2022 was a busy yr for Sq. Enix. The corporate ended up releasing an entire bevy of attention-grabbing titles that weren’t large price range blockbusters, however allowed its builders to experiment extra and supply attention-grabbing takes on varied parts. Whereas it was nice to see so many neat lower-profile titles providing new concepts, the opposite aspect of that was the market changing into a bit saturated, particularly within the fall. This in flip led to many being missed, none extra so than maybe essentially the most attention-grabbing of the bunch: Harvestella.

Developed with studio Dwell Wire and launched worldwide on November 4, 2022, Harvestella is a mix of farming sim and motion RPG set in a world the place 4 big crystals referred to as the Seaslight guarantee stability between the 4 seasons. The life sim style has bloomed in recent times, however Harvestella manages to face out with the way it positions its farming sim parts inside the sport in addition to simply how formidable it goes with its storytelling. Make no mistake, the story is Harvestella’s driving pressure, and it’s all the higher for it.

Harvestella’s gameplay cycle revolves round spending the early hours sustaining the farm, earlier than spending the remainder of the day undertaking different duties. Whereas these duties could contain working in direction of upgrades and developments for the farm, a spot of cooking, or aspect content material, all of it drives in direction of with the ability to progress the primary story. The entire farming techniques work collectively to assist the motion RPG and story development, be it as the first technique for gaining therapeutic provides or incomes cash to spend on upgrades. Whereas gamers can freely spend plenty of time on their farm and making it nearly as good as they will, it’s very a lot constructed as a part of a cohesive complete.

Although this implies Harvestella’s farming sim parts aren’t as in-depth as different titles, the sport totally makes up for this with how laborious it goes with story. The amnesiac participant character wakes up close to the village of Lethe throughout Quietus. This occasion sees the populace hidden away in worry, and gamers study that Quietus is a season of demise that poses a menace to all life that ventures outdoors throughout it. Growing the intrigue, gamers quickly encounter a woman named Aria, who claims to be from the longer term, and the 2 begin investigating the Seaslights to study simply what’s going on this world.

With out wishing to spoil the main points, the numerous twists and turns Harvestella takes are surprisingly hard-hitting. Though Harvestella doesn’t fairly purpose for a similar visible spectacle, there are particular reveals and sequences that wouldn’t be amiss in a number of the larger JRPGs of the present period. Admittedly, a few of its secrets and techniques might be guessed an honest manner forward of time, however the execution of its narrative is superb. It’s straightforward to get sucked into seeing the place the story goes, and Harvestella is totally a type of titles that manages to take the journey and lead-up to the ending and stick the touchdown.

The fascinating story and world constructing is expanded by a formidable array of aspect tales. There’s plenty of emotion to be present in every of the character’s particular person story arcs, in addition to within the shorter quest strains specializing in common villagers, and the writing behind them is superb. It could even be remiss to to not point out the affect the music has on the narrative and setting of the scenes as effectively. Go Shiina’s rating hits all the suitable notes. From the stress-free and upbeat items for the cities and farm to the thrilling battle themes that characteristic a few of his notable vocal stylings.

It’s nearly a pity that Harvestella got here out when it did, although with the present saturation of the market, it’s additionally laborious to see a time the place it will have stood out. Nonetheless, I felt that as the sport marks its first anniversary, it was a worthy one to look again on and encourage individuals to take a look at. It’s a advantageous instance of an missed treasure in peril of being washed away by the neverending rush of recent releases.