At E3 this year, game developers Natsume Inc. announced the latest instalment in their light farming/relationship sim series, Harvest Moon: Skytree Village would soon be coming to the 3DS. As we've long been huge fans of the series, this was a moment of both sheer joy, and slight concern - because, seeing as Natsume don't deal with localising games for our part of the world, there was no guarantee it would ever hit these shores. So, you can imagine our relief to learn that publishers Rising Star have picked the game up for Europe, with a release date of Spring 2017 set as the day we resume our farming lives. Similar to Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley, Skytree Village promises to let you play as a boy or a girl, and set out on an adventure to create the perfect farm - and start a family!
This time, we're tasked with coming to the aid of the Harvest Goddess (a familiar storyline to any previous Harvest Moon players), as her powers have once again faded, and it's up to us to nurture the seven Skytrees back to health. Restore the trees, restore her powers, and rejuvenate the land back to its previous state of prosperity!
Hmm, now where shall I plant that turnip...
The main new additions that we know of so far will be:
- New crops and flowers to grow. We expect it'll be more hybrids made from planting different seeds next each other.
- A new animal - have your very own donkey! Will we be able to ride it? We think that's most likely. You never know, we might be able to make some money on the side selling donkey rides on the beach!
- New characters to meet and bond with, with some familiar faces promised too. We wonder who's going to win our heart this time!
- New fish will be added, along with several new ways to fish, including a boat. Maybe there'll be a focus on bigger fish being in deeper parts of water.
- A brand new story line (no matter how similar it might be to previous Harvest Moon plots). We assume we'll need to grow and collect a list of specific items for each of the seven trees, like in Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquillity and Animal Parade.
- There's to be a new art style and new character models also, so we look forward to seeing how it differs to The Lost Valley. We didn't think much of how squashed and "chibi" everyone looked, so we're hoping for something a bit more elegant this time.
We've been promised "the most rounded, enjoyable and accessible Harvest Moon yet seen", so definitely one to look forward to for all you 3DS fans!
