While it can be repetitive this game does hit all the right notes to make it a enjoyable time
Occasionally I just get in the mood to play a farming game. That time has arrived once again. But like most it isn’t just about growing a bunch of crops. Since it does have a storyline too.
A family sits around discussing various topics when their son/daughter brings up a dramatic life choice. They want to be a farmer yet their father is stauntly against them doing that. Ignoring his wishes they head off to start a farm with the help of their uncle Frank. With his help and a will to make the best farm ever the protagonist starts their new life. Nothing too crazy here although they do through a few twists and turns along the way.
Tending to the farm is very similar to most other games like this. Till the land, plant seeds and then water them. Rinse and repeat for the entire game. The main thing that changes is all the upgrades you can make along the way. Like making the watering can better via mining ore from the nearby town. Or adding a more linear progression system, which is the main new thing I noticed in this game compared to some of the older Harvest Moon games. They were all about just making your farm better without any guidance. Honestly I think I like this better since it gives me more visible goals to reach for.
Taking care of animals is another part of the farming life in this game. The upkeep of keeping them fed and happy is the goal of each in game day. The biggest part of the crops and animals is the fact you can level them up. Different fertilizer can improve the crops color/lushness/size and the animals have a similar system via treats.. You’ll also have a reason to make them better since the different in game contests can push you to succeed. They tend to be one of the goals the game puts in your way too if you ever feel like seeing the credits roll. But other than doing stuff around the farm this game does have three different towns as noted in the title.
Although you only get to see one for the first hour or so. An old west themed town, a tropical inspired town and a Japanese style town are the different flavors available. Each one has different crops and services available so you’ll end up going to each one every day. Like you can only mine in Westown and any upgrades for the farm can be found at luluco. New stuff is also created to be placed at the barn that can lead to some useful quality of life upgrades. For example being able to make seeds at the farm is very useful. Plenty of unique townspeople populate the towns too and while they don’t have a ton of stuff to say everyone gets little mini events if you bring up their friendship meter via gifts.
Luckily it doesn’t take long to reach any of them since at best you’ll have to go through one interim area before reaching the main district of each town. Never felt like the game was trying to waste my time and if I was in a hurry riding a horse around makes everything that much quicker. Each town also has different side jobs for the player to take on for some extra money and to upgrade each town’s rank. Yes you can level a town in this game too. Maybe they overdid it a bit on all the different things you can level but I enjoyed my time doing most tasks since they don’t last long. They are certainly super respective though. I feel like I shouldn’t be enjoying doing fetch quests every in game day but that is the level of complexity here.
Most of this game is doing repetitive tasks that are relaxing to some. Yet that can also be pretty boring after a while if your not enjoying everything around the tasks you do in game. I do think it does have just enough variety to keep most players going for quite a while. Plus after the end game it does make it real easy to finish up most of the tougher tasks if you decide 65 hours isn’t enough. If you haven’t played a Harvest Moon game in a long time then this might be the game for you. I enjoyed it quite a bit.