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: Home Sweet Home (August 2024) and Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (June 2023)
• Europe: Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home (August 2024) 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

SoS:GB Guts/Stamina Info, Indie Farm'n Game Updates, and Autonomica Kickstarter | Posted at 04:23 PM 18 April 2025

Happy Farm'n Friday! I spent some time last weekend planting the little seedling potatoes hoarded from last fall's harvest, though I may have waited too late to plant. When opening the box in which I had stored the spuds, I found it full of escaping potato sprouts! Oops. I planted them in the backyard garden box this year but haven't seen anything sprouting yet. I have seen potato sprouts in other places that were left over from last year - apparently, I missed harvesting a few - so I'll get some potatoes, I guess.

SoS:GB Updates

In this week's Zephyr Town Walker article on the official Bokumono website, Marvelous notes that there are over 100 crops to grow in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar. I assume they're including flower crops in the updated game, which were not a crop option in the original Nintendo DS version, and the giant and golden crops that carried over from Pioneers of Olive Town. We've already seen golden strawberry in some of the videos released by Marvelous. PoOT had 84 crops to produce, so we're getting 16 more goodies to grow in Grand Bazaar.

This week's article also highlights the effect of tool usage on GUTS (i.e., the protagonist's energy level). In Japan, Marvelous is keeping the energy gauge labeled GUTS, while Marvelous USA has renamed it STAMINA.

This is actually a carry-over from the original game. For example, if the watering can was utilized when the protagonist's feet were planted on the ground, there would be -1 stamina expended per usage. On the other hand, you could jump and use the watering can at the same time, increasing the tool's range of watering influence from 1 square of crop field to 3 square, but there would be -6 stamina expended per jump + watering can usage. So, while it is faster to jump + water, there is a stamina penalty of -3 for taking advantage of that trick.

In the 2008 game, using the hoe and watering can combined with the jump ability were the only skills with an extra stamina penalty. Players could cut weeds one at a time or with a jump + cut and lose the same amount of stamina. In the 2025 remake, that generally seems to be the case as well for cutting weeds with the sickle, but there is now a jump + tool usage stamina hit when using the hatchet tool (a combination of an "axe" and "hammer" from the OG game) to clear branches and stones in a wide area.

In this version, Mayor Felix sells jump improvements at his bazaar booth to make farm work more efficient.

In the original game, the higher the star rank of the watering can and hoe, the wider the influence of the tool. From what I can tell, the remake appears to use normal remodeling metals. A copper hatchet and a silver hatchet were shown during the Nintendo Direct, including "+" level of tools indicated on the protagonist's tool inventory bar. Tools can be remodeled using a windmill.

Indie Updates

Indie farm'n development studio SquareHusky released a new content update this week for his afterlife farming game, Everafter Falls. The new content is available now on the game's PC version, with the console version expected to be released by the end of April.

Everafter has a collection component whereby players donate fish, bugs, shells, flowers, processed goods, etc., to complete Tobias' passion-project museum. Finding some of these goodies was mainly based on luck, but with this new update, Tobias has a special terrarium blueprint to share that will make it easier to find rare mushrooms. The bovine fisherman Calvin has a pendant he's willing to share that will help catch rare fish. Cedric the robot can help find undiscovered insects, and there are also new cooking recipe sets to complete.

Some other village animals also have new quests, such as helping Cid with a new furniture catalog for decorating your house or working with Freya to build a plant catalog. Gameplay improvements include the ability to move planted trees via the terminal at Aamy's house, more pixie card consumptions for expanding pixie friendships, another map teleportation spot, and more.

The game retails for about $20 on Switch, Steam, GoG, Epic Game Store, PlayStation, and XBox. Everafter Falls is currently 25% off on Steam until next Thursday (24th).

• Everafter Falls | Steam Store

Blobby-farming game Ova Magica has been updated to version 0.9, with the full-release 1.0 edition expected later this year. This latest content release for the early access game includes a new prehistoric blob land, the ability to skip to the next season (so you don't have to wait a full in-game year to collect goodies that were missed during events), more friendship events, motion sickness settings, fast travel options, and a whole lot more!

• Ova Magica | Steam Store

Autonomica Kickstarter Launched

On Tuesday, Crytivo launched the crowdfunding campaign for their farming automation and ghost hunting game, Autonomica. The game reached its funding goal within days and is now going through stretch goals.

In this 1980s-vibe steampunk farming game, players crash-land on a desolate place where time seems to be fractured. Rebuild a farming empire, develop relationships with the local residents, and explore parallel timelines while also searching for a father lost to time.

Autonomica was originally called Farm Folks, a crowdfunded game from 2018 that Crytivo took over and has tinkered with ever since, eventually scraping much of the original game to build a whole new farming game. Crytivo intends to support the legacy backers of Farm Folks, giving equivalent rewards from the Autonomica crowdfunding campaign without requiring additional funding support. The chart of matching goodies can be found on the Crytivo announcement on Discord.

So far, Autonomica has received over $250,000 in support just in its first few days. You can learn more about the game on its Kickstarter campaign page.

• Autonomica - Open-World Survival with Farming and Automation | Kickstarter

Until next time!

- Cher
(It's plant'n time!)

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