As part of the June Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase, Square Enix has announced Harvestella, an ambitious-looking life-sim RPG launching on Switch on 4th November.
The trailer above featured in Nintendo's third-party-focused presentation. Here's a whole load of blurb from the game's page on Nintendo's website, plus some screenshots:
In a vibrant and colourful world, players will tend their crops, befriend the townsfolk, overcome threats, discover the origins of the world and the truth behind the calamity along the way.
The story begins when the player wakes up in the middle of "Quietus," a calamity that comes with each change of season and threatens all life.
"Quietus"
A season of death that comes at the turn of each season. Crops wither and the dust of death prevents people from even walking outside. It is said that the duration of Quietus is getting longer each year."World"
Players will be able to explore the various cities and dungeons of the world: "Nemea Town," where cherry blossoms bloom all year round, "Seaside Town Shatolla," with a lively bar scene, "Lethe Village," with its beautiful colors of the four seasons, and the snow-covered "Holy Capital Argene." In order for players to reach the "Seaslight," the four giant crystals that govern the seasons, they must cross a beautiful yet rugged path."Daily Life"
Vegetables, grains, and fruits can be grown on fields and shipped for money or used as crafting materials. They can also be used for cooking, where recipes can have the effect of recovering HP or temporarily increasing stats, which will be useful while on adventures. At home, players take care of their animals: the round bird "Cluffowl," the dignified goat "Woolum," and their pet "Totokaku," which may lead to nice rewards.
"Comrades"
Players will encounter new friends, such as "Shrika," a missionary in search of a new faith, "Heine," a flirtatious and handsome mechanic, "Asyl," a descendant of the Wind Readers, and "Aria," a mysterious girl who says she has come from the future. By facing their problems and their different ways of life, you will gain a better understanding of your allies."Combat"
During battle, switch instantly between a wide variety of jobs, like the "Fighter," who unleashes quick sword techniques, the "Shadow Walker," who deals lethal blows with twin swords, or the "Mage," who specializes in magic attacks, to be victorious. Take on strong enemies by targeting their weak points and then eliminate them with a powerful Double Break attack.
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Comments 51
It's nice of Nintendo to give us a nap break partway through the Direct!
Nah I'm just kidding, this game looks well made, and I do hope it does well!
Honestly, this looks better than Rune Factory 5. Not a huge farming sim fan, but I'll keep an eye on this.
Hey, is this that new Rune Factory game people have been waiting for? It looks great!
This feels a bit more different than other games of it's kin since, from the little we've seen, it seems to lean towards the RPG side more than the life sim side whilst also accomodating both. Kind of reminds me of Actraiser in a way, what with the two wildly different styles of gameplay both feeding into one another. Looks pretty promising.
No thanks I can just go outside and do all of that.
It looks like a better running/looking Rune Factory game, I'm intrigued!
One of the most interesting announcements of the presentation for sure. It looks like it has a lot of potential so fingers crossed it comes together well. Not 100% sold yet but will be keeping a close eye on it.
Keeping an eye on it. There are already so many farming sims at this point but it did look visually pleasing and the seasons/death-season mechanic is interesting. Not quite sold but I’m interested to see more.
The combat makes this more interesting than the average sim
Feel like this was made for my friend
@LittleGhost you can farm monsters for crafting materials in hopes of warding off the fifth season of death? Where do you live? Canada?
@Ralizah Agreed. After how let down I was with 5, I'm hoping this will scratch that itch.
Seems like a neat take on the farming sim+violence subgenre. The art style gives me some Bravely Default vibes, which I'm all about.
This looks like the perfect combination of Final Fantasy and Harvest Moon, and I'm a sucker for this games. Man, October-December is gonna leave my wallet dry.
This could be amazing or a wreck. I will await reviews. Fingers crossed though.
@itslukec worse... Detroit.
I used to love square and grew up squaresoft everything, but I haven't been into them in the past few decades and it's because I feel like all they do is chase everyone else's tails instead of being innovative on their own. IE- Rune Factory is 5 games deep and now SE wants a piece of that pie because I guess they have to have every kind of RPG? They may still be "the" RPG company, but they're not the greatest at anything anymore. They're just sort of mediocre at everything. (Exceptions - Nier/ DQ11)
Then when a game "fails to meet expectations", they blame the developer that they hired.
But yeah I like to cook at home so it would be nice to go out and have my garden full of very fresh produce. I would rather go outside and apply life skills than play a game like this that doesn't offer much of an escape from anything. It's just mindless tedium. This basically looks like mobile trash that they're going to put on switch.
this was the best game of the show in my eyes.. something new...
Game looks 🔥
Like the Rune Factory 5 we should have gotten. Not that RF5 was a bad game, it just looked bad visually and ran poorly.
This looks incredible though!
This game looked like it was trying too hard to be a lot of different things.
It honestly looks really cool. I normally hesitate with farming games outside of Stardew Valley, Story of Seasons and Rune Factory, but this game looks really stunning and I love the look of the combat system.
A lovely looking game. Definitely keeping an eye on this one.
So a Stardew Valley with modern graphics? Guess gameplay can’t be that good but we’ll see
Wow, if this game is successful and got turn into a franchise with marriage and farm elements as well then time to say good-bye to Rune Factory, Harvest Moon, and Story of Seasons.
This looks very interesting to me! My kinda thang!
I'm not obsessed with visuals, but it's nice to see a farm sim with modern presentation values. The last time I got one of those, it was Rune Factory Frontier (which I loved!). Will have to keep my eye on this.
Anyone know which team in Square-Enix is handling this?
Not usually into farm sim games but this looks pretty neat.
This was a delightful surprise, I am super interested
Actually quite interested in this one. Was never into farming sims unless u consider ACNH. It looks like a more realistic and serious Rune Factory.
The overworld looked like Bravely Default! The character artwork is beautiful, and combat looks much better than other life sims like Rune Factory! Wow I am very excited for this one! What a lovely surprise.
If only this game had drop-in co-op like Stardew Valley, but very few games of this genre do, unfortunately. That's what made Stardew into pure magic. My cousin and her husband still play Stardew to this day since they love starting up new towns together.
This game is looking really interesting. SE's answer to Story of Seasons or more specifically, Rune Factory is looking pretty at least.
I'm crying/laughing, Square Enix really said "f u Marvelous" and I don't know If I'm loving it or scared that Marvelous is just going to file bankruptcy again by just seeing the trailer lmao.
Though I know the world is bleak in the trailer, but where is the bachelors and bachelorettes?! (That is the true way to get people like me to buy)
This was the game of the direct for me, its basically rune factory but 100 times better.
@LittleGhost May I ask where you live that you can go outside and fight fantastical monsters?
@itslukec @LittleGhost
I was going to guess Australia.
Looking REALLY good! Seems to me that is the new Fantasy Life/Rune Factory from this gen. I wish it's as good as it looks!
Looks like RF and Atelier's love child. I'm down. I just hope there's a little more crafting than what they're showing. This is a sizzle reel, so hopefully the following trailers show off cooking, farming and crafting in greater depth. But it looks fantastic.
I was massively disappointed with RF5. This could fill that void.
On first impression, this one didn't work for me. Story of Seasons, Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley... these games charm you into the farming life with their cute presentation. Take away the cute visuals and the farming side of things looks a bit daft and charmless. I'll play a proper farm simulator if I want realistic farming.
I need to re-watch the trailer but I'm very cool on it early doors.
And that name. Ouch.
Probably going to wait for a review, but I'm intrigued so far. Looks lovely!
I'm shocked Square had this in the hiding till now. A more refined Rune Factory that looks to be more about the combat than relationship building. The more the merrier.
Hmmmmm this does look interesting. Ig I'll find out. Hope Nintendo life reviews it.
I tried Rune Factory 5 but couldn't get into it, this however looks like what they were trying for! I am intrigued
this game looks like square enix version of rune factory but better looking..
Recently tried to play Stardew Valley and it didn't grab me. Seems pretty slow to get going. May revisit.
However, I did play and enjoy Dragon Quest Builders 2 a while back.
This actually looks interesting to me. Will see how it turns out.
I'm a big fan from harvest games. It was good times of Harvest Moon Back to Nature on my PSONE, and recently Stardew Valley on Switch. The thrid image from the post looks so different from the others that it looks like another game.
RF5, but actually good
Deserves best worst game title for 2022. 😝 The actual game looks like it could be really good, although games like this can be hit-or-miss so I'll look forward to the reviews.
I have seen the trailer three times already. I didn't know I would like it so much! I wanted to get Rune Factory 5, but I heard many bad things about it, so I hold up. This will likely be what I wanted from the other one!
The world map is also very nice. Like the art style.
This game is what Rune Factory refuses to evolve into.
Is this being made by Tokyo RPG factory maybe?
I'm worried about how well this is gonna run on Switch. But yeah, I'm a sucker for life sims and a FFXIV player (and this really gives me FFXIV vibes), I want this now!
I haven't played a farming game since Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life on GameCube. I used to love those, then I just stopped playing them. But every time I see a new one it piques my interest. I almost got Rune Factory 5 but I may start with this. I like the look of this.
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