Harvestella has flown a bit under the radar since its release in early November, as the newest addition to the ever-growing ‘farming simulator’ genre from the perspective of a Triple A developer in Square Enix
Harvestella is a blend of an action-RPG (with its dungeon crawling) and farming simulator, which we all know from similar games; is a recipe for success. There’s a lot of gameplay elements and tropes that you’ll be familiar with if you’ve ever touched a farming sim, but there’s also some welcomed additions to the formula that the team at Square Enix have tried to use to separate the game from its peers.
When it comes to farming simulators, there’s a benchmark that all other games get measured up to and that game of course is Stardew Valley. There’s a heavy influence presented throughout Harvestella that is hard to ignore, and a lot of the time, is simply done a lot better in the former.
That’s not at all to say that Harvestella is a bad game by any stretch of the imagination, I just felt that a lot more could have been done to really distinguish the game from its influences, and make it more of a unique experience. A lot of the time, it just felt like I was playing a re-skin of a game that I already have and enjoy.
Harvestella’s setting takes place in a fantasy world ruled by four crystals which are referred to as ‘seaslights’, which are used as time-telling devices that govern which season is current. We’re thrown into the narrative after an undisclosed amount of time, when these crystals start malfunctioning and accidentally introduce a new season referred to as ‘Quietus’ or ‘the season of death’, which kills anything it touches, except for our mysteriously amnesiac character who awakens outside a city after Quietus concludes.
With no idea of who or where we are, the locals give us a shed to live in until our memories come back as we’re tasked with trying to uncover what caused ‘Quietus’ to occur.
It’s a pretty grim and interesting introduction to the world, but from here you’re thrown into the typical farming simulator experience. You’ll be instructed to clear your land so you can begin learning the basics to farming.
You’ll also be encouraged to go out and meet townsfolk, because what good is a farming simulator without the social simulation experience? Additionally, you’ll also be introduced to fighting monsters in dungeons, which is where Harvestella really shines, but we’ll get to that a little bit later.
On the farming side of things, all the expected gameplay elements are present. Each seasons lasts 30 days, in which you’ll have a variety of season crops you can plant, harvest and sell. There’s a full suite of tools you’ll have at your disposal to use on your farm, for ploughing, digging, watering and generally maintaining your land, and as you progress, you’ll unlock the ability to add and look after livestock on your farm. Ring any bells?
All of this is presented in a more ‘stripped-down’ approach, and it really doesn’t add anything new to the farming mechanics (if anything, it takes away from some of the elements you might expect).
When you’re not too busy working cleaning up your farm, you’ll likely be spending a large portion of your time in the social simulation aspects of Harvestella. NPC’s throughout the towns you visit will offer side-quests and personalized missions to further learn about some of the ranging backstories/sub-plots setup for each character.
These stories don’t have all that much of an impact on the overarching plot set out in the game, but are nice little fillers along the way which range from enjoyable to tedious fetch quests.
As you play, you’ll unlock the ability to form a party with some of the local residents you meet and interact with which eventually offer you side quests that can improve your overall relationship wit them while offering a fairly in-depth backstory for each character.
As your friendship meter improves, you’ll also unlock the ability to pursue a romantic relationship with them if that’s something you’re interested in. In addition to this, your active party can travel between towns, each which has their own unique quest chains, NPCs, crops and food options – which is a welcomed addition to the expected gameplay formula, as you’re not just restricted to the one location.
Harvestella really shines in the way it presents its combat and dungeon crawling. Despite it’s JRPG aesthetic, combat is real-time, and feels very hack and slash in it’s mechanics. There’s a lot more depth her then initially expected, as theirs various elemental effect and attack types, party member cooperation and jobs/classes you can switch between to give plenty of variety and flexibility in combat.
Every class eventually falls back into button-mashing, but it’s still an incredibly enjoyable experience running through monsters with your party and leaving a trial of destruction as you go. It won’t compete with real hack and slash games out there, but compared to combat you’d find in Stardew Valley, there’s a lot more going on.
Boss fights are arguably one of the most unique editions to the game that Harvestella has to offer. You’ll need to learn elemental weaknesses if you seek to break them, but they don’t offer too much of a challenge if you’re looking for something more complex. There’s not necessarily hard boss mechanics either, they more-so act as bigger/beefier mobs that you need to defeat, but it’s a welcome addition nonetheless.
One additional feature I’ll mention sheerly for the cuteness factor is the in-game mounts called ‘Totokaku’. Later in the game you’ll unlock the ability to buy one to travel quicker, and I have to say; I absolutely adored mine.
I’d summarize Harvestella by saying this as fairly as I can: Harvestella is a fine game. It doesn’t exceed it’s competitors in its farming simulation, nor does it exceed its competitors on the other end of the RPG spectrum, but it does a perfectly fine job at blending the two.
I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to play it over games that simply do these elements of the game better, but I enjoyed my time with it nonetheless. AUD$79 from launch seems really steep for what the game has to offer, so I’d definitely keep your eyes peeled for a sale if you were wanting to pick it up.
