Move over Animal Crossing! A new casual titan is coming to town and its name is Harvest Moon: One World by Natsume, Inc. Just in time, too. I’m waiting for one of my villagers to move out. I’m already preparing for all the hours I’m about to sink into the sprawling open-world laid out for us and with the plentiful mechanics scattered about promise to make things that much more addictive. Get ready to become just as excited as we are!
Since 1997, the Harvest Moon franchise has been filling the empty hours of the day with fun and enjoyable hours of casual crop-growing and good ol’ animal husbandry. Harvest Moon: One World is the newest title in the well-established Harvest Moon Farming Simulator franchise! In recent years, the Harvest Moon series has split into two separate entities: Harvest Moon; which is owned by Natsume, and Story of Seasons, which is lead by other members of the original series. Licensing disputes aside, Harvest Moon: One World is shaping up to be an innovative step forward for the series as a whole.
With the disappearance of the Harvest Goddess, the world has fallen into chaos and turmoil, as the only thing available to grow and eat are lumpy, boring potatoes. Fortunately, you have been chosen to discover the true fate of the Harvest Goddess and bring plentiful crops back to the land. Once you create your farming superhero of legend, you are thrust into a wide, bustling open world filled with different towns to visit, biomes to explore, and secrets to reveal.
Harvest Moon: One World throws a lot of its weight on the promise of exploration. With the ability to freely trek from vibrant grasslands and snowcapped mountains to scorching deserts, there are plenty of opportunities to run into various harvest wisps, which will gift you with a variety of seeds ranging in a rarity for you to plant in one of your multiple farms.
That’s right: Multiple Farms!
With Natsume’s implementation of the Expando-Farm tool, players can extend their farm to any of the several biomes in order to grow region-specific variants of crops. As you experiment with different combinations, you’ll slowly fill your logbook with the different variations of mutated crops. Tomatoes, for example, have several different variants depending on whether they’re grown in grasslands, snowy mountains, or deserts. As you gather more crops, you’ll also find small hints as to where you can plant them to gather their hybrid forms. With so much to do with your plants, don’t forget to pay attention to your animals!
Harvest Moon: One World has a diverse set of wildlife you can add to your farm or just keep as pets. From petting foxes to riding a tiger to your crush’s town, there’s plenty of ways to enjoy the animals that populate your world. Speaking of your crush, there is a handsome selection of bachelors and bachelorettes just waiting for you to regale them with your tales of adventure and farming heroism, so don’t forget to stop by the local town and say hi. They might offer you an opportunity to sew the seeds of true love.
Harvest Moon: One World looks to be a fairly decent game. It’s unmistakably a farming simulator that will be appreciated by the fans of the genre. While currently there is no multiplayer, Natsume’s team assured me that they are brainstorming the best ways to implement it into their title. They didn’t want to do a superficial job, which I can appreciate, but at the same time, this is a feature that all of their competition has in one way or another. I hope they are able to deliver a stellar multiplayer in the near future that further enhances this title.
Check Out the Harvest Moon: One World Trailer:
Pre-orders for Harvest Moon: One World Collector’s Edition are available at Limited Run Games: Switch Collector’s Edition / PS4 Collector’s Edition
PS4 and Switch launching in North & South America March 2nd, 2021 and the Nintendo Switch version will be launching in Europe on March 5, 2021. The Xbox One version is TBD.
For more information, please visit: http://www.natsume.com/
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As the (self-proclaimed) King of Casuals, I'm always seeking out new titles to play and experience across all platforms. Eventually, I have ambitions to take the many different styles of this medium to create titles that will wow the masses in fresh, innovative ways.
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