The original Harvest Moon series - now known as Story of Seasons (series) - first released on the SNES way back in 1996, a time when crazy pants were all the rage and the world was about to be hit by a major disaster... The Spice Girls.
For all these years Story of Seasons has been master of the farm simulation / rpg genre, largely due to the fact that no other developer cared enough to challenge it despite its popularity.
Since Natsume lost publishing rights in the west for the original series, it has now rather confusingly, started producing games for the North American and European audience under the name Harvest Moon. So far they have failed to mount a serious challenge to the Story of Seasons series, and although its upcoming game (Harvest Moon: seeds of Memories) will grace the Wii U, PCs and tablets in the near future, their execution of the game seems lacklustre and doomed to fail.
The latest entry into the Story of Seasons series, "Story of Seasons" was met with critical acclaim and in March 2014 was the top selling game in Japan. This has further cemented Story of Seasons as the go to title for fans of the genre with no sign of it changing any time soon.
Yet under the veil of indie obscurity lays the apprentice in the form of Stardew Valley. Making little noise and working hard, its developer ConcernedApe, might be the messiah every Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons fan has been waiting for.
Amazingly ConcernedApe is behind every aspect of the game. From the soundtrack, to art work and coding. His game is a labour of love that has been ongoing for the better part of two years. With its art style reminiscent of a 16 bit game from the Sega Genesis and SNES era, it is clear to see that Stardew Valley has been heavily inspired by the original Harvest Moon series.
As you would expect, Stardew Valley will provide you with everything you loved from your favourite farm simulation / rpg games: a fleshed out story mode that revolves around Joja corp, a greedy corporation bent on the urbanisation of your quaint town, farming, animal husbandry, meeting and wooing local townsfolk, cooking and attending festivals. Additionally, Stardew Valley offers cave exploring and fighting similar to the Harvest Moon Rune Factory series and choice and consequences as you can decide whether you aid Joja Corp in their pursuit of urbanisation or put a stop to their corrupt ways.
Stardew Valley's standout addition that trumps any previous game of its type, is the ability to play co-op multiplayer. Although Story of Seasons for the 3DS has some multiplayer elements and an interesting online economics system, the platforms limitations in online connectivity meant the possibility of playing co-op was never fully explored. As Stardew Valley will be offered on PC, player to player connectivity should not be an issue allowing you to join up to three friends to work together, sharing tasks like sowing seeds whilst your friend waters them, jointly swapping out furniture or wallpapers in your ever expanding home, in a fashion similar to Animal Crossing and taking care of animals together.
In a somewhat macabre twist, Stardew Valley allows you to not only breed and care for animals to sell their produce, but to also ship your animals to the slaughter house to make money from their butchered corpses. Certain animals like dairy cows will be intended to keep for produce as the happier they are the better quality goods they produce. Others in turn, will be more suited for a life of fattening and eventual sacrifice.
Another nice feature is fishing, when you cast a rod in Stardew Valley a mini game will begin requiring some skill on your part to complete it, as opposed to dependence on random numbers to see whether you catch a fish or not. The experience is further enhanced with bobbers and baits that will be available as upgrades, improving your chances whilst fishing and making the mini game easier.
Stardew Valley promises to further enhance the experience with over 100 recipes for cooking and crafting meaning that you will be able to craft certain items and furniture and cook meals that will boost skills, speed and combat, and by including a levelling system allowing the allocation of skill points and perks to 6 different areas: Farming, Mining, Digging, Fishing, Foraging and luck.
In my opinion it’s the small details that make a game, and ConcernedApe has made sure that his game is peppered with them. From hidden secrets and events, hundreds of NPC interactions that will make the world of Stardew Valley feel alive and immersive, multiple areas to unlock and explore, to dungeons filled with monsters when you feel your adventurous side is starting to get restless. All this topped with a character creation system that will allow you to relate more to the avatar you create, will surely make Stardew Valley a game that will be able to stand toe to toe with the giants that are Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons.
ConcernedApe has opted for a full release of his game, rather than the ever popular early access alpha/beta route, and although this means that we will have to wait longer for the release date, it assures potential players that when it does release, we will be playing a finished and polished game rather than a good idea with the potential to be a promising game, an approach that I for one prefer.
Stardew Valley is shaping up to be a well thought up and detailed game that has its core mechanics rooted in a tested concept. Its retro graphics will take you back to a time when games were simpler, yet it is far from a simple game. Its main story, mini games and option to play multiplayer will surely keep you entertained for a long time. Come Stardew Valley's release day, with only a fraction of the budget it competitors boast, and additions to the genre that fans have been longing for years, the apprentice will have become the master. If not, it will at least have opened the eyes of some developers that have allowed this genre to stagnate for nearly 20 years.
Slated for a 2015 release for PC with a possibility for Linux and Mac support, Stardew Valley is being developed solely by Concerned Ape and published by Chucklefish (the guys behind Starbound). If like me you can't wait to play this game, make sure to visit www.stardewvalley.net where the developer updates his blog monthly making the wait slightly more bearable.
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The five-year deal kicks off in 2027, replacing EA and Codemasters.
WTMG's Oliver Shellding: "But other than that niggling issue, I had such a memorable, gorgeous time with Kulebra. A combination of Paper Mario, Coco and Undertale, this beautiful game brought me on a journey into unknown reaches of empathy, hope and utter heartbreak. It treated the player gently, touching on ideas of life after death without being aggressive or definitive, and it did so with absolute grace. It was a joy to explore, it never flagged, and I was dead set on finding and reading everything. Finally, I am at peace, and I simply must recommend this sweet memento mori to whomever it can reach. I promise: you won’t forget this."
If you read the actual article you can see its not advertising but an opinion piece on a new entry to the rpg farming genre!!
Why is this considered advertising? I have no ties to the developer, im just a fan of the genre giving my take in what to me is a game ive been waiting to play for a while.
If its the link thats the problem i can take it of, i only added it in case readers would like to read more on the game.
Wow. Thanks for this blog, man. I had no idea this game was in the works. I now am greatly anticipating this game, thanks to you!
When I was growing up, Harvest Moon was one of those games I could play for 5 hours and not even realize it. It still baffles me how fun it was. This upcoming game Stardew Valley looks awesome and I really hope it turns out as well as Harvest Moon. Thanks for the blog Gametula.
I'm really looking forward to this one as well.