HARVESTELLA DEMO First Impressions

Forget slaying dragons or saving a princess- the real fantasy dream these days is owning a house with a large yard for a vegetable garden. It’s no surprise, then, that we have plenty of farming simulator games to choose from, from established series like Rune Factory and Story of Seasons to successful newcomers like Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin and Stardew Valley.

In this competitive market comes Harvestella, the new RPG/farming simulator developed by Live Wire and published by Square Enix. A demo has arrived on the Nintendo Switch following September 13’s Nintendo Direct, giving us an early look at the gameplay we can expect later this year.

Join us today at Honey’s Anime as we discuss our first impressions of the HARVESTELLA demo!

Square Enix is ​​undoubtedly late to the farming sim game, but Harvestella confidently asserts itself within the first hour of the demo. You’d think everything was done in this style before – and you’d be right. But HARVESTELLA does everything that its competitors do and somehow does it better.

The game’s opening hours gradually introduce you to your amnesiac main character, your farm’s plot, and your general combat abilities. The overarching story is surprisingly engaging, centering on a mysterious fifth season called “Quitus,” where crops wither and an oppressive fog sweeps across the globe. Aria with the mystery of Quitus, a girl who comes from a future timeline; Giant crystals called ‘Sealites’ dominate the world; And a shadowy church that wants to control information about crystals and outsiders called “omens”.

The greater emphasis on story and characters is incredibly welcome and serves to propel the player through the first few days of their journey.

Despite not carrying the Final Fantasy brand, Harvestella draws inspiration from other Square Enix titles for its combat system. Battles take place in real time using a mix of standard attacks and special abilities that can target enemy weaknesses such as fire or slash damage. As you kill enemies, you’ll receive Job Points (JP), which can then be used to earn new skills and abilities for your job class.

As the game progresses, you’ll gain access to other job classes, such as the Mage class of the demo. You can also switch classes mid-battle, allowing you to adapt to changing combat situations—something that will come in handy against tougher “FEAR” enemies who act as the game’s mini-bosses.

You’ll join the battle with two other teammates, although in the demo, we weren’t able to command allies—hopefully, we’ll add that feature before the game’s release in November.

Overall it’s probably the most sophisticated combat system we’ve seen in the genre, and it’s actually enjoyable, rather than an essential task to perform while waiting for your carrots to grow.

Coming to farming mechanics, HARVESTELLA closely mimics its competitors here. If you’ve played Rune Factory, you’ll be right at home making cash rolls with the rhythm of plowing the soil, sowing seeds, and placing harvested produce in a “shipping box”.

In addition to working on land, you can also fish, collect or craft. Finding recipes and ingredients will open up new tools to craft, and you can even use the kitchen to make food. You’ll want to keep your stomach full because both combat and farming use up valuable stamina.

Having something in your character’s stomach will gradually restore stamina, and give you a boost to your health as well. In combat, this is extremely important, because running out of stamina or health will immediately return you to the city doctor.

Stamina isn’t the only thing you’ll need to keep an eye on. Time itself is a precious commodity. You can’t force your character to stay up too late, so it’s important to decide what to work on throughout the day. Actions like crafting will absorb entire hours at once, while adventure will slowly see the minutes slip away. Each day you will need to decide how to divide your time between taking care of your crops or moving to a new area.

HARVESTELLA has something else on its rivals-Graphics. After Rune Factory 5’s disastrous performance on both Switch and PC, we were hesitant to see another 3D RPG/farming sim hit the Switch.

Live Wire has successfully produced a gorgeous game that plays extremely well on the Nintendo Switch, both docked and handheld. Textures are noticeably blurry in handheld mode, but that’s a tradeoff for smooth performance even during combat. We didn’t see any slowdowns while running around, cultivating or struggling.

The background music is beautiful, with an operatic style that matches the scenes perfectly. The characters have a specific allure to them, and in a big step forward for RPG players, your main character can be male, female, or non-binary, with options for masculine or feminine features, no matter which option you choose.