STORY OF SEASONS: Friends of Mineral Town is a remake of a Gameboy Advance game which itself was a remake of a PlayStation game! It is one of the most beloved games in the series and now it is in full 3D. Originally it was titled, Harvest Moon, but due to a parting of the ways between Natsume and XSEED, it is now called STORY OF SEASONS.
How to Download STORY OF SEASONS: Friends of Mineral Town
To download the game from Steam or from the Nintendo Store, click on the Download button located below this review.
The Game Review
There is very little plot in the game. You have inherited a farm from your late grandpa and you head there to keep the farm afloat and make a nice life for yourself. If you have played any kind of farming game before, you know what the deal here is. They have managed to keep things very faithful to the original, perhaps a tad too faithful in all honesty.
You start by selecting if you want to be a male or female character. There are only a few choices here and I feel this was a missed opportunity to give us a proper character creation suit. There are many other characters in Mineral Town and they have a ton of personality and they have far more lines of dialogue than you would think.
I think that they did a great job with the supporting cast here. I liked the way the people would live their lives outside of your interaction with them. It makes this little town feel more like a real place. You can try and romance characters, both male and female and the game supports same-sex marriage which is neat
The idea of the game is to tend to your farm. You need to take care of the soil, plant crops, care for them, and sell them. There are also many different animals that you need to care for, by the way, this game has the cutest cows you will ever see. You have a list of chores that you need to do each day and I found that I always had enough time to get them all done. You can even hire these little sprite things that can help you out which is fun.
There is a stamina system at play here and the only way you will not be able to get your chores done is if you miscalculate things such as not getting enough sleep, or spending too much time mining or fishing. STORY OF SEASONS: Friends of Mineral Town is a game where it is ok to make mistakes.
There is no real punishment for doing so. I made a few missteps during my playthrough and I was always able to recover. As a result, this is what I like to call a “chill out” game. Actually, the Nintendo Switch version is the perfect game if you are looking for something relaxing to play before you go to sleep!
The “Seasons” aspect of the game is not just for the title. The game actually has seasons and each season has its own thing like a fair that makes it special. These are fun and add in little mini-games and such to the mix. You can bet on horse races or this weird chicken game for example. They may not be super deep, but they have a ton of charm and make things exciting.
STORY OF SEASONS: Friends of Mineral Town has a style that I really like. It is very cutesy and colorful in its design and the fact it is lacking finer detail is done on purpose. The sound design on the other hand is not all that great. It has some nice and fitting music, but some of the sound effects, especially the sound of your footsteps can get annoying.
While STORY OF SEASONS: Friends of Mineral Town may lack in content compared to something like Stardew Valley, this is still a very fun game. It just oozes charm and it is impossible not to get lost in it. I feel that this is going to be great if you played the Gameboy Advance original or if you are new to it completely.
