Do you like Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley? Or have you heard of neither and are just looking for a cozy game to play? Well, look no more! STORY OF SEASONS: A Wonderful Life, by developers Marvelous Inc., will solve all of your cozy game desires. As someone who’s always wanted to play Animal Crossing but never got the chance to, I was thoroughly pleased while playing this game. It also helped me find my specially curated cozy gaming playlist on Spotify, which is a plus.
When players first start, they are introduced to a farm in the Forbidden Valley that they inherit from their father. Your father’s friend helps you start up, giving you a bunch of notes and tips to help as you start the game. Thank goodness for this friend, otherwise, I genuinely would be lost. While the map isn’t large, there’s so much to do and so limited time to do it. I personally spent a lot of time with my crops and livestock and selling items at my shop in the town. However, you can go fishing, help digging with the town archaeologist, build relationships/start a family, and more. I honestly had a hard time balancing everything that I wanted to do at first, but I think once you get into a groove, everything else comes easy.
As farming is a large part of the game, I think it’s important that I talk about that, too. I am a terrible farmer. That, or I’m just slow. For the first five in-game days, I could not grow any crops. Why? I didn’t realize that I had to refill my watering can. I knew there was a visual cue that’s supposed to happen – the ground gets darker – but I never got it, so I thought it was just a bug. No, there’s just a fountain near the fields that you’re supposed to use to refill your water. Safe to say, that first Spring I struggled a bit, and my meals weren’t exactly the best. Speaking of meals, it’s recommended that you make good food to make it easier for your character to keep up their energy. The more failed meals you make, the less energy you get back. You can also find recipes for meals around the town or by talking to people, as you’ll need them for more than just making yourself food.
The other thing I want to touch on is building relationships with people. It’s a bit harder than I thought it’d be. While it’s very easy to talk to people, you have to initiate conversations a lot; it isn’t continuous dialogue where you get to select options most of the time. Engaging and re-engaging seems a little tedious sometimes. Sometimes you’ll also get cutscenes with specific people inviting you to talk to them more (I’m assuming potential love interests). I talked to everyone but didn’t really get into the love interest part yet. Though I do think it’s cute you can start a family with some of the townies, it makes interacting with everyone that much more fun.
Overall, I think STORY OF SEASONS: A Wonderful Life is very cute and enjoyable. The more/longer you play, the more you get out of it and the more you can expand and build. With that being said, I’ll definitely be playing this game in my free time, and I hope you do, too.
Rating: 9/10
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Related: Reviews by Maryanne Fadonougbo
"I've enjoyed gaming since I was little, playing games like Pokémon, Rayman, and Naruto every day. Besides that though, I've always had a love for writing. Now I am combining the two for the best of both worlds! My ultimate goal is to do narrative design for video games."
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