Platforms: Switch.
Few things in life are as certain as the quiet, relaxing enjoyment you'll get out of a Story of Seasons__ game – formerly known as_Harvest Moon_, the Japanese farming RPG never really rocks the boat when it comes to iterative innovation, but that's become part of the charm for the 25 year old franchise.
As with most previous excursions, you start Pioneers of Olive Town as a young city kid, escaping the hustle and bustle to take over the farm you've inherited from your grandfather. Once you've made the journey to rural Nowheresville though, you find the farm is a dilapidated mess that you'll need to bring back to life by hand. This is the RPG loop of the series – instead of grinding through monsters and increasing combat stats, you'll start by chopping down trees, tilling soil, and planting crops, each improving your proficiency in that area of farm craft. Forget more powerful swords or shields – when you start unlocking more silver and gold level tools, able to cultivate huge tracts of land in one go, you'll feel like a farming god.
"Huge tracts of land" is probably the best description of what to expect in Pioneers of Olive Town – this is by far the largest entry in the series to date. The first area you have to tend to is itself pretty big, and you'll be able to build a sizeable farm just on there. Then you repair a bridge though, and discover an area nearly three times the size. Then another area beyond that, past a rockslide you'll need to clear, which is bigger still. Every time you think you've opened up the biggest area, you seem to find more.
Thankfully, there are a few tweaks to make mastering such a vast area a tad less daunting. Mounts will help you travel across your virtual acres much faster, and you'll eventually be able to craft aids such as sprinklers, so you're not spending each game day just watering crops. Crafting plays an increasingly crucial part as you progress, with new recipes unlocking regularly as you hone your farming skills, each one providing something new to be working towards.
When you start unlocking silver and gold level tools, you'll feel like a farming god.
That's the simply joy of Story of Seasons – there's always something to be doing, whether in maintaining the farm or in cultivating relationships with the townsfolk. The game's clock runs at one minute per real-world second, but developer Marvelous Entertainment has struck a brilliant balance where there's just enough time to do what you need to do, but still have enough freedom to chat with your neighbours and, if you want to, get married.
Perhaps the biggest misstep that SoS:PoOT makes – besides that giggle-inducing acronym – is the Maker machines. You'll like them at first – craftable mini-factories that will turn wood into usable lumber, eggs into mayo, or refine ores into metals, each unlocking better ingredients to craft more powerful tools or repair facilities. However, each Maker can only process one item at a time. Eventually, you'll have an entire field of them, lined up in rows of their 2x2 place markers, churning out items at an industrial rate. Not only does it undermine the chill vibes the game is going for, but it turns huge chunks of each game day into a laborious slog to check each one every few hours. At the very least, being able to process multiple items in one machine would have been a massive improvement there.
Even then though, industrial in-game farming is something of a choice – if you want to take things super slow, grow a tiny organic patch and just enjoy the slower pace of life that Olive Town provides, you can. There's no real failure state or penalties for playing the game "wrong", it's just a nice, chill place to hang out. If Animal Crossing lacked enough of an objective or purpose to keep your attention, Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town may be just the ticket.
Buy now from Amazon.{