Harvest Moon: One World
By Marc Saltzman,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Farming sim tale grows fun crops and some frustrating play.
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Harvest Moon: One World
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What’s It About?
In HARVEST MOON: ONE WORLD, your hardworking farmer has gone global. The story surrounds the disappearance of the Harvest Goddess, leaving the land without many crops (limited to potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, and carrots, mostly). But at the very least, before she mysteriously vanished, the Harvest Goddess imbued tiny Harvest Wisps with the knowledge of various seeds, thus ensuring that the variety of fresh fruits and vegetables of the world wouldn't be gone forever. Thus begins your quest: to travel around collecting seeds from the wisps to plant. From there, you can choose to consume, gift, or sell the bountiful yields, as well as eventually help revive the Harvest Goddess. It's a good thing you travel with a magical Expando-Farm, which you can place down in an empty field wherever life takes you (providing a barn, field for crops, and home with a bed to rest in), and bring it with you to go as you traverse the globe. In total, you will explore five unique areas. Each land has unique people, challenges, and some exotic animals (like tigers, camels, bears, and reindeer). Harvest sprites can be found to unlock additional crops, too.
Is It Any Good?
Despite some repetition in tasks, some nagging issues with controls, and plain graphics, this farming sim proves to be a fun, challenging, and rewarding sim for those willing to put in the time. It won't take long to appreciate the sense of scale in Harvest Moon: One World. The moment your mom expands your bag (to fit more seeds, food, and other items) and as you begin to explore the map, you realize this is a grand adventure, with several people to meet, missions to tackle, crops to grow, and animals to tend to. More than any previous Harvest Moon game, it has a lot to do. You'll walk around and interact with people to hear what they'd like you to help them with, go back to your farm to tend to your animals and fields, find glowing wisps, and then repeat the process. You'll rest when you get tired, and some locations you want to visit, such as nearby shops, are open only at certain times of the day. While the gameplay is similar between the regions, and might feel a little repetitive at times, it's indeed fun to unlock new areas, each with its own unique flare, and it does seem like you're working toward a larger goal.
The controls can be finicky, though, where you need to stand in a specific spot to interact with an object or a person. It can be annoying, as you'll run around something or someone to find that small area that works. The production quality also lags behind other games, with dated graphics, MIDI music, and no voice-over talent, which helps it feel, well, shallow. Also, conversations with townsfolk are very generic, and some odd Japanese-to-English translations break the suspension of disbelief. In some ways, it feels like the series isn't really moving forward much. But that can be nitpicking, because Harvest Moon: One World has a lot going for it, and those who love this series and farming sims as a whole will no doubt appreciate the breadth and depth here.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the appeal of farming simulation games. Is it relaxing, or challenging? Is it a fantasy, since most people live in cities today and are perhaps curious about what life is like on a farm? Or is it the fantastical story connected to Harvest Moon: One World that keeps it interesting, including wisps, faeries, and goddesses?
What are some good ways to work on developing new friendships? How can helping others lead to building a stronger community?
Game Details
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4 , Xbox One
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Natsume
- Release date: March 5, 2021
- Genre: Simulation
- Topics: Cooking and Baking , Magic and Fantasy , Adventures , Horses and Farm Animals , Science and Nature
- ESRB rating: E for No Descriptions
- Last updated: March 5, 2021
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