Chilled farming RPG series Story of Seasons is celebrating its 25th anniversary by spreading the love, with its two most recent releases getting wider releases.
Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town, originally released on Nintendo Switch and PC in 2020, will be getting a physical and digital release on Xbox One and PS4 on October 15.
Before that, Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town will arrive on PC on September 15. This is the newest game in the series, having launched on Switch in March 2021. The PC release will be coming to Steam and can be wishlisted now.
The Story of Seasons series began life in 1996, with the Japanese release of Bokujō Monogatari – literally “Farm Story” – on the SNES. The series would make its way west through publisher Natsume, under the name Harvest Moon. However, in 2014, Japanese developer Marvelous decided to publish the Bokujō Monogatari series in the west itself (initially through American subsidiary XSeed Games), but Natsume owned the name “Harvest Moon”.
That led to a split in the franchise, with the original series continuing its international release under the Story of Seasons brand, while Natsume began to produce its own Harvest Moon games with various developers. This has resulted in occasional curiosities, such as Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town being a remake of the Game Boy Advance’s Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town.
Naming confusion aside, the series offers relaxing, slice-of-life experiences, taking typical RPG mechanics and applying them to the role of growing and developing a farm in a small rural village. With an emphasis on making friends, building a community, and even marrying and having children, the series’ legacy can also be found in western indie hit Stardew Valley.
As part of Story of Seasons’ 25th-anniversary celebration, Marvelous will also be offering free DLC for Pioneers of Olive Town, with a new costume based on the character Sakuna, a “harvest goddess” based on the title character from another Marvelous game, Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin. The DLC will be available from September 15 and be free “for a limited time” on both Nintendo eShop and Steam.
In other cute gaming news, Sanrio mascot superstar Hello Kitty will be joining the roster of Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, while The Good Life – a game from Deadly Premonition creator Swery where you turn into a cat or dog at night – has received its first English language trailer.
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