Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, the remake of one of the most beloved installments of the legendary Harvest Moon series, has just been released. Find out if the game is worth a try in our review.
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Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Review and Score Explanation
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Score Explanation
| Overall | The game is a mid-tier remake of a classic, likely to fade into obscurity for not being good enough or bad enough to be memorable. Fans of the series may still enjoy the game for nostalgia, though. |
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| Story | It's a story about taking over a farm, getting a relationship, having a family, and eventually having the younger generation take over after you. There are no significant, eye-popping plot developments to speak of. Though nothing is wrong with that, it does make for a pretty uninteresting read. |
| Gameplay | At first glance, there is much to do to maintain your farm's operations. This is especially true for players building up their facilities and livestock. However, the core gameplay can be summarized into a straightforward loop of buying supplies, caring for crops, tending to livestock, and sleeping. Aside from some necessary relationships to develop, everything else is practically unnecessary. The gameplay is essentially a backdrop to the story of life unfolding before the players' eyes. |
| Visuals | Even for the newest installment of the Harvest Moon series, there's barely anything to see in the game. It's even emptier than past games such as Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town. That's not to say that the game isn't pretty. It is. But at the same time, that's all it is. |
| Audio | The game has a set of tunes that suit the game perfectly. However, it fades into the background relatively quickly, pushed down by the dull gameplay loop without a chance to shine. Catchy as some of them are, they're forgettable and only limited to some areas in the game. Ambient noise fills the void when no music plays, but they're unimpressive, and some of them are even reused, like the sound of hoofbeats on wood and stone are the same. |
| Value for Money | Despite its shortcomings, Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life guarantees many hours of gameplay for players who do not mind its repetitive gameplay loop. |
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Review and First Impressions
Do you like watching plants grow? Do you enjoy signing off from work after an eight-hour shift, only to go home, sit at your computer, and then go back to work?
Having played the original Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life, I was hyped to try the remake. But to my disappointment, aside from a few additions to the game, such as bachelor options and new character creation choices, Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life was just the old game with better graphics. It maintained many of my previous issues with the game, such as its dull characters and boring story. But while the farming aspect is as enjoyable as ever, the juxtaposition of how aged its controls are with its brand-spanking-new (relatively) graphics made me feel that the game's very old.
Regardless, I still enjoyed playing Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life. It's still a worthwhile game to try, despite its flaws.
Pros of Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life
| Things Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Got Right |
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 The Game Truly Is Relaxing |
The Game Truly Is Relaxing
Unlike real life, working in Story of Seasons games can feel therapeutic. It might be because of the satisfaction of a tidy field or the sight of a stretch of pasture with your livestock grazing.
Just like what you would expect from the thumbnail, Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is a farming game. But instead of simply leaving you with a field, the game incorporates RPG elements into it, complete with NPCs to build relationships and a story to experience. But before you can connect with them, you must be able to take care of yourself first.
Growing crops during the early game involves tilling the land with a hoe, buying the necessary seeds from Vesta's farm, a more developed farmstead adjacent to yours, and then planting them on the softened earth. Tending to them involves monitoring the soil's dryness daily, watering them as needed, and occasionally providing fertilizer you can buy from Vesta's farm.
Depending on the crop, it may take them seven or so days to fully develop where they can be harvested. Trees, on the other hand, take entire months to grow before they can bear fruit.
Besides crops, you also have to tend to your animals. You start with a singular cow that has just given birth, allowing you to milk her for a few dozen days. Eventually, you'll be able to expand your herd to fill more than just a single barn's worth of animals, such as cows, sheep, and goats. But regardless of the number of animals you have, the same routine applies to all of them. They must be kept well-fed by providing fodder or allowing them to graze on the pasture. You must also regularly tend to their physical and mental health by brushing them clean and giving them an occasional hug.
The materials you can obtain from animals depend on what they are. Cows can provide you with milk, while Chickens can supply many eggs. There's a caveat to each animal, though. For example, cows must have been pregnant within the last few months before they could produce milk, chicken eggs are cheap to compensate for their quantity, and wool from sheep, while expensive, can only be harvested every few days.
As players progress and save money, they can purchase or obtain additional facilities to make their lives easier, such as a place that turns crops into seeds or one that converts junk into fertilizer. Both can eliminate the player's dependence on Vesta's farm but cost a lot of money. Other facilities include a processing room to turn milk into cheese or butter, an automated fertilizer dispensing machine, and many more.
Seeing your farm develop from a relatively derelict one with only a single cow to your name into one with modern machinery is immensely satisfying, and doing what may be extremely dull chores in real life, such as watering your garden, is very rewarding. It may even be enough to rise above the game's disappointing points.
Cons of Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life
| Things That Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Can Improve |
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In-Game Inconveniences Make You Really Feel The Game's Age The Story And Delivery Is Pretty Bad |
In-Game Inconveniences Make You Really Feel The Game's Age
Even as a game from the GameCube era, carrying over the inconveniences from that console to the modern day can be frustrating for new players. One such example is how transactions work in Van's shop. If a material strikes your fancy and you want to get multiple of them, you'll have to repeatedly go through Van's dialogue the same number of times because he'll only sell you that item once per transaction. Why the developers didn't consider allowing you to enter a quantity to purchase from him is beyond me when they have it for Vesta's products even before the remake. And speaking of Vesta's farm, purchasing different seeds from them can also get quite annoying. Players can only purchase one type of seed from them at once. On top of that, if they need another type of seed, they'll have to go through the folks asking if they want to continue their transactions each time. Why not allow bulk transactions by purchasing multiple seeds of different quantities simultaneously?
The farming process itself also feels quite dated. For example, gathering eggs from your chickens involves picking them up, setting them back down, picking up the egg from the ground, and then keeping them in your bag. There are various ways to simplify this in the game, such as having your chickens go to another area using the bell and then picking up the eggs they left behind in one go. But in terms of controls, they could have just given players the option to reach under the hens and take the eggs directly.
Playing on a keyboard also makes the game feel like a mobile game, with the camera being controlled by dragging the mouse across the screen. The default key bindings are pretty inconvenient as well.
The Story And Delivery Is Pretty Bad
I understand the difficulty of modernizing an old story. Old games have limited ways to tell stories, after all. But that doesn't mean that they can't tell great ones. Wild Arms 4, a game made by the same developer as Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, XSEED, has managed to tell a story that personally holds a special place in my heart with the same limitations that games during those times had. However, with a remake on far more powerful systems such as modern-day PCs and consoles, as well as new tools being made available such as animated cutscenes and prominent background dialogues, Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life has little to no excuses to present us with the same, dusty format as it did years prior.
The game maintains many of its original shortcomings. One example is the game's inconsequential attitude toward wooing any of the possible bachelorettes. Part of the game involves trying to woo a lifelong partner for yourself. The original game had Nami, Cecilia (Celia in the original HM), Molly (Muffy in the original HM), and Lumina. The game expects you to develop relationships by giving them gifts or triggering heart events. Eventually, you'll be able to marry them after witnessing enough of their events and having enough hearts on their relationship meter.
Building a relationship works similarly in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life. But while the game finally allows players to engage in same-sex relationships by also adding a female playable and four bachelors (Gordy, Gustafa, Matthew, and Rock), it still forces a bachelor or bachelorette to you at the end of chapter 1 in case you failed to woo anybody (Cecilia or Rock). After all, having a partner by the start of chapter 2 is necessary to proceed with the story. But having a partner forced upon you, regardless of how poor your decisions were or what state your previous relationship with that character was, ruins much of the immersion.
It's also full of shallow characters who don't progress past an intimate relationship with the character. Lines are repeated often regardless of your relationship with them. This is particularly egregious for the bachelor/bachelorette you've selected to spend your life with. Aside from some additional lines of dialogue, they are primarily static characters in practically every chapter of the story. In fact, even as your spouse, they don't even help you around the farm. Cecilia, in particular, only shows some worth by randomly placing items inside the box outside your house. She's supposed to be a former assistant on a large farm, right? It would have been a great addition to the game if they allowed you to delegate tasks to your partners.
There's not enough drama in the player character's life, too. In fact, the character's romance only lasts a year before the story requires them to get hitched, just like in the original game. In terms of game time, that's only a mere 40 days of romancing, which is even less time if you consider your supposed daily activities.
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Overview & Premise
A story of life from one generation to the next; that's Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life's premise. It follows the player character's journey as he inherits his father's farm, finds love, and creates a family. It includes chapters dedicated to the development of his offspring until the day when they eventually take over the farm, starting the new cycle... or not.
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life seems bent on living up to its title. It's a relaxing stroll through a character's adolescence to adulthood, from being a bachelor to a family man. There's only a little drama besides the third-person experience of witnessing your son or daughter's growth—and even those are minor and forgettable.
Who Should Play Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life?
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is Recommended if You Enjoy:
• The Harvest Moon series
• Stardew Valley
Generally speaking, people who play games to sit back and relax will no doubt enjoy playing Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life. The game was made for those who enjoy the laid-back gameplay that the original Harvest Moon series had. And while it offers none of the excitement of going into The Mines like Stardew Valley has, the main farming mechanics are still quite comparable to each other.
If you're like me, who loves the grind on and off the clock, then Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is definitely for you.
Is Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Worth It?
Despite All Of Its Flaws, Yes It Is.
The game has a certain charm that a score based on five criteria graded as fairly as possible cannot explain. I found it difficult to put down the game for a few days. Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life actually makes watching plants grow fun, and being able to arrange my plants into different patterns has its entertainment value. The tedious task of tending to your animals eventually becomes therapeutic. And the fishing experience? Definitely a banger.
Even watching the days pass by with your family in a series of uneventful seasons grew on me. It's a great game.
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Buy Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life on Amazon
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How Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Matches Up to Recently-Released Games
| Games That Came Out Recently | Pros | Cons |
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 Shogun Showdown |
Offering a more laid-back experience than Shogun Showdown's intense mental exercise, Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is a better choice for those who want to avoid the stress of rogue-lite games. | Shogun Showdown is an incredible turn-based rogue-lite where players must dance around their enemies and plan their moves. It offers a very unique and memorable gameplay that's deceptively heart-pounding and immersive despite its turn-based nature. |
 Oblivion Override |
Compared to Oblivion Override, Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life's pace is much more relaxed. Players can take all the time they want in playing the game so long as they restrain themselves to the game's day and night cycles. | Oblivion Override is a typical rogue-lite Metroidvania that offers fast-paced, heart-stopping action. |
 Amnesia: The Bunker |
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life aims for a different audience than Amnesia: The Bunker. Instead of courageous players, it seeks to enthrall players who seek a more leisurely time in front of their monitors. | As a horror game, Amnesia: The Bunker has a veritably more adventurous and daring audience willing to sacrifice their nerves in pursuit of a good, hair-raising jumpscare. |
How Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Matches Up to Similar Games
| Games Similar to Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life | Pros | Cons |
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 Stardew Valley |
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life focuses much of its efforts on delivering its version of the story of life. It's very mellow and enjoyable, if not uneventful. | Despite being a farming simulator, Stardew Valley also offers the excitement of diving into caves and fighting enemies. |
 Minecraft |
The farming experience in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life tries to be as realistic as possible by encouraging seasonal planting, gratuitous waiting, and maintaining funds to afford seeds and fertilizers. | Farming in Minecraft can be as simple as players tilling the land and planting seeds themselves or as complicated as building multi-layered structures of dirt and glass with platforms managed by villagers and allays. |
 One Lonely Outpost |
For a more grounded farming experience, Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life offers a far more realistic approach to the activity than One Lonely Outpost's fantastical version. | Essentially Stardew Valley in space, One Lonely Outpost is a farming simulator full of adventure. It also offers fantastical landscapes and events that can appeal to any sci-fi fan. |
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Trailer
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Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Product Information
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| Title | STORY OF SEASONS: A WONDERFUL LIFE |
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| Release Date | June 27, 2023 |
| Developer | XSEED |
| Supported Platforms | Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One |
| Genre | Simulator, RPG |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | Everyone |
| Official Website | https://www.storyofseasons.com/awl/ |
