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: Grand Bazaar (August 2025)
• North America: Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home Special Edition (October 2025) and Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar (August 2025)
• Europe: Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home Special Edition (October 2025) and Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar (August 2025)

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! Although the berry vines are budding leaves and ready to go, the containers that prevent them from spreading everywhere are a little worn down. More like disintegrating. The marionberry wooden half-barrel container is in better shape then the raspberry's cedar box, but both are just a good kick away from falling apart. Decided to order some metal raised planter boxes to replace the old wood ones. Most of the metal boxes are 2 feet wide, but luckily I found a place that manufactures narrow-style planter boxes that will fit in the space between the fence and the lawn. Though if we got rid of all that boring grass, maybe we could have ordered standard-sized boxes. That's a project for another day.

PixelShire Dated

Indie developer Kappa Bit's community and farming game Pixelshire will be released on May 8. Published by Maximum Entertainment (publisher of dino-farming game Paleo Pines), this game will initially be available on Steam, with home console versions (Switch and PS5) coming at a later date this year.

A mix of cozy farming, exploration, and city builder, players will be tasked with helping a group of refugees start new lives in the land of Arcadia. Terraform the land to build your dream farm of crops and livestock. There's also fishing, spell crafting, cooking, building construction, and decorating.

Become friends with the townsfolk of Pixelshire, which can lead to new skills and talents to make farm life easier. You can explore the world side-by-side with a townsperson, like having a little helper pet for collecting resources. There's a bit of romance, too!

Check it out today on Steam:

• Pixelshire | Steam Store

Kappa Bits notes that the game should be playable on Steam Deck, though full deck support will be worked on after the PC release in May.

Farm Folks Change Name

Crytivo announced this week that the 2018 Kickstarter farming game they took over a few years later, Farm Folks, has been rebranded. Recently, Crytivo had toyed with the idea of changing the name, as their rebuild of the crowdfunded farming game has expanded into a larger world with ghosts and automation. Its core is still farming, but there are new elements as well. To reflect the changes they've made to the original, the new name for Farm Folks is Autonomica.

In the latest video dev blog, Crytivo details how the all-important crops in this game have unique growth criteria and will check for sunlight and water quantities. Because of the sunlight component, crops do best when grown outside or in a greenhouse ("... if you can see the sun in the game, so can your plants."). Planting crops indoors is possible when utilizing an indoor lighting system.

Livestock animals can be captured from the wild, with a mix of herbivores and carnivores. Keeping them properly penned will ensure there is peace between species. Players must also consider the size of their enclosures, as having not enough space for the animals housed within can cause stress and sickness. The tameable animals live in a variety of biomes, and rarer animals might only appear during specific times of day or during specific outdoor weather. The in-game weather is diverse and will change throughout the day and location of the player.

With the new name reflecting the automation aspect, players can build mechanized components to make farm production more efficient. Setting up trade routes and cargo drones to help the local townsfolk. Advanced machinery is fueled by the energy of the forest Phantoms: ghostly beings that appear only at night. Capturing these strange specters may also help to unravel the mystery behind the weird time dilations. Hard-to-capture Phantoms may require players to travel into the future to research how they may be caught.

The building mechanic in Autonomica allows players to completely customize the shape and design of their home-base farm house. Mix and match doors, windows, flooring, and so on to make your own special house. Placing objects in the house can influence the protagonist's traits.

There's also a multi-player aspect where you can hunt Phantoms with your friends or engage in extraction battles against other players. This is done by leaping into the Finite future, where you can see how the world you've built looks after a long time has expired. Other players' world structures will also appear in Finite, giving a unique feel to each Finite exploration based on how each player combatant built their towns in their primary timeline.

Though the original game already received crowdfunding support, Crytivo notes they did not receive any of the campaign money when they took the game over from Overgrown. The original code was not in a usable form. Essentially, Crytivo started over from scratch, changing the game engine and many other features to create their own version of Farm Folks that is vastly different from the original. The company also intends to honor the original Farm Folks rewards and hope to make the original Farm Folks available in its incomplete form.

The Farm Folks v2 Kickstarter campaign will launch around April 15.

• Autonomica | Kickstarter

New Old BokuMono

Back in the old days, farming cell phone games were a bit more simple. Once lost in time, these BokuMono classics have been revitalized by G-Mode for the modern day. The first was a rerelease/port of the 2007 mobile game Bokujou Monogatari Mobile: Life & Love in September 2024 on the Nintendo eShop in Japan and on Steam globally. It's a simple game with Friends of Mineral Town GBA graphics, where players manage their farm and chat with characters in a narrative format.

Last weekend, G-Mode announced the 2008 sequel to Life & Love will also be released on the Nintendo eShop in Japan and on Steam. Bokujou Monogatari Mobile: Minori no Shima (roughly Island of Harvest) uses the same style of GBA graphics, but with a new story.

Hundreds of years ago, the island was once known for its abundant harvests, until the humans began to fight amongst each other. The conflicts upset the island's goddess so much that she divided the land into seven parts, which also resulted in sealing her own powers. Oops! That's where the player enters, who is the only person to answer the goddess' request for help to restore her powers. They're not alone though, as the goddess sends their child to help manage the farm menus, similar to how "mom" helped in Life & Love.

Play as a boy or girl farmer, build a new life on a farm while also building relationships with the villagers. Perhaps go on a date and find true love? The farm area can be freely explored, while venturing into town are via dialog text and menu options, like the original Gameboy games.

This long-lost BokuMono will be released on March 29 (next Saturday!)

• Bokujou Monogatari Mobile: Minori no Shima | Steam Store Page
• Bokujou Monogatari Mobile: Minori no Shima | Official Website

Until next time

-Cher
(Mr.Fogu ordered a game from Gamestop. Was sent an XBox edition instead of the PS5 edition as noted on his order. We haz no XBox lol Gamestop… )

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