The Ushi No Tane websites specialize in information, FAQs, and guides about the Nintendo console versions of the Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, and Legend of the River King video games. These game genres are created and published in Japan by Marvelous (JP). In other regions, you'll find Natsume, XSeed Games/Marvelous (USA), Marvelous (EU), and Rising Star involved in the series' release.

The latest version of the mainstream farming series that have been released in various regions of the world are:

• Japan: Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (January 2023)
• North America: Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos (September 2023) and Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (June 2023)
• Europe: Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos (October 2023) and Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (June 2023)

The latest version of River King, in all regions of the world, is River King: Mystic Valley (JP 2007, NA 2008, EU 2009).

Since 2000, Ushi no Tane has been run by a grouchy old lady who happens to be fond of video game agriculture along with two feline helpers: Intern Captain Bootu and Intern Hondo Mewnaka. The website is not officially affiliated, sponsored, endorsed, or employed by the developers of Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, or River King. This is simply a fan site.

Latest Farming Video Game News

Happy Farm'n Friday! The first big order of new Christmas lights arrived this week. I know, it may seem that the end of July is a strange period to start planning for the holiday display, but making plans and purchases now helps to speed up the installation of said lights in November. Last year, with the color change from red/green/white to blue/teal/white, I was essentially winging it - installing lights with no pattern or agenda other than putting up as many as possible. I wanted to know how the new colors would look together before committing to a larger project. But I got a lot of positive feedback from the neighbors, including my biggest Christmas light critic (a.k.a., Mr.Fogu), so this year I have already started planning where and what colors to use. Besides, now is the best time to buy Christmas decor; retailers are having early-bird sales before the mad rush of the holidays.

Last year's merry light display was only 8500 lights. This year I've to do better!

Critter Crops Released

Skyreach Studio's witchy farming game Critter Crops released in-full on Steam this week. Players take on the role of Sylvie, a displaced witch looking for a hometown that won't cast her out because of her magical powers. A letter from a mysterious benefactor brings her to Muttle Island and an abandoned mansion. Sylvie needs to learn how best to use her magical abilities, receive the blessing of the Witch of Wisdom, and make a safe place for every displaced creature that makes their way to MurMur Town.

The mansion has its own spirit and won't open its doors to just any 'ol person. Sylvie must prove herself by repairing buildings, enticing other magical beings to move to MurMur Town, and growing crops that harvest into cute monsters called Critter Crops. After harvest, each magical crop has stats that will influence Sylvie's magical power. The rarer the critter, the more benefit it brings. Any extra critters can be sold to the critter collector for some ghould; a kind of cute take on gold. The critters can be leveled up by using essence collected when taking actions such as mining and enemy defeating.

Every morning, daily quests are available to help earn ghould. You can choose to clear all three or just leave them be. The daily tasks involve helping other spirits, cleaning up the weeds and debris, and even chasing after magical orbs until they lead you to their hidden treasure. Besides completing the monster crop cittercompendium, there is rock mining, foraging, and noodling, basically fishing using a magical hand.

The game includes a social media spider inter-web called Friendless, sponsored by Ama-zomb. Interacting with posts from other magical beings on the social network will reward Sylvie with friend relationship points. Giving gifts when they're visiting also increases relationship status. Max out the friendship level to encourage the ghoulish friend to permanently move to MurMur Town.

Critter Crops is currently discounted by 10% as part of its launch week.

• Critter Crops | Steam Store

Note that the game does not auto save! I made some progress and was heading back to the inn for the day when snake-like plants appeared. I tried interacting with them (Oh hey, new critters!), only to find myself dead. They were evidently bad guys that came out at night. Restarting at the last "save" put me back at the beginning of the game. Apparently, you're assumed to know how to save game progress by opening the game's options menu (ESC key). Well, I did not know, but now you do! It was quick to get myself back to where I was before Sylvie died, and Intern Captain was enjoying Sylvie bounce around the map anyway.

Coral Island 1.1

Environmentally safe farming game Coral Island released its big 1.1 content addition this week, bringing a conclusion to the game's story, post-game content, hanging out with marriage candidates, town attractions, and a new underwater farm space. A lot of stuff!

The game is also 20% off on the Steam Store until July 29:

• Coral Island | Steam Store

Unfortunately, future updates past this initial version 1.1 release for home console players (Xbox and PS5) may have to wait a bit. The next day after the release of 1.1, the publisher tasked with the home console versions, Humble Games, was "restructured" by Ziff Davis (owner of IGN) and laid off all staff involved with publishing indie games. While Coral Island's developer, Stairway Games, publishes hotfixes and other content additions to the Steam platform, they had hired Humble Games to handle the home console releases. It's still being determined what future support can be given to the home consoles, as much is up in the air at the moment. The planned 1.2 content addition brings multiplayer and a merfolk festival, and 1.3 enhances child growth, so who knows when PS5/XBox will receive those features. I have the PS5 version and had held off playing the game until the story's conclusion was added, but maybe I need to double-dip for the Steam version...

Another downside to the Humble Games closure is the demise of the planned Switch port of Coral Island. While the home console port was a funding stretch goal during the original Kickstarter campaign in 2021, the closure of Humble Games makes it painfully obvious there won't be a Switch version of the game anytime soon. Stairway Games is now offering Switch backers a copy of the game on Steam as an alternative to waiting forever for something that realistically may never happen. Those who want to swap from Switch to Steam can contact Stairway Games via their customer service email (contact@stairwaygames.com) to request a platform change.

More New Farm'n Releases

Two more indie-developed farming games were released this week: Ova Magica and Harvest Days: My Dream Farm.

Ova Magica was released in Early Access on Tuesday. ClaudiaTheDev's cute blobby farming game has players raising orb-like monsters hatched from eggs, working together as a team on a farm located in Clover Town. The full game will include blob breeding (gotta catch 'em all!), blob battling, marriage candidates that aren't blobs, and more. Early access for Ova is expected to last into 2025.

• Ova Magica | Steam Store

Family Dev's open-world farming game Harvest Days: My Dream Farm launched this week on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Steam, and XBox One/X/S. This is a casual farming game where players start a new life in a rural countryside, cultivating over 50 types of crops, caring for animals, recycling garbage, and chatting with the locals. Build the farm however you want by collecting resources to construct decorations, tools, and furniture. It's just you, the vast land, and the farm you build.

• Harvest Days | Launch Day Trailer
• Harvest Days | Nintendo Store
• Harvest Days | Steam Store
• Harvest Days | XBox Store

It's on PlayStation DE store, but didn't have luck finding a PS edition in other regions, sorry!

Until next time!

-Cher
(Yes! Denpa Men is free now on Switch! So many games to play...)

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