People who bought it expecting it was an official Harvest Moon title, or comparable to Stardew, either didn't google this before buying or are just plain dumb. The game series is known as Bokujou Monogatari (aka 'Ranch Story') in Japan - the developers, Marvelous, hired a company called Natsume back in the 90s to localize the games for a western release, they did so under the name 'Harvest Moon'.
TL DR Game is boring (I've played on Switch, PS4 and PC) and offers only very, very little fun. Obviously it isn't since the developers are completely different people. however, that's no excuse for some people who are saying this is nothing like old Harvest Moon (now called Story of Seasons) or Stardew Valley.
This game is just a poor excuse for Natsume trying to make money off a brand while not letting it die off, as it is evident that the developers who worked on it just learned how to make a game probably last year. Also, this is NOT Stardew Valley in the same way that "Story of Seasons" (the new Marvelous! made Harvest Moon) is NOT Stardew Valley, either. Do not come looking for a Harvest Moon game without doing some research first. This is Not "Harvest Moon" as it is not made by Marvelous!.
Games published in North America by Natsume, Inc. The official continuation of the series is now being released under the title Story of Seasons, causing no small amount of confusion for fans and retailers alike. How everything went down is explained in this interview. Natsume has chosen to continue making games under the "Harvest Moon" label that contain a similar style of gameplay but are in themselves not Bokujou Monogatari games. However, while Natsume still owns the rights to the Harvest Moon brand, many fans favour XSEED's localisation and translation style. In early 2014, Marvelous AQL dropped Natsume as publishing and localization company for Bokujou Monogatari in the West, switching instead to XSEED Games, their Western division who were already localizing Rune Factory. Some games have an Unexpected Gameplay Change or two Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon for the DS has a fantasy setting and some RPG-style elements, such as the ability to fight monsters (and with the releases of RF 2 (DS) and Frontier (Wii), has become a full-fledged Spin-Off Series), while in Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon for the PSP, the player character is actually a Ridiculously Human Robot.Īs with most popular series, it has a wiki.