I’ve never actually played the Harvest Moon series of games; I had grown up during the first wave of Pokemon, so that dominated the market when I first started getting into video games. I’ve played Animal Crossings, which is very similar, but it’s a lot slower and more of a relaxing real-time game that I play when I need the world to slow down a bit.
Story of Seasons is a bit more fast paced, but it starts out slow when you first start a new game. Your character has just moved to a small rural town to start a new life as a farmer and you’ve gotta learn the ins and outs of what it takes to be successful. The game’s tutorials are easy to learn and you start to get into a routine in terms of caring for your farm, heading into town to trade, and bopping around the map to fish and catch bugs.
As with any Harvest Moon game, there’s options for romancing the eligible bachelors and bachelorettes. The characters can be a little one dimensional at times, but the artwork is lovely and there’s some skill in attempting to woo who you want. On top of all the other things you can do, the dating aspect comes off as an added bonus. I haven’t gotten farther than the dating confession, but it’s been fun trying to figure out what you’d need to do in order for a character to propose (and yes, there’s a blue feather involved 😀 )
The game has at least two spin offs and I’m going to try Trio of Towns once I get far enough in the original SoS. But I don’t know exactly when that will be, since I’ve gotten into the swing of things in the game and there’s still plenty to unlock. It’s a great game to play when you’ve got a few minutes to spare, since the in-game time passes quickly.
So, if you’ve been looking for a game to lose yourself in for a few hours without it being too slow, this is a game for you!!
I'll play it by ear 