your current mortal existence could use fewer emails and more Nile-adjacent farming, this may be one for the wishlist.
TLDR;
- Fields of Aaru is a cosy Ancient Egyptian afterlife sim from Zymartu Games.
- The first public demo is available now on Steam.
- You can farm, fish, craft, explore deserts and ruins, restore a riverside village, and unlock powers through obelisks and offerings to Egyptian gods.
- The game was shown during the Women-Led Games Showcase as part of Summer Game Fest 2026.
- Release Date: Coming soon.
- Play the demo and wishlist on Steam: Here
- Official Website: https://zymartugames.com/fields-of-aaru
Stay unruly.
