Way back in the PlayStation era, my dad turned me on to a game called Harvest Moon. I fell in love with this cute little game that was really just a farming simulator with a story tacked on. Over the years, I have played almost every iteration that has hit consoles, skipping only the handheld versions, and I have loved almost every one of them. So when I found out that Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town was coming to Switch, I was super excited. You see, Story of Seasons is basically Harvest Moon with a new name. It’s even developed by the original creator of the very first Harvest Moon.

Our story takes place in Mineral Town, a charming little village surrounded by lush forests and clear water. After your grandfather’s passing, you’ve returned to his dilapidated farm to attempt to restore it to its former glory. To do this, you must care for crops, care for animals, make friends, and more as you explore your own Story of Seasons.

The mechanics are pretty simple and if you’ve played a Harvest Moon game, you know what to expect. You will spend most of your time planting crops and caring for your animals. You start the game with a small house, a field full of debris, a barn, a coop, a silo, a water wheel, and some tools.

SoS: FoMT runs in real-time, with two real-life seconds being one in-game minute. A year in the game consists of four seasons and each season (except winter) has multiple crops that grow and thrive during that season. You can go to the general store or to Huang’s place on the beach to buy seeds for each season. Only crops that are “in season” will grow. At the end of every season, any crops in the field will wither, and you must use your sickle to cut them down before you can plant new crops in that space.

Let’s take a minute to talk about your tools. You start Story of Seasons with a hammer, an axe, a watering can, a hoe, and a sickle. You can purchase a brush, shears, and a milker from the blacksmith to take care of your animals. At a certain point in the game, you will be given a fishing pole to fish with. Each tool, aside from the milker, shears, and brush will “level up” from use, making them eligible to be upgraded. Once they are eligible, they can be upgraded at the blacksmith if you have enough coins and the required type of ore.

Where do you get this ore? Why mining of course! There are two mines in Mineral Town. One is available year-round; the other is only available in the winter. Each floor of the mine has rocks that you bust with your hammer. Busting the rocks gives you ore, gemstones, or scrap. You then use your hoe to till the floor until you find the ladder to the next floor.

After buying your seeds, it’s time to prepare your field. To do this, you must use your sickle to cut any weeds, use your axe to cut any sticks or stumps, and use your hammer to crush any stones. Once you’ve got a clear space, you use your hoe to till the ground and prepare it for planting. Once your field has been prepared, you plant your seeds and use your watering can to water them. One bag of seeds will cover a 3 by 3 square area. Crops must be watered every day that it does not rain for them to grow to maturity.

Each crop takes a certain number of days to grow to maturity. When your crop is ready and can be harvested, you pick them and put them in the shipping box. Animal products, fish, fruit and honey from trees, and forage-able items can also be put into the shipping box and sold. Be careful what you put into the shipping box though. Once you put something into the box, it cannot be removed. Every day at 5 p.m. Zach will come, pick up the contents of your shipping box, and pay you.

The animals are pretty darn cute and easy to care for. Cows, sheep, and alpacas can be purchased at Yodel Ranch and will live in the barn. You want to make sure to brush and speak to them every day to raise your relationship level with them. The higher your relationship level is the better the quality of the product that that animal will provide.

Chickens and Angora rabbits can be purchased from PoPoultry. While you don’t need to brush your chickens, you do need to speak to them every day to raise your relationship level. Rabbits, like cows, need to be brushed daily.

Shortly after beginning your farm, you will be given a horse. The horse is probably the easiest animal to care for. It doesn’t need to be fed, and it will put itself outside on sunny days. All you have to do is speak to it and brush it daily.

All animals, aside from the horse, need to be fed in order for them to produce a product. You can get fodder to feed cows, sheep, and alpacas by either growing grass in your field or by buying it at Yodel Ranch. Food for rabbits and chickens can be purchased at PoPoultry or be made on your farm by putting certain crops into the water wheel.

On sunny days, you can ring the bell and your animals will go outside. While they’re outside they will eat, so you don’t have to feed them that day. On rainy days, you’ll need to go into the barn or coop and feed them. Never put your animals outside on rainy days. Putting your animals outside on rainy days will hurt your relationship with them and they could get sick. Any animals that are outside will return to their home automatically at 8 p.m. As long as they are fed or eat outside, they will produce their products.

Buying animals is not the only way to acquire them. Cows, sheep, and alpacas can reproduce by purchasing a breeding kit from Yodel Ranch. A rabbit breeding kit can be purchased from PoPoultry. These breeding kits take a tool spot, and when you use them on the animal, the animal becomes pregnant. Approximately three weeks after the animal becomes pregnant, the baby will be born. It should be noted that pregnant animals cannot be put outside, so you must feed them in the barn or coop.

Chickens can also be bred. Inside the chicken coop is an incubator and putting an egg in the incubator will result in a baby chick three days later. All babies, once born or hatched, can be put outside on sunny days just like the adult animals.

Another thing that your farmer can do is fish. As I mentioned above, you will be given a fishing pole with which to fish. You can fish in any body of water and fish you’ve caught can be stored in the refrigerator or in the pond next to the Stables. The fishing is pretty simple; you just cast your line, wait for a bite, and hit your tool button to reel in the fish.

Everything you do in the game takes stamina and causes fatigue. At the start, you have eight stamina hearts. As you use tools, your stamina drops, and your fatigue increases. There are two ways to raise stamina. You can restore stamina by eating food that you either purchased from the inn or cooked yourself in your kitchen if you upgraded your house the first time. You can also restore stamina by spending time soaking in the hot spring.

Speaking of cooking, make sure you don’t sell all of your crops. Once you get the first house upgrade you can cook in your brand new kitchen. However, you will also need recipes, some ingredients that must be purchased, and utensils that unlock overtime in the General Store. Some recipes can be acquired by watching the cooking show that comes on the entertainment channel on Tuesdays. Other recipes must be acquired from friends.

As you can see, there’s a lot to this game, but I haven’t even gotten to the best part. There is a lot of socialization in Story of Seasons. There are a ton of townspeople to get to know and make friends with. Making friends with the townspeople has advantages, the main one being that they will give you recipes.

Sounds like your little farmer has a lot to do, doesn’t it? Yet, there’s one more thing that they must think about. Romance! There are six bachelors and six Bachelorettes. You can romance anyone you choose, even someone of the same sex. Yes, for the first time in the history of the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons franchise, same-sex marriage is allowed. However, same-sex marriage is only available in North American versions of the game.

Same-sex marriage in Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town is due entirely to the XSEED Games’ localization team. In Japan, homosexuality is still not entirely accepted. Because of this, the Japanese version of SoS: FoMT has what the developers call “Special friends,” but the two characters will not be married. The localization team at XSEED Games changed it for the west, deciding that it was time to give North American players the freedom to marry bachelors or bachelorettes as they saw fit.

So how does romance work? Just like with friendship, you must raise your relationship level with the character you want to romance. You raise relationship levels by participating in events, speaking to the characters when you see them, and giving them gifts that they love or like. It should be noted, however, that giving them gifts they do not like will drop the relationship level.

During the first summer, a resident will ask you to find a rare flower. Once you find that flower and get your relationship level up high enough, you can give it to your soon-to-be love. If they accept, you will begin dating. Continue raising your relationship with your beloved and you’ll be able to purchase a blue feather at the general store which you can then give to your true love and propose marriage. However, the blue feather will not become available until you purchase the second house upgrade.

I have really enjoyed Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town. It’s very calm and chill, but still fun and exciting too. My only complaint is that in the description of the different seeds, it doesn’t tell you how many days it takes for the plant to become mature and ready to harvest. This makes it hard to know whether to plant a particular crop when you’re getting close to the end of the season.

I think the developers did a fantastic job with this remake of a classic Harvest Moon game. It’s so much fun, I have a hard time putting it down to get work done. It would be great to play on the go while commuting to work, waiting for a doctor’s appointment, or on a trip. If you’re a fan of Stardew Valley or Harvest Moon, I think you will enjoy Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town. If you’ve never played a farming Sim, but enjoy simulations in general, this is a great way to get started with the farming genre.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town was provided by XSEED Games for this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town

$49.99

9.5

Score

9.5/10

Pros

• Cute Graphics
• Interesting Characters
• Smooth, Responsive Controls
• Easy To Learn Mechanics
• Same-Sex Marriage Allowed

Cons

• Vague Seed Descriptions