It was only a matter of time until 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Square Enix jumped aboard the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Stardew Valley bandwagon. Harvestella is quite clearly riffing on the likes of Harvest Moon and Rune Factory to create a life simulator that fits squarely within i🐎ts established mould of JRPGs, except it seems to include a healthy dose of anime melodrama amidst the apocalypse to shake things up.

While some might be turning thওeir noses up at such an✅ obvious copycat, I’m completely onboard to see how the publisher handles the genre and seeks to innovate upon it with new ideas, since there certainly seems to be a bunch of them here. The changing seasons are given narrative justification, while the fixed character designs and greater attention to world building hint at a wider story that will be a far cry from its contemporaries.

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The trailer is unintentionally hilarious. It opens with a sombre narratio🐬n, introducing its sprawling town alongside the protagonist who will spend their days toiling away at the soil as they plant crops, harvest fruit, and make a living off the land before them. Seasons shift in accordance to ancient crystals known as ‘Seaslight’ which maintain the land’s harmonious appearance. One day this balance falls away, ushering in the season of death that kills crops, summons evil creatures, and seemingly kills anyone who dares step outside.

Harvestella introduces this twist with such blunt honesty that I couldn’t help but laugh, watching as this once peaceful town becomes drenched in crimson red and screaming citizens instead of the otherwise wholesome picture it had painted up until that point. JRPGs have never been masters at balancing tone, but this is something else and I kinda love it. I’ve no i🌞dea what this season of death will involve, but we will likely have to protect our home and the characters we’ve come to love while also💖 figuring out a way to save the world.

Normally you’d come to life simulators like this to escape the misery of other games that are so obsessed with the apocalypse, but to see it incorporated into an otherwise playful farming adventure is the twist I didn’t know I needed. I want to be pulled away from vibing at my pumpkin patch to save my wife from certain death or fight god because he wants to destroy the town I’ve spent the past four seasons making my home. This girl just wants to embrace the cottagecore🌌 lesbian lifestyle, and you’re going to try to take that away from her? That’s more than reason enough to take up arms and fight, let’s be real.

Harvestella

Harvestella also seeks to go beyond what Stardew Valley and Rune Factory managed to achieve with a class-based battle system that encourages grinding and experimentation, adding additional layers of strategy to a genre where combat has largely felt like an afterthought. There’s also an overworld of sorts, so perhaps there will be multiple locations away from the main town for story sequences to take place alongside dungeons to explore. It’s hard to tell, but it all seems to change alongside the seasons which should make for a hugely f🅰ascinating world to uncover given how often it will shift before our very eyes.

Then of course we’ve got the relationship mechanics that for many are the dri𒉰ving force of what makes these games so interesting. All of the gorgeous character art courtesy of Isamu Kamikokuryo has me believing that fully customisable characters won’t be possible, but we see a number of named personalities throughout the trailer engaging in conversation with our protagonist so building relationships or possibly even romance is definitely on the cards. If it isn’t, then Square Enix is overlooking one of the bigges𒀰t reasons people come to the genre in the first place. We wanna farm, smooch, and fight monsters. Harvestella is just adding saving the world to this equation and I’m totally good for it.

Harvestella

Give me the post-apocalyptic an💖ime farming game since after one trailer I’m already sold🌳.

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