There are some bizarre games on the shelves these days, it has to be said. Striving for originality, views on what type of game should be produced next are becoming more and more peculiar by the day. Harvest Moon is one such game, but not so unusual that it may be passed off as a mere novelty. Fortunately, it has been given a warm reception. In a nutshell, it’s a role-playing game mixed with the newly created genre of farming simulators.

After the sad death of your father, the farm he wor ... more >>

There are some bizarre games on the shelves these days, it has to be said. Striving for originality, views on what type of game should be produced next are becoming more and more peculiar by the day. Harvest Moon is one such game, but not so unusual that it may be passed off as a mere novelty. Fortunately, it has been given a warm reception. In a nutshell, it’s a role-playing game mixed with the newly created genre of farming simulators.

After the sad death of your father, the farm he worked on now belongs to you, but it is in a state of abandonment. Your challenge is to make your father proud and restore his land into a thriving farm. To run a successful farm, you must breed and look after not just a variety of farm animals, but also plants and vegetables. But none of this can be accomplished properly without the use of good tools. Such equipment can be acquired through the role-playing aspect of the game. You must wander around your area and interact with many of the fifty characters available to gain clues as to the whereabouts of your desired possession. Protection of your ranch is of vital importance, so it’s advisable that you and your dog recruit outside help to maintain security.

Ultimately, Harvest Moon is a game of survival, in which you must produce food to stay alive over the three-year period of the game. It certainly is an interesting concept with plenty of originality, and it deserves to be commended on this alone.
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