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

Indie Farm'n Game Updates, More NF Demos, and Two New Farm'n Games (FSVR and Ashwood Valley) | Posted at 05:18 PM 28 February 2025

Happy Farm'n Friday! We've had some nice, spring weather: sunny and in the mid-60s. It's definitely not spring season yet; our last-frost date is in mid-April. Potatoes are a few weeks out, and it's too soon to start tomatoes indoors. Mr. Fogu's sister stopped by last week to do a seed exchange, so now I have a few packets of scwartzenbeeren berry seeds. With that and the horseradish, I think I'm good for weird crops this year. We'll see how these turn out!

I also completed the space farming game Little Known Galaxy last weekend. The story was cute, and the characters were charming, but it was a bit on the easy side. Robots could take care of the crop watering, and there was a limited use for livestock products. The game was still enjoyable if you're looking for a different take on a farming game.

I also started playing Bloom Town, which has a tiny bit of farming. The plants grow best when watered twice a day, from my experience. There isn't any livestock to care for, but there are monsters and dead people and ghosts and… ya it's not a typical game I play. Sometimes it's good to mix things up! It's still a fun game for those who like turn-based RPGs with a spooky theme.

Indie Updates

Lucid Tale's game about sailing through the sky on an airship with on-deck garden boxes, Sally, has paused its development due to funding issues in a difficult video game landscape. The studio is switching gears to other contracted projects to keep themselves stable, which pushes progress on Sally to the side for now. This game was crowdfunded in November 2022 and has promotionally appeared at a few game shows during its development.

In this game, players join a crew of kids and two grandma-like elders as they explore sky islands, forage for items, grow crops and care for animals, all while making repairs to the ship. Relationship building is a deep part of the game, with each play through having a new group of kids with different personalities, traits, and preferences.

• Sally | Steam Store

This week, Soda Den teased a little more info for the upcoming 1.2 content update to Roots of Pacha. Prehistoric farmers are going to explore growing fruit trees and crop mutations, all of which produce edible goods that can be cooked into new meals, such as Hot Cocoa. Mmm… chocolate…

• Roots of Pacha | Steam Store

The March 10 update for Fields of Mistria will be here soon! This content addition to this early access game will bring lava caves to explore (use the watering can to cool hot lava!), magical statues that will improve farm efficiency by watering crops and keeping livestock happy, more museum sets to collect, a new festival, and much more!

• Fields of Mistria | Steam Store

More Next Fest Demos

The number of indie-developed farming sims included in this week's Steam Next Fest has expanded! He's a newly updated list of demos available until Monday:

• Cattle Country
• Doloc Town
• Faun Town
• Grimshire
• Meows Farm
• Seeds of Calamity
• Solar Punk
• Sugardew Island
• Sunshine Farm
• Tales of Seikyu
• Tiny Terraces

Farmers who try the demo for Tales of Seikyu will receive an in-game outfit for the protagonist that will carry over to the game's Early Access launch, which is currently planned for this Spring. The progress made during the demo can also be transferred to the EA version.

FS VR

For those who own a Meta Quest VR device, you can now play video game farmer from the comfort of your couch. GIANTS Software released Farming Simulator VR this week!

The virtual reality version of the popular Farming Simulator series has players driving tractors and repairing equipment. Besides the field crops, a greenhouse lets players care for products like tomatoes and strawberries. This game is a slimmed-down version of FS, as its focus is on a short season experience and doesn't have livestock, production chains, and other features available in their latest full-sized game, Farming Simulator 25.

Farming Simulator VR is priced at about $25 and only available for Meta's VR system platform.

• Farming Simulator VR | Quest VR Games

New Farm'n - Ashwood Valley

Publisher Red Deer Games (Dreamland Farm, Sprout Valley, Bit Orchard, etc.) announced this week a new indie farming game called Ashwood Valley will be coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and XBox sometime in 2025. In this game, a pair of siblings step into another world caused by a spell mishap; the protagonist you choose not to play as will be turned into a cat!

The goal of the game is to find a way to change your sibling back into a human. The local wildlife might have clues, but they need to be coaxed into becoming friendly by feeding them crops grown from the player's farm. There are also non-animal folks living nearby, such as the mayor and fisherman, who will help the siblings become better farmers.

We'll learn more about this game as it develops. I'm always in with video game kitties.

Until next time

-Cher
(No rain means a dry roof. Guess it's time to take down the rest of the Christmas lights.)

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