Harvestella Review (PC)
by Dylan Nill
Harvestella is a unique blend of a farming sim, life sim, and JRPG in one. The developers at Live Wire and Square Enix did a great job joining these genres together. Harvestella offers great variety while never becoming too overwhelming with the various mechanics. Rich stories, vibrant visuals, and a memorable soundtrack make for a great experience.
The Protagonist wakes up in Lethe Village after collapsing during Quietus. Quietus is a mysterious and deadly phenomenon that occurs between seasons. Humanity stays indoors during Quietus as there’s no cure for those that encounter the deadly dust. Yet, the Protagonist manages to survive it with the side effect of amnesia. Lethe Village’s doctor, Cres, finds them and helps set them up with a small farmland outside of the village. Shortly after, the Protagonist discovers Aria, a scientist claiming to be from the future. The two decide it’s best for them to team up and investigate Quietus and the Seaslight, beginning the main quest. It’s worth noting that Harvestella is the first Square Enix game to offer a non-binary gender option. Unfortunately, the character creator offers very basic appearance options.
The story of Harvestella does a great job blending sci-fi and fantasy elements. Sci-fi aspects creep into the character driven fantasy narrative until the two feel natural together. Examples include the mysterious robotic Omens, airships and futuristic buildings. With twists and turns that feel earned, the main story alone would be enough for an entertaining game.
A large part of Harvestella is growing your friendships with various characters. Throughout the game, you’re introduced to new characters that join you in your party. Not only will they assist in combat but each comes with their own unique storyline. These allow you to learn more about them while helping them with their quest and adding lore to the world. While these stories are engaging, they have too much padding with repetitive conversations. Each character’s story comes with ten quests. It would have been better to have varying lengths to avoid unnecessary padding. Harvestella’s other side quests shine. Side quests tell emotional and entertaining stories that build upon each other. Returning characters keep you invested and wanting to complete every last quest.
You get a break from the narrative driven nature of Harvestella when you wake up in the morning to do some farming. The farming cycle is basic: plant seeds, water them daily, and wait until they grow. Yet, it provides a peaceful way to start each day and plays an important role. You harvest crops as ingredients to cook meals that provide you with health and buffs for combat. Crops are also your main source of income as they’re sellable right on the farm. Unlocking a waterside and cave biome, upgrading your farm in Lethe Village, completing tasks from fairies, and crops that grow in different seasons help keep things fresh throughout the game.
No JRPG is complete without its combat system and Harvestella’s is simple but engaging. Your weapon changes based on which of the twelve jobs, which act as classes, you’re using. Each job has a basic attack and a few skills that all have different elemental types attached to them. You want a good variety as different enemies are weak to particular attacks or elements. You can have up to three jobs equipped at once which you can switch between in the midst of combat with only a short cooldown time. This helps combat stay engaging without too much complication. The jobs all feel distinguishable and it pays to experiment as each job’s skill tree only levels up by using them. Boss battles is where combat shines the most. Each comes with their own flashy style, unique set pieces, and intricate attack patterns that make for the most engaging challenge in the game.
My favorite part of the game is the day/night cycle because of how well it’s designed and keeps the pace of the game moving. Every day had a similar cycle. Farm in the morning, do side quests, and then progress in the main story before returning home to sleep. You get a feeling of constant progress in all aspects of the game. I love when I can apply my own systems to a game (a mental checklist that I can repeat) and this scratches that itch for me.
Two aspects that Harvestella shines in are the music and visuals. Every area has its own bright, vibrant style to it with a memorable song attached to each one. Whether it’s bright pink cherry blossoms, a sunny beach, or a cold wintery town, each location was a blast to be in. Unfortunately, one thing that stood out were repeating character models. Minor characters in side quests would have the same models in the same outfits. This can be distracting but luckily the writing for each story helped me overlook this. Also, outside of one glitch that wouldn’t show my crops as watered one day, I had no performance issues. Harvestella runs great.
