Hometown Story

Hometown Story's pedigree is easy to identify — it's the creation of Yasuhiro Wada, the man who masterminded the Harvest Moon franchise before starting his own small company, Toybox. His studio's title arrived in North America last October, and a recent video interview confirms that publisher Rising Star Games will release the game in Europe in April.

The interview itself is certainly worth a watch, as Wada-san explains his core philosophy of producing games that introduce new audiences to gaming and promote happiness and fulfilment — when in development the title was codenamed "Project Happiness". Though opening a shop and forming relationships with others may remind gamers of Wada's previous work, his small team does aim to innovate with these ideas.

Check it out below and let us know what you think. We do aim to review this title in future, but you can learn more about Wada's game design philosophies in our detailed interview from last year.