This one is for the cosy gamers.
Developed by Marvelous Inc, STORY OF SEASONS: A Wonderful Life is filled with gentle music, a slower game pace, cute characters and wholesome vibes.
A Wonderful Life is part of the classic Harvest Moon series, a farming and town builder set in the peaceful Forgotten Valley.
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STORY OF SEASONS: A Wonderful Life (Supplied)
The game begins with character customisation. You can personalise your character’s hair style and colour, skin tone, eye colour, and outfit. This means you could place yourself into your virtual farm – or do what I did and create someone who looks completely different! Once you’ve chosen your looks, name your character, select your pronouns and you’re off.
I highly recommend coming equipped with a list of fun names, you’ll not only name your character you’ll need to come up with names for your farm and livestock (my hen is called Zip and my rooster is called Zop for reference).
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Nothing better than a warm bowl of ‘Milky Soup’… (Supplied)
Farm caretaker Takakura is there to guide you from the get-go, introducing you to your neighbours and showing you around your new farm. His notes are kept in your home and are really handy to revisit when you need information about anything to do with the farm. I found myself looking at them, more often than not, to learn how to do certain things like plant crops or order livestock.
Navigating the farm and surrounds is made simple thanks to the in-game map, the world is nice and simple with lots of room to roam. You’re able to venture into the town and speak to all sorts of villagers. Chatting with them leads to business; selling and buying – but it can also lead to relationships.
STORY OF SEASONS: A Wonderful Life (Supplied)
A big aim of the game is to get married. Multiple times Takakura has put the pressure on me to find someone to tie the knot, and with my aching need to impress Takakura, I might just have to get cracking.
As a self-professed horror adventure gamer, the cosiness of Story of Seasons was a big change of pace.
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I’ve enjoyed earning my keep on the farm petting my cow, selling milk, buying chickens and growing crops. The sense of satisfaction with growing these tiny fake crops scratches my brain just right. I can practically taste my ripe tomatoes!
When venturing into the village there is a task board that villagers can post requests on, allowing you to view and help out. It can range from sourcing produce for recipes or swapping a hot meal for seeds. Visiting the task board is a good deviation from farm life and helps build a good rapport with other characters.
Fishing in STORY OF SEASONS: A Wonderful Life is reminiscent of Animal Crossing. (Supplied)
STORY OF SEASONS: A Wonderful Life is great for all ages. Although it does come with a learning curve, I’m still trying to strategically and efficiently plant my crops and sell my cow’s milk in a way that earns me decent coin. It will take time to build the farming empire I deserve but I’m enjoying the journey.
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The vibe of the game is quite nostalgic and reminds me of games I’d play as a child. The fast-paced speech of the townsfolk reminds me of Professor Layton and the Curious Village and the fishing and tasks cast fond memories of Animal Crossing: Wild World. Adding a new layer of enjoyment to the game.
A Wonderful Life is good to throw on when you need a break from games with harsh combat. It’s not something I personally would sit down and binge for several hours, as it gets rather repetitive after a while. But for sitting down to play a session every few days has been refreshing.
STORY OF SEASONS: A Wonderful Life is coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC on June 27.
Quest Daily was supplied with an early release copy of STORY OF SEASONS: A Wonderful Life for the purpose of this review.
