↑ Click the Navi Sprite for the currently available guide content

Due to the closeness between the JP and EN releases, I have not had the chance to write as much as I'd like to before the EN release. You can still send questions through the email form, the Helper Chat, or the community forum.

Release Dates:
February 25, 2021 (Switch)
March 23, 2021 (Switch)
March 26, 2021 (Switch)
September 15, 2021 (Steam)
July 28, 2022 (Ps4)
July 26, 2022 (Ps4)
July 29, 2022 (Ps4)

An unofficial guide covering
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town
for Nintendo Switch, Steam, and Ps4

All guide updates are located on the site changelog

Official Websites:
Japan - https://www.bokumono.com/series/olive/
North America - http://www.storyofseasons.com/PoOT/
Europe/Australia - https://storyofseasons.games/olive-town/

The digital edition from the Nintendo Switch eShop requires about 2.5 G of space. Supported languages are English, Spanish, French, and German in both NA and EU.

Preorders

North America

Preorders can be made at XSeed's website and select retailers. There are two physical edition preorders available:

The plushie is exclusive to the premium edition.

The physical editions of the game does NOT come with the additional expansion pass. That can be ordered separately from the Nintendo eShop when it becomes available on March 23. The expansion pass will be discounted 15% until April 12.

The digital version of the game can be preordered directly from the Nintendo eShop for $49.99 USD. There are two digital versions available: the game-only version and the game + expansion pass version. The Expansion Pass Set will be 10% off ($62.99 USD) until the game's release day. There are no discounts on the game-only version. Digital preorders will receive an in-game buffalo costume, which can be purchased separately for $2 for those who ordered the physical edition of the game.

Europe/AU

Marvelous EU has the standard edition and the deluxe edition available for preorder at select retailers. The game cannot be purchased directly from Marv EU:

Note that the EU deluxe editions don't appear to be available in Australia/New Zealand. Those who preorder from GAME in the UK can also get the Buffy the Buffalo plushie (while supplies last), as it is advertised by the retailer as a GAME exclusive bonus.

Digital preorders of the game from the Nintendo eShop will receive a region-exclusive white fox costume.

Trailers

NEW as of February 7, 2021. An 18-minute summary of the game from Famitsu.

Beginner's Tips

Character Customization

Players can choose various physical features to customize the look of their protagonist. Players can choose skin tone, hair style and color, facial features (i.e., eye and lip sizes), voice, motion, and eye color. Each eye can be colored individually, allowing for heterochromia styles. After creation, players change change their features at the beauty salon for a fee. New hair styles will also unlock at the beauty salon later in the game.

New clothes can also be crafted at the beauty salon. Karina can craft new clothes, accessories, and hats after bringing her materials and paying a fee. The changing room is also at the beauty salon. Players can wear any clothing item regardless of their chosen gender.

Normal mode and Seedling mode are available to chose from at the start of the game. Selecting Seedling mode will result in earning a little bit more money for shipped goods, friendships and skill points raise a little easier, there is a shop discount at the stores, and the protagonist won't tire as quickly when using farm tools.

Marriage System

There are 10 marriage candidates in the game, but that can be expanded to 16 with the purchase of the expansion pass. While there are no high-level challenge candidates like the goddess, there are still plenty of options for players to pick from. Marriage options are not locked to gender; players can marry any available candidate regardless of the gender they choose at character creation.

Bachelors

Bachelorettes

A child can be born to the happy couple.

Olive Town

The local town is also in need of some attention, as there is a need to attract more tourists to the town. The town has a variety of shops and even a playground for kids. There are about 28 villagers who make themselves home within the town or in the outskirts of town:

There are over 200 events in the game (as promoted by Marvelous)

Player data from other farmers can appear in your game. The other players can appear as random town tourists, but there is no in-game trading or multiplayer abilities.

Farming

Grandpa's old farmstead has been reclaimed by nature, requiring players to clear the area before being able to create their own mega farm. The woods around the farm are dense and hide the remains of the old farm buildings. Even crops, mines, and livestock can be found hidden among the dense forest. Players can repair the dilapidated structures and bridges to help entice the livestock back to the world of domestication. Players will start their farm life in a tent and later build their own house.

New to this version is the water bucket. As there are various pools and puddles on the farm, the bucket tool can be used to scoop the water out, revealing treasures and goodies at the bottom of the watering hole.

The beginning rucksack can hold up to 16 slots of stackable items, with expansions adding additional rows of 8 slots. It looks like the max size is 32 slots.

Since players start out in a tent, Nigel will have to build the player's first house. It costs 2000 G and 20 Lumber. The starting house comes with a bathroom, kitchen, refrigerator, clothing closet, and room to house 1 pet. The farm house also contains display shelfs where objects can be placed to show off, like in Friends of Mineral Town. Lumber does not instantly come from breaking up branches; a Lumber Maker must be constucted and place on the farm, with the branches being converted into usable lumber via the machine. The farm house can be decorated with various items like tables, fireplaces, and chairs, and can now support decorating the walls with items like clocks.

Crops and flowers can be grown on the farm. Known tree fruit include apples, kiwi, peaches, grape, oranges, coconuts, cherry, and banana. Sprinklers can also be added to the fields to make farming super easy. Mushroom logs can be used to harvest fungus. There are also rice paddies for rice to grow. Tilled soil will return to normal ground if the soil isn't used, and a seed bag contains 1 seed.

The farm has a shipping bin to sell items through.

Players will earn skill experience as they work their farm. Experience will increase skills in levels such as agriculture, villager communications, fishing, and so on. Raising these levels will reward players with benefits. For example, when starting out on the farm, players can only sow one seed at a time, but by raising their agriculture level to level 4, they can unlock the ability to sow nine seeds in one swing or the option to craft sprinklers to handle automatic watering of crops.

Farm Animals

Animals that can be raised include normal white chickens, black-and-white silkie chickens, normal cows, jersey cows, buffalo, alpaca (white and brown), angora rabbits, and sheep. The herding bell on the outside of the barn will bring all the animals outside. We know cows can produce more than 1 bottle of milk, and chickens lay eggs on the ground inside their shed. Honeybees can also be raised and require placing a flower in front of the bee box to attract the little buzzers.

Pets can also be kept on the farm. The number of pets a player can own is based on the size of the farm house; the Large House can hold up to 3 pets. There are a variety of dogs and cats available. It is unknown yet if there are also exotic pets like a capybara or penguin. The dogs are Shiba Inu, White Shiba Inu, Black Shiba Inu, Pomeranian, Labrador Retriever, Burmese Mountain Dog, Siberian Husky, and Border Collie. Cats are the Brown Striped Mix, Black Mix, American Shorthair, Scottish Fold, Calico, Persian, and Maine Coon. Pets also have personality types and can be walked by using the leash tool. Pets are purchased from Bridget at her mom's animal store. The first pet can be purchased as soon as the beginner's farm house is built on the player's farm.

Animal products can be harvested using bare hands; milkers and clippers are no longer required.

Moving around from place to place can be done by foot (walking), or the player can use a horse (black and brown horses have been shown). Later in the game, there is an option for a ridable wolf, a 2-wheeled scooter, and a unicorn.

Some animals will be living wild around the farmland. They can be convinced to move back to domestication after the dilapitated barns are repaired. Fresh farm animals can also be purchased from the Patricia.

Farm animals have personality types (friendly, naughty, calm, etc.)

Livestock and poultry have to be fed daily, as they'll only produce goods when fed the previous day. The feed bins in the back of the barns will house fodder.

Earth Sprites

The magical little guys live in their hidden mountain village that only the player can access. The little egg-shaped sprites have abilities to share with you. For example, the chef sprite can make cooked meals, the Magma sprite lives underground, and the Navi sprite can teleport the player to various areas such as a sky garden and an underground volcano. The chef sprite can also increase its levels based on experience, which increases the types of dishes they can give.

There is also little mini-sprite points earned by interacting with the Earth Sprites. These points can be used at the shrine north of Olive Town. Some of the options available at the shrine include increasing the player's stamina, increasing the farm field level, and raising friendship with the Earth Sprites. There is also an option to ask the shrine for help if players are having problems with their sweetie, but details on this feature are unknown at the moment.

Mini-sprite points can also be earned by cutting weeds and harvesting crops. We've also seen these points being handed out when receiving cooked meals from the chef earth sprite.

The Boss Sprite is in charge of all the little Earth Sprites. Boss hangs out at the base of the large tree in the Earth Sprite village.

Activities

The game includes fishing, crafting, mining, and cooking activities, but not bug catching. Pioneers has a camera that can be used to capture photographs of villagers, animals and fauna. These photographs can then be donated to the empty museum to expand their exhibits. The museum also accepts fish (for their aquarium) and "treasures." Up to 10 pictures can be stored in the camera. Players can zoom in on objects and take their picture from a distance. Photographs can also be shared online.

Fishing is now a short mini game, similar to Stardew Valley. Fish Bait can be crafted and attached to the fishing pole. Caught fish can have up to 10 stars of quality. There is also fish-trap fishing, and clams can be picked up off the beach.

There are a lot of blueprints that can be crafted into objects to decorate the farm. Paths, statutes, street lights, fences, gates, and a lot of maker machines are available to craft. Multiples of the same item can be crafted, and some items can be color customized, which requires an application of paint. Players can buy paint from Nyugen's flower shop for 2000 G.

The mine access is across the broken bridge on the protagonist's farm. The mine has both up-ladders and down-ladders and contain ore nodes and ore stones. There is another mine farther away that requires another bridge rebuild. The farther mine has pitfalls to drop down, and also has moles that pop up out out of the ground. Being hit by a mole will reduce the player's stamina, so hit it with the hammer when it appears. Whack the mole enough times and it will drop an item.

Cooking now takes in-game time to craft the finished meal. Players need to know the recipe to cook the dish, and ingredients can be stores in the rucksack or refrigerator. The cooked meals have descriptions for temperature and and flavor.

The townsfolks can also make requests and post them at the town hall. Tasks that are town-based are for improving the town, such as helping to remodel the town's streets or upgrading the town hall. Town improvements will help to attract more tourists.

Festivals

There are also seasonal festivals such as the springtime Pet Derby and a painted-egg hunt, a summertime fireworks festival and a hammer-strike festival to see how far you can make a barrel fly through the air, an autumn season mushroom hunt festival and spirit lantern festival, and winter fishing tournament and snow sculpture festival.

Georg is in charge of the pet derby. If you don't have a pet, you can temporarily rent a pet, but the pet race will be a different experience. During the derby, the competing pets race to fetch two balls back to the cheering pet owners. Players cheer on their pet by pressing the appropriate button on their joycon as the command appear above the pet's head.

Competitive festivals can reward players with a trophy to be displayed in the farm house shelves as well as prize money.

Fireworks, spirit lanterns, and snow sculpture festivals can be participated in with a romantic marriage candidate.

Expansion Pass

An optional expansion pass can be purchased for the game for about $20.00. Those who preorder the expansion pass before its release will receive bonus clothing outfits: in NA, it is the six starting outfits from Trio of Towns and Friends of Mineral Town.

The expansion pass will add new content to the game on a set schedule. There will be new content released every month until August 2021. Some of the extras are just outfits, while others are new scenarios, areas, villagers, and marriage candidates.