Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos

You most likely know that Harvest Moon has been pants for a while now, and Story of Seasons hasn't been much better. For those of us who've been burned before by Natsume's underbaked offerings, we weren't expecting greatness from Winds of Anthos. But for once, this newest game is a step in the right direction, establishing Natsume's voice at last in a crowded market. Here's hoping the next Harvest Moon goes even harder.

Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos is an open world farming game that celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Harvest Moon series. While there are cool new features that fans will enjoy, Winds of Anthos has a few issues when it comes to performance and gameplay. However, it can be a lot of fun if you're patient enough to make it through the prologue and can get the hang of managing your energy.

Utilising the vibrant style of previous instalments, Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos accomplishes open world exploration with flair and delight. Natsume has made significant quality of life improvements that truly enhance the positive vibes encompassing life in Anthos. The elements that decrease the overall perfection level matter less once swept up in the whimsical melodrama of the chibi Harvest Goddess, who has a surprise for those who make it to the end credits and continue their farming life past the main story.

Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos seems to be a step in the right direction for Natsume. The open-world approach distinguishes it as a game you can immerse yourself in, provided you can endure the lackluster prologue and the challenging early game. It stands well on its own, though I would caution against playing the Nintendo Switch version due to its poor optimization, which hampers the overall gaming experience.

Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos is a surprising return to what made the earlier titles special and it feels like Natsume is putting some much-needed attention into fleshing-out the series. With its focus on exploration and a huge world to traverse, tons of items to find, and a variety of animals to nurture as well as solid farming, mining, and fishing; there's a lot of fun to be had with this instalment.

At first, being stuck in the first hours of The Winds of Anthos because I had trouble finding silver, I was a bit disappointed. However, the game took off after solving that, giving me so much to do that I didn’t have enough hours in the gaming day. The quality of life shortcuts, the searching mechanism and setting markers really add to the fun of gaming. All the elements of a farming simulation are there, but the game doesn’t go about it in the traditional way. Basic things like finding seeds to sow and Doc Jr.’s inventions make this a farming game that is different from the others. Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos has made a big leap since their last game, One World. And if you play past a slightly unbalanced start of the game, you will find many, many hours of enjoyable farming and exploring in an innovative way