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The farming sim series that started it all just teased two new games, one with multiplayer
Game publisher Marvelous held its own announcement showcase last week ahead of its main game showcase week in June. I was already excited to see a remake of my favorite Harvest Moon game launching this June as Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, but it turns out that’s not the only SoS game in development. Marvelous announced that there are actually two more Brand new Story of Seasons games are in development, one of which is multiplayer.
The first thing Marvelous showed was a shot of the classic cute chicken, sheep and a cow with a thick nose: one of the visual calling cards of the classic Harvest Moon. You can see the changing seasons from spring to winter, some dogs playing, and some paintings and stylish hazy 3D art. Marvelous says the theme is “experience.”
That’s all for now, except Marvelous looks back at the franchise’s 27-year history. “We’ve kept all the cherished elements of the series while creating a fun farming experience that will engage more players than ever before,” said series manager Nakano Hikaru.
“We put a lot of extra effort into the visual representation of your farm and the surrounding nature,” Nakano added. It sure looks like that, and while it’s hard to judge based on the brief trailer, it’s certainly more immediately impressive than other recent games in the series (like Tales of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town remake). better visual impression.
Even though we don’t have much to do here, I’m happy to hear the fact that Marvelous said the new Story of Seasons game needs to be modernized.
At this point, the other Story of Seasons game Marvelous teased sounds like it’s trying to keep up with modern players. Marvelous is calling it “a story of four seasons that you can play with everyone” along with some concept art sketches.
“We heard a lot from the fans that they wanted to play Story of Seasons with all their friends,” Nakano said. “The idea of playing Story of Seasons together is a bold idea and a direction we haven’t taken with the series until now.”
Better visuals and a taste of multiplayer are really the bare minimum that Story of Seasons needs to keep up with the current cozy farm life sim scene, so I’m excited to see Marvelous try to bring the series into this decade. After the massive success of Stardew Valley and the plethora of games like Stardew Valley that followed, it would be a shame to see the series that originally inspired Stardew Valley continue to lag behind.
While Marvelous didn’t specify a platform for the two unnamed titles, the June 27 release of the PC and console remake of It’s a Wonderful Life suggests we can continue to look forward to future PC releases.