The Harvest Moon collection paved the best way for a lot of farming simulators we all know and love, performing as the muse for the style. Since its launch, it has transcended into a number of variations with its spin-offs and major entries, finally morphing into the Story of Seasons franchise that also harnesses its predecessor’s adored parts. Nevertheless, lately, the highlight predominately shined on the newer version, shying away from the Harvest Moon collection. That’s till The Winds of Anthos was introduced to lastly carry the collection again on the map.
Though I’ve solely skilled the Story of Seasons facet, it was plain to see how a lot the franchise has improved on this upcoming installment, with its overhaul of revamped graphics and entertaining open-world mechanics. In the event you’ve performed previous entries, you’ll undoubtedly be blown away by the winds of Anthos, because it options 5 villages in an extensively massive map. By the appears to be like of the realm measurement I noticed within the preview, it might be one of many largest places within the collection, giving gamers extra to discover and much more to do.
What makes it even higher is the truth that these villages include their very own set of surprises, the place you’ll encounter several types of environments and challenges. On one finish, gamers can gown down and revel in their time within the tropics, whereas the opposite brings on the chilliness with its freezing temperatures. I’m all the time a sucker for video games that diversify their environment, so to see that on this recreation is extremely refreshing, particularly since it may get comparatively mundane after a while with particular farming simulators.
![Speaking with a villager in Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/11.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
The mythology behind Anthos additionally pairs properly with the surroundings to present which means to the setting round you. Previously, the realm was as soon as a distinguished vacation spot beneath the safety of the Harvest Goddess and Harvest Sprites till a volcanic eruption plagued the villages, separating every city from the opposite. However, as a final plea for assist, the Harvest Goddess despatched a letter and key right into a bottle to at some point restore the realm to its former glory.
Whereas the settlement remained in disarray for over 10 years, an indication of hope rose from the ashes when the primary protagonist found the bottle, starting the mission to reconnect all of the villages. Those that loved the narrative side of Harvest Moon can look ahead to an growth on story-based parts, because the group behind the installment has indicated that the Winds of Anthos has extra cutscenes than some other entries. Meaning you’ll be extra well-versed with the situation’s historical past and folks as an alternative of aimlessly working round to enhance your farm.
Alternatively, in case you are the kind of participant who thrives on getting misplaced on this planet with out an emphasis on the story, you’ll be able to deviate from these narrative missions to give attention to the franchise’s major side, farming. Devoted followers will see that the angle of the character’s view is rather more fluid and open when gardening or exploring, differing from the top-down format you could be used to. The graphics are additionally pleasing to the attention by way of their vibrant colours, lovable character designs, and finely detailed environment, in addition to sooner loading occasions.
![Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos Gameplay](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/12.jpg?resize=640%2C360)
Though I didn’t totally indulge within the conversations with villagers, there will definitely be many alternatives to get together with the numerous residents, unlocking missions and companion-based quests. After all, it wouldn’t be a Harvest Moon recreation and not using a love curiosity to share your journey with, together with a female and male choice in every city. However, to entry these locations, it’s essential to restore the bridges to those settlements and repair the damaged state of constructions that the volcano left behind. There’s no order on which vacation spot you need to go to first, so adventurers might even go to the farthest facet of the map to fulfill their one real love or just fill out the map.
The extra you enhance the villages, the extra you’ll enhance your cultural stage to earn rewards and upgrades to your instruments. Uncommon seeds may also be collected from the sprites that can linger round hidden areas or stay out within the open. The farming gameplay has all the fundamental fundamentals of previous Harvest Moon video games with a number of tweaks that improve its basic mechanics. You’ll want to make sure you are planting the seeds in an acceptable location since their development depends upon the climate, soil, and different circumstances.
The merchandise search is among the most useful instruments I’ve seen within the style, provided that gamers can select to mark a desired product on the map to rapidly discover it, producing an icon radius of its location. That means, you received’t get as annoyed looking for one particular product. On prime of that, there’s loads of animals to befriend, and you may principally pet them to your coronary heart’s content material to stage up your relationships. The glimpses I noticed of the creatures virtually jogged my memory of Pokemon, contemplating that gamers should sneak as much as work together with them and discover round to search out totally different species.
Anthos is packed stuffed with a bunch of different actions, reminiscent of fishing, racing, pageant occasions, requests, and lots of extra. You can truthfully play the sport so long as you need, as there aren’t any restrictive deadlines for missions, and you’ve got the liberty to go wherever no matter your character’s stage.
With all this in thoughts, I firmly consider the Winds of Anthos might carry a resurgence to the Harvest Moon franchise, proving that an outdated canine can nonetheless study some new tips. It has sufficient steadiness to fulfill outdated and new followers, showcasing a recent facet of the basic whereas staying true to its fundamentals. I look ahead to seeing the return of the collection, and hopefully, it would open the door for extra to come back.