This page is for the post-split Natsume games, For the original series, see Story of Seasons
Harvest Moon, or Bokujou Monogatari as it's known in Japan, is a long-running series of life sims and farming sims. They have traditionally been translated by Natsume, but this changed in 2014.
In early 2014, Marvelous AQL dropped Natsume as publishing and localization company for Bokujou Monogatari in the West, switching instead to XSEED Games, their Western division who were already localizing Rune Factory. However, Natsume still owns the rights to the Harvest Moon brand and has chosen to continue making games under the "Harvest Moon" label. These games are not related to the Marvelous-made Bokujou Monogatari but are instead similarly styled lookalikes using the Harvest Moon name.
The games take inspiration from the classic Harvest Moon titles, such as Harvest Moon and Harvest Moon: Back to Nature, and feature several similarities from them. The general style is the same and Natsume still uses the "Harvest Goddess", "Harvest Sprites", etc, but the Heart system has been replaced with the Notes system (and as a result, Heart Events are "Note Events").
These games are not available in Japan due to copyright reasons.
Games
- Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley (Nintendo 3DS, 2014)
- Harvest Moon: Seeds of Memories (Wii U, PC, iOS, Android, 2015)
- Harvest Moon: Skytree Village (Nintendo 3DS, 2016)
- Harvest Moon: Lil' Farmers (mobile, 2017; spinoff app aimed at toddlers and other young children)
- Harvest Moon: Light of Hope (Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC, 2017)
- Harvest Moon: Mad Dash (Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, 2019; spinoff)
- Harvest Moon One World (Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, 2021)
- Harvest Moon The Winds Of Anthos (Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, 2023)
This series provides examples of:
- And Your Reward Is Parenthood: All of the games contain Romance Sidequests that eventually culminate in you and your love interest having a baby.
- Farm Life Sim: The player moves to a rural area to become a farmer. You can also befriend locals and get married.
- Food God: The characters worship the Harvest Goddess.
- Genre Throwback: The 2½D art-style and cast are meant to invoke the earlier Harvest Moon titles.
- In Name Only: While it does try to emulate them, the series has no official connection to the original titles, which are now translated under Story of Seasons.
- Like Brother and Sister: Gareth tells the protagonist that Tabitha is like a sister to him, though some characters interpret them as having Belligerent Sexual Tension.
- The Rival: Tabitha and Gareth see each other as rivals. This is encouraged by their teacher Edmond.
-
Spiritual Successor: The series acts as one to Story of Seasons. They're both similarly styled farm/life sims.
