Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos (Prerelease Chat)

An open-world Harvest Moon game featuring a large volcano, a pint-sized goddess, and the great Doc Jr. [ Game Guide ] JP release = /shrug. NA release = Sept 2023. EU release = Oct 2023.
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JustABeautifulGuy
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Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos is the latest installment in the Natsume's Harvest Moon franchise and will be launching this September.
Spoiler:
Image

Story

The land of Anthos was a peaceful and harmonious land watched over by the Harvest Goddess and the Harvest Sprites, who protected the inhabitants of Anthos from natural disasters such as storms, earthquakes, and the like.

However, one day about 10 years ago, Anthos experienced a severe volcanic eruption that threatened life on Anthos itself, and the Harvest Goddess and Harvest Sprites had to use all of their remaining power to keep the people and animals of Anthos safe. This left the different villages across the land blocked off from each other. Some unfortunate souls even got trapped outside their villages, and were unable to return...

Believing that the separated villages and people would one day be reconnected, the Harvest Goddess sent out a bottle with a letter and a magic key, then fell into a deep sleep...

Now, 10 years later, you have found the SOS the Harvest Goddess sent to the world in the form of a message in a bottle! With the help of your wacky inventor friend Doc Jr. and many others, it’ll be up to you to revive the Harvest Goddess and the Harvest Sprites, as well as reconnect all of the villages of Anthos with each other!


Features

• Discover five unique towns with their own seasons, terrain, and villagers! Explore the world of Anthos while searching for Harvest Wisps, wild animals, mines and more!
• Participate in 10 contests and festivals!
• Explore the wide world of Anthos on foot or on mount! Unique and unusual mounts are available as well!
• Mine deep for ore and other materials in several different mines! Watch out for falling rocks!
• Fast travel around the world using the Harvest Goddess’s Warp Statues!
• Take pictures, selfies, and more
• Care for livestock such as cows, sheep, chickens, and more, and earn bonuses on your farm for keeping a variety of animals!
• Woo five different bachelors and five different bachelorettes! Marry whoever your heart desires!
• Keep pets such as cats, dogs, parakeets, wolves, and more!
• Doc Jr. is back with a new and improved Expando-Farm that lets you easily move your farm around the land of Anthos!
• Cook multiple dishes in your kitchen at the same time!

Release date
September 26 2023

Platform(s)
Nintendo Switch, Sony PlayStation 4, Sony PlayStation 5, Microsoft Xbox Series X, Microsoft Xbox One and PC (Steam)

Pre-order bonuses
Harvest Moon 25th Anniversary Sleepytime Cow Plush on Amazon (Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 & Xbox Series X), GameStop and Natsume.com.

Animal Lapel Pin Set, Collector's Box, Original One-Disc Soundtrack on NIS America

Press Releases
Spoiler:
Game announcement (2022-12-14)

First look (2023-03-15)

Platform announcement(2023-04-06)

Release date and pre-orders announcement (2023-05-23)

Gameplay trailer reveal (2023-07-13)

DLC details (2023-08-31)
Media

Screenshots
Spoiler:
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Trailers Artwork
Spoiler:
ImageImage
Last edited by JustABeautifulGuy on Sep 17, 2023 9:39 am, edited 11 times in total.
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Kikki
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I like the premise, and the sky they showed was quite pretty. So far, so good. I hope the sky represents newly improved world graphics.
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Mikodesu
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I hope "features that are completely new to the series" includes gay marriage. :shifty: If that's a hint, I'm listening. Though new gameplay features are always appreciated.

The story premise is nice, too! Still feels fairly generic, but a not-generic farming sim setup is hard to come by. Fingers crossed for a prettier world. And if we're reeeally good, full 3D camera.
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midnighttherabbit
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I'm holding out on any opinions until we see gameplay, I think. I don't want to make assumptions based on past games, but I also don't want to be disappointed by getting my hopes up.

If the image is an in-game skybox, I'm pretty interested in what the rest looks like and what the art direction is, since it changes between games. I don't think I'd want to see the graphics / engine they used from OW returning.

Also, yeah, gay marriage will be make or break for me given how it's a standard for most farming sims nowadays.
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K8sMum
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I, too, am taking a wait and see attitude. I am reining in my expectations as the disappointment is too hard to take. Hopefully they have some great ideas that will come to fruition. Fingers crossed.
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greensara
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I am genuinely excited to see how this entry shapes up. I really liked One World, and how they actually worked on fixing issues that arose. I hope it has a lot of improvement from the get go. I also hope it's not too rushed trying to release in the same window as the AWL remake. To be honest though, I am much more excited to try this new entry, especially after One World, than to revisit AWL for a third time and likely get too bored to finish it again.
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FarmingForDaysMan
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Oh, how exciting! This is a surprise. I already have my hopes up; hopefully we won’t be disappointed as we learn more about the game.
WillyFlower
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im probably one of the few who liked one world. im excited and i hope the game looks good. i wonder when they will drop the trailer. last time they did it at a game event so im assuming the same will happen this time. i hope it doesn’t take too long but if the game is still unfinished then they should take time
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infel
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This is some interesting news. I'm keeping my excitement low because I don't want to get my hopes up, but I do this with most games. It really sucks when I get my hopes up and then end up being let down due to how the game is or what the developers do. So, the best thing to feel is interested. It would be nice to play a Harvest Moon game again, and while I've never been able to get into the games Natsume has made personally, I will say they have improved on each new game they make. I'll keep my eyes on this down the line and am happy for people excited for this announcement. If it turns out to be good/fun, I'll buy it.
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infel
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Mikodesu wrote: Dec 14, 2022 12:51 pm I hope "features that are completely new to the series" includes gay marriage. :shifty: If that's a hint, I'm listening. Though new gameplay features are always appreciated.

The story premise is nice, too! Still feels fairly generic, but a not-generic farming sim setup is hard to come by. Fingers crossed for a prettier world. And if we're reeeally good, full 3D camera.
This would be really great. If they add gay Marriage, than I am more likely to buy the game. Let's hope they do :)
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simside
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Ahh, I am ridiculously excited about this! I loved One World, and the Natsume games do seem to get better over time, so I'm looking forward to this. Hoping for a slightly meatier story this time (and same-« Chicken Hugging » marriage), but meaty story might not be on the menu. More polish usually is though, and that's always much appreciated.

I have so many farming games to play, but this one will proooobably be higher on the list than the AWL remake, even with my desire to play that one again.
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Shan O 123
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I mean I’ll probably buy it just to have it.
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K8sMum
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Shan O 123 wrote: Dec 21, 2022 2:35 pm I mean I’ll probably buy it just to have it.
Me, too. I'm keeping my expectations fairly low but I'll most likely get it barring it having something I really hate. I bit on One World and, though I don't think it's a great game, I did put some hours into it.
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Kikki
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I liked One World more than Olive Town. Olive Town's graphics were nicer, but One World felt more...genuine, I guess. More like farm-life fun. PoOT felt like what it was...a game the bulk of whose making was farmed out to a group that has never made or worked on a farming sim before. It had a good gameplay loop, showing off the dev company's experience with mobile games, but no soul, for me...and Marv has said they do plant to continue using Three Rings Inc, so I figure I can expect more of the same from their next new game. *shrug* Neither company does farming sims I'm all that likely to love, at this point. I'm looking more at games like Sun Haven, Kynseed, Sunny Side, etc...I figure if I keep looking, I'll be able to encounter a few indies that fill my particular wishlist.

But I'll still always look in on what both Natsume and Marvelous JP are putting out next. Hope springs eternal, and all that. :)
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K8sMum
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You're right Kikki: PoOT does seem soul-less. The graphics were better but the characters just feel blah. I'm disappointed that Marv is sticking with the same company.

One I'm interested in is Ova Magica. Josh and Wilder have videos up and it seems like a decent game. Cute graphics, a lot of different personalities in the residents and your farm and home are completely customizable.
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