Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Review

Story of Seasons: A Great Life on PS5

Inside minutes of booting up Story of Seasons: A Great Life, I used to be hit by a wave of nostalgia. The guitar-twanging soundtrack kicked in and transported me again to enjoying the unique, Harvest Moon: A Great Life, on the GameCube over a decade in the past now. It was a heart-warming expertise, encountering the solid of strange characters once more, however quickly sufficient the cracks on this remake/ remaster began to indicate.

Story of Seasons: A Great Life goals to clean up the 2003 unique, however the premise stays the identical. You’ve inherited a rundown farm out of your father and journey to the sleepy city of Forgotten Valley to provide revitalizing it your greatest shot. When it comes to adjustments over the unique, this ‘Story of Seasons’ model provides pronouns and customization choices to the character creator, offers you completely different outfits to buy and put on, provides extra crops to these initially on provide, provides extra romance choices together with similar gender, and enhances the varied occasions that happen all through every year. That each one sounds quite a bit, however earlier than my first yr within the sport had come to an in depth, I quickly realized that, truly, Forgotten Valley could be very a lot caught previously of the farming sim style.

The place the likes of Stardew Valley and Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town have tried so as to add a bit of extra flesh to the bones of the normal farming life sim expertise, A Great Life nonetheless very a lot feels a bit of lifeless. Outdoors of watering your crops, tending to your livestock and romancing no matter resident of Forgotten Valley that takes your selecting, there actually isn’t an entire lot else to do.

Fishing can earn you some further money, however the variety of completely different species appears restricted. There’s an archaeological dig website, which has a restricted quantity of things and dig spots you’ll be able to excavate every day — although this does increase with every ‘Chapter’ of the sport. And you’ll arrange a store in the midst of city and promote objects. Although, in my expertise, solely the identical three or 4 characters would wander previous, and considered one of them was a really annoying youngster that wouldn’t purchase something as a result of he didn’t have any cash anyway. The sport might have had new content material added because the unique’s launch again in 2003, however the foundations are feeling extremely dated 20 years later.

That’s a disgrace, as a result of the core gameplay loop of any farming sim, Story of Seasons: A Great Life included, is a cryptonite-like mixture of compelling and calming. That’s what I assume A Great Life is striving to keep up right here. Providing you adequate, with out overwhelming you. However in the event you’re finished with all the things it is advisable do in your farm and social life by noon in every of the 24 actual time minute days, it might counsel there’s not fairly sufficient to do to tide you over.

The additional you get into the sport, the extra services you should purchase to earn you cash quicker and lighten the load of the work it is advisable do round your farm. This may be nice, if there was something you’d wish to do as an alternative. However there’s not, and so that you’re considerably compounding the issue additional.

The enhancements which can be listed below are definitely welcome ones, however given Marvelous is classing this as a ‘remake’ of the unique, it’s definitely a barebones one from my perspective. Character requests provide you with one thing else to work in the direction of, however they’re very a lot restricted to giving the townsfolk a sure kind of produce or a cooked meal. The character customization adjustments, whereas nice for making the expertise extra inclusive, nonetheless really feel restricted in how your character truly seems.

I’d have assumed the archaeological website can be extra in-line with that of Pioneers of Olive City or Stardew Valley, the place you’ll be able to spend complete days mining away for uncommon minerals and high-value objects. I’d have anticipated there to be additions to the usual crops you’ll be able to develop, however there are none, with the additions centered on new hybrid crops that you simply gained’t be capable of start experimenting with till 12 months 2 on the earliest. Character dialogue and relationship development might have been far more fleshed out than listening to the identical three or 4 strains from every character over and over. I actually wooed one character by giving her a flower rising across the city every day… and that was it. The identical flower, nothing else, and we had been engaged earlier than the tip of Autumn 12 months 1.

On the far finish of the city, there’s a path main out to faraway villages. While you attempt to head down right here, it asks in the event you’d like to go to someplace new. “Nice!” I although. Some substantial new content material to discover. It then alerted me the journey would take six hours. Not letting that dissuade me with nothing left to do, I launched into the journey, solely to search out myself stood precisely the place I’d began, however with the clock superior six hours later. A message learn: “These mythril instruments on the blacksmith’s had been SO cool…”

That sums up the extent of the enhancements and additions right here. It’s sufficient to make you discover, however not sufficient to truly provide something that piqued my consideration and made me take be aware. Maybe extra substantial adjustments will come the extra time I spend within the sport, however I don’t know the way for much longer the sport can maintain my consideration. The shallow slog has taken its toll.

Verdict

I really wished Story of Seasons: A Great Life to really feel just like the true 2023 evolution of the sport 10-year-old me treasured a lot. However that is nonetheless very a lot a fundamental farming/ slice-of-life sim from 2003 with a contemporary lick of paint to the visuals and a handful of minor enhancements elsewhere. Maybe I had my expectations set too excessive for a remake of a two decade previous sport at this level. Maybe my rose-tinted nostalgia glasses had painted an image of a much more, in-depth and compelling expertise. All I do know is the frustration is actual.

Hardcore followers of the unique sport might discover some enjoyable right here, however those that have performed extra complete farming sims from latest years, like Stardew, don’t count on it to maintain your consideration for too lengthy.

Story of Seasons: A Great Life

Reviewer: Chris Jecks | Copy offered by Writer.

Professionals

• New character customization choices will probably be welcomed.
• New romance choices together with similar intercourse relationships brings the sport into the trendy period.
• The core farming gameplay loop is pleasant sufficient, however…

Cons

• There’s simply not sufficient to do round Forgotten Valley.
• The barebones additions to the unique sport are underwhelming.
• Conversing with characters is boring in comparison with the competitors.

Launch Date
June 27, 2023

Developer
Marvelous

Writer
XSEED Video games & Marvelous

Consoles
Nintendo Change, PlayStation 5, Xbox Sequence X and Sequence S, Microsoft Home windows

In regards to the writer

Chris is the Managing Editor of Twinfinite. Chris has been with the location and overlaying the video games media business for eight years. He sometimes covers new releases, FIFA, Fortnite and any good shooters for the location, and loves nothing greater than a superb Professional Golf equipment session with the lads. Chris has a Historical past diploma from the College of Central Lancashire. He spends his days eagerly awaiting the discharge of BioShock 4.