June2021
News New Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin Update Allows You To Dual Wield Cats And Dogs
The best update
Following on from Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin's one million sales milestone earlier this month, developer Edelweiss has rolled out a brand new update across all platforms including the Switch. It gives players the ability to hold a dog and cat at the same time. In addition to this, your dog will now also come running to greet you when...
News The Third Story Of Seasons DLC Has A New Trailer, And Even MORE People To Marry
Iris and Raeger are ready to woo
Following the release of the much-awaited Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town patch 1.0.5 in Japan, which fixed issues with the maker machines, loading times, and dialogue, the Japanese arm of Marvelous has just shown off the trailer for the upcoming Terracotta Oasis DLC. In the trailer, we can see new...
News A New Exercise Game Is Coming, And It's About Martial Arts
Kick the habit
Have you been keeping up with all the E3 announcements? Don't worry, us neither. There sure are a lot of games to spend all our hard-earned eShop Gold on, though, and one of those games is actually good for you. Yes, if you've been neglecting your Ring Fit Adventure controller like we have, then maybe you can get back into the swing...
News Rune Factory 5's Local Switch Release Arrives "Early" In 2022
Playing the waiting game...
It's hard to believe now, but Rune Factory 5 was originally scheduled to arrive on the Nintendo Switch in 2020. It only just landed on the Switch in Japan last month, and while the western release was expected to follow, the latest E3 2021 trailer has now confirmed it'll instead be arriving early next year. Here's a...
News The Big 1.0.5 Story Of Seasons Patch Is Live In Japan: Here's What's Changed
Better Makers, Bigger Silos
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town received a whole lot of criticism on launch thanks to its slow, time-consuming way of doing things. Luckily, the developers heard the feedback and promised a huge patch to fix many of the issues, with more patches to come later in the year, too. Patch 1.0.5 is the big one, and it...
May2021
News Story Of Seasons DLC Part 2 Is Now Available, With New People To Marry
Time to marry Neil, again
It's what we've all been waiting for: Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town's new DLC will let you marry new people. Or, actually, old people — they're characters from Harvest Moon: A New Beginning, which came out on the 3DS in 2012. The DLC, titled "Windswept Falls", will give players access to a new area, four new...
News Story Of Seasons: Mobile Has Its First Trailer, And It Puts Pioneers Of Olive Town In The Shade
Mayor Thomas returns
During a Tencent video game conference last weekend, the first trailer for the upcoming Story of Seasons mobile game, titled "Story of Seasons: Mobile", was revealed. And, uh, is it just us, or... does it look better than Pioneers of Olive Town? The trailer shows off Xingluo Town, which looks a bit like Animal Crossing meets...
News Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed Gets A Western Switch Release This July
Launching in Japan this month
Update [Fri 14th May, 2021 00:55 BST]: XSEED Games and Acquire Corp have announced Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed will be released in North America for Nintendo Switch and multiple other platforms on 20th July. It will set you back $39.99 USD. Marvelous Europe has not yet confirmed if its local release date...
News Rune Factory 5 Live Stream To Share New Info Ahead Of Next Week's Japanese Release
Now we just need a western release date
If you've been holding out for Rune Factory 5, the good news is it's arriving at some point here in the west this year. And for anyone in Japan, it's actually out next week on the Nintendo Switch. While we've already seen some of the combat and gameplay (above), later this week, on 15th May, there'll be a...
News E3 2021 Bolsters Its Line-Up With Square Enix, Sega, Bandai Namco And More
"All-virtual" event kicks-off this June
E3 might have skipped last year, but in 2021 it's making a comeback as an all-virtual event. In the latest update, several high-profile publishers and developers have been officially locked in. This includes tech, hardware, and streaming companies, too. So, who are they? There's Square Enix, Bandai Namco...
April2021
News Turn Your Wife Into A Cat With The New Story Of Seasons DLC Costumes
Feline pretty
Last week, we covered the arrival of Felicity and Neil in the new Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town DLC, which will come out in the West on the 27th of May. This week, XSEED have released information on the Animal Attire costumes that come along with the DLC, too. Protagonists can don the new animal-inspired kigurumi, and...
News Story Of Seasons Gets A DLC Trailer To Show Off New Marriage Candidates, New Area
We all just want to marry Clemens and Beth, though
The first marriage candidate DLC for Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is just around the corner, and familiar faces from Harvest Moon: A New Beginning will move in just down the road from your farm, ready to be wooed. The "Windswept Falls" expansion pack adds a new area to the map, where...
News No More Heroes III Broadcast Shows New Footage And A Trilogy Box Set For Japan
Update: Get up to speed with "The Garden of Sylvia"
Update (Thu 8th Apr, 2021): The stream has been broadcast and you can check out the full archived video if you like, or watch some brand new game footage — plus a suitably Suda-style recap for No More Heroes newbies courtesy of character Sylvia Christel — via its own YouTube video. We're unable...
News The Latest Story Of Seasons Patch Is Live, And We Have Details On The Next One, Too
When will they patch in the ability to marry Beth???
Congratulations, farmers! Your farm has just been updated to 1.0.4, and with that comes a few new patch notes! It's just like real agriculture. Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town launched late last month in the West with a bit of a lukewarm reception - many reviews (including ours!) noted...
Random Story Of Seasons' Photo Mode Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
Bumholes and crotches and legs, oh my
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is a pleasant, relaxing little farm simulation game, where players can gently explore a town, raise livestock, and have a lovely old time. Every now and again, though, you'll have to wait through a loading screen - and loading screens are boring! They're just a blank...
March2021
News You Could Win This Cow-Shaped Artwork To Celebrate Story Of Seasons' 25th Anniversary
How many more cowmpetitions can there be?
Boy, is it a busy month for lovers of cows and competitions. Just a few days after the Cow-Shaped Switch competition, we now have a Cow-Shaped Art competition, run by the actual makers of Story of Seasons themselves. A tiny cameo from the more traditional HM main character XSEED has been teasing this since...
News Story Of Seasons: Pioneers Of Olive Town Has Sold Over 700k Worldwide
Buyers are flocking like sheep
Holy cow! Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town might be the best-selling Story of Seasons title so far, although don't make us do the whole "what counts as a Story of Seasons game" thing right now because it is Friday and we are SLEEPY. Marvelous Japan, the publisher for Story of Seasons (or Bokujo Monogatari, as...
Feature Should You Buy Harvest Moon: One World, Or Story Of Seasons: Pioneers Of Olive Town?
We did a direct compare and contrast to answer that question for you!
Right, farming fans and friends: let's get it out of the way. Harvest Moon is not Harvest Moon. The series known as Bokujo Monogatari in Japan was translated as "Harvest Moon" when it came out back in 1997, and that title stuck with the series until 2013, when Natsume - the...
Soapbox How One Large Vegetable Highlights The Issue With Japan-Only Merch
I want the Big Turnip
While perusing news on the upcoming release of Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town - a game I am reviewing, and a series I love - I stumbled upon something special: a limited edition turnip plushie, available only in Japan. I... love the big turnip... And, you see, the thing is, I want the Big Turnip. But more than just...
News Story Of Seasons: Pioneers Of Olive Town Is Getting Patched, A Lot
The developers are feeling sheepish
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town came out last month in Japan, and quite a few players were disappointed with the way the game felt a little... unfinished. Common problems included bad framerates on the farm, long loading times, villagers with nothing to say, and not being able to submit more than one item...
Soapbox Why Do People Love Games Like Stardew Valley And Animal Crossing?
Playing games shouldn't feel like work, right?
One of my favourite things to do after a long day of nine-to-five work is crack open a beer, get cosy on the sofa, and play two to five hours of a game where I have a nine-to-five job. It seems ludicrous to spend my free time doing exactly what I do in my non-free time, and yet, here I am - one of...
Video Check Out 12 Minutes Of Story Of Seasons: Pioneers Of Olive Town Gameplay
Pet racing, clothing options, and more
Did our recent preview of Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town leave you with questions about the game ahead of its 23rd/26th March release? Perhaps our early opinion of the game made you decide not to get it - or perhaps the news that
News Rune Factory 5's New Gameplay Trailer Shows Combat And Rune Factory 4 Save Data Bonuses
Introducing the Seed Circle
With two months to go before Rune Factory 5's Japanese release, we're slowly getting new information about Marvelous' anticipated RPG simulation sequel. Having previously revealed a "Premium Box" last month, Marvelous has now launched a fresh gameplay trailer during the recent "Rune Factory Channel: To a New
Video Watch Harvest Moon And Story Of Seasons' First Half Hour, In This Side-By-Side Comparison
Speedrun Any% Pre-Cow
In the race for "best farming game of March 2021", there's still everything to play for. Harvest Moon: One World came out earlier this week, and Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town has a release date of 23rd/26th March depending on whether you're in North America or Europe/Australia, and we've been reporting on the battle...
Many Japanese players criticised the game's loading times among other issues
The Maker issue is a particularly egregious example of the game's flaws Earlier today, a blog post was uploaded to the Japanese site for Bokumono - short for Bokujō Monogatari, the Japanese name for the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons series. In the blog, producer Dai Take
