Harvestella Review: a role-playing game between gardens to cultivate and dungeons

Between adventures that defy the laws of time and placid gardens to cultivate, Harvestella has repeatedly brought to mind the sensations transmitted by Sakuna: of Rice and Ruin (find more information in our review of Sakuna: of Rice and Ruin). Exactly like the XSEED Games and Marvelous production, the new JRPG Square Enix is ​​not perfect, but manages to capture the player with a pleasant narrative, relaxed rhythms and an artistic sector that is not without its merits. After brandishing the sword in one hand and the spade in the other up Nintendo Switch we are ready to tell you all the details in our review.

The four (or five) seasons of Harvestella

In the world of Harvestellathe natural landscape is dominated by four shining crystals. Rising on the horizon, these shining mountains – named Sealight – control the seasons, influencing the lives of humans who live and thrive in their shadow.

A seemingly idyllic reality, at least until something starts to go terribly wrong, wreaking havoc with the changing seasons. In fact, autumn, winter, spring and summer are suddenly seen side by side Quietusa disturbing phenomenon that soon earned the nickname of “season of death”.

The definition is unfortunately not excessive. The manifestation of the Quietus is in fact accompanied by a gloomy atmospheric phenomenon, capable of destroy crops and harm humans. A circumstance that forces the citizens of the world to Harvestella to seek refuge at every change of the seasons, in the hope of escaping the effects of the dangerous natural event.

If normally being caught unprepared in a Quietus night would mean death, our protagonist was instead decidedly luckier. In fact, the incipit of the JRPG puts us in the shoes of Ein a young man – or a young woman, at the player’s choice, who can also create a non-binary character in Harvestella – struck by an illness just during the manifestation of the season of death.

Passed out outdoors, the boy was delivered a mysterious prophecy by an equally enigmatic lady. A vision on the border between dream and reality, interrupted only by the providential intervention of Cres, a courageous doctor from the village of Lethe.

After helping us, the doctor realizes that poor Ein is somewhat confused: completely unaware of what the Quietus is, he doesn’t even remember anything about his past.

Fortunately, the community of the town seems to have taken a liking to us, to the point of allowing us to take possession of a small agricultural estate on the outskirts of the locality. Here, we will begin a second life, finding comfort in a daily life linked to the cultivation of the land and the creation of new bonds. The shadow of the past is always present, but overall our Ein seems to be on the right track towards building a peaceful and satisfying existence. Needless to say, this picture is not destined to last. The sudden fall of what appears to be a meteorite in fact, it will lead us to intertwine our destiny with that of Aira mysterious and determined girl who claims to come from the future. Also suffering from an unusual form of amnesia, the girl will end up dragging us despite her on an articulated pilgrimage through the main cities of the continent.

Among vegetable gardens…

While not overly original, the narrative premises of Harvestella manage to capture the player’s interest, which in the early hours of the title is disputed between two opposing tendencies. On the one hand, the story of the JRPG proceeds with extremely calm rhythms, on the other the introduction of new gameplay features is the protagonist of a constant and unstoppable flow. Suffice it to say that several hours after starting the game, the feeling is still that of being in the middle of an extensive tutorial. The placid pace will indeed be a persistent feature within Harvestella, which makes a relaxed approach to adventure its stylistic signature.

The JRPG moves in constant alternation between its two souls, poised between Action RPG and farming-sim. The gameplay of Harvestella thus presents two distinct phases: the management of one’s own farm and the need to unravel the mystery behind the Quietus and the unusual functioning of the Seaslights.

The choice to marry two playful vocations – we highlight it right now – represents at the same time the strength and weakness of the title. If on the one hand it is in fact possible to appreciate the alternation between action and agricultural relaxation, on the other it should be noted that neither of the two aspects of the Harvestella gameplay is excessively branched. A circumstance that does not in itself represent a defect, but which must be taken into consideration when approaching this adventure, which is decidedly long-lived.

In terms of agricultural activities, our protagonist will begin his career as a farmer with only a small farm available. As the crops bear fruit, grain and fruit and vegetables can be sold at the local marketagainst a monetary compensation. The procedure is very simple: in fact, it will be sufficient to place the crop inside a box near our home and it will automatically take to the streets of large-scale distribution within one night. Otherwise, once a kitchen was built we will also have the possibility to cook our products, creating delicacies that can make us recover health or give us bonuses to be exploited in battle.

Once it’s morning again, we will be able to go back to plowing, sowing and watering our possessions, through rather simple and immediate procedures. Accumulating more and more resources, and thanks to the services offered by providential merchants, our estate will eventually become more and more structured, among fields of maize, vegetables of all kinds and peculiar farm animals. By completing specific missions, we will finally be able to enhance our farming skillsto make the most of the time available to us.

…and dungeons!

And precisely the flow of time represents a central element of the experience created by the team of Harvestella. Indeed, the JRPG advances through a calendar composed of very short days. Each activity requires a considerable amount of time, but our autonomy can never exceed the late evening: late at night, poor Ein will in fact end up collapsing to the ground exhausted, regardless of where he is. A circumstance in which it is better not to run into, also given that it will force us to pay a considerable fee to the doctor who will come to our rescue!

As already mentioned, we won’t be able to spend all our time in the fields: after all, there’s a whole world to save. Consequently, the mysteries of the Quietus will soon lead us to explore a wide range of dungeons populated by opponents visible on screenwith whom we can engage fights in real time.

Both exploration and battles will inexorably move the clock forward, to the point of making it impossible to complete a dungeon in a single day. For this reason, each hostile area will be suitably equipped with shortcuts to be unlocked, between bridges to be repaired with special kits and ladders to be unlocked. Taking advantage of the shortcuts and the quick travel mechanism of Harvestella, we will be able to slowly reach the inevitable Bosses end of area.

And so we come to the need to take up arms. In Harvestella the clashes are in real time, with a combat system based on elemental weaknesses and the constant alternation of classes of the protagonist. Our Ein can in fact master a large number of Jobs, each of which is characterized by specific strengths. In Mage mode, for example, we will be able to master more types of elemental attacks, but our offensive power will be expressed above all in magical attacks from a distance. Conversely, the Fighter will instead be able to land powerful sword blows near the opponent. To complete the picture, i will take care of it party mates and the ability to enhance each Job through short skill trees.

Overall, the combat system of Harvestella it proves functional, even without proposing particular peaks. The alternation of Job and the elemental dynamics prove to be particularly useful in Boss Fights, while ordinary enemies will be satisfied with less sophisticated solutions. The provision of more articulated skill trees, a more marked mobility of the protagonist and a wider variety of defensive options would have contributed to enriching the battle phases proposed by the JRPG.

A multifaceted world

Between an expansion of the farm and a battle, the title shows off the possibility of engaging in side missions.

Never too articulated, the latter however manage to tell us fragments of everyday life in the inhabited centers dominated by the Seaslights. Mostly, Harvestella it allows for closer bonds with our fellow travellers. Between inventors and mercenaries – and even a surreal and somewhat self-centered unicorn – the cast of characters proposed by the JRPG is quite varied and offers the possibility of find a mate for life to our protagonist. Despite the use of some clichés, the story based on Harvestella manages to offer some interesting ideas, addressing issues such as discrimination and environmental degradation.

The judgment linked to the aesthetics of the production is also ambivalent. On the one hand, we are in fact faced with a technical sector that does not equal other exponents of the genre available on Nintendo Switch, but on the other, it is undeniable that some of the views proposed by Harvestella still manage to be artistically impactful.

Between villages wrapped in showers of cherry blossom petals and cities cloaked in snow, the continent visited by the player is not lacking in suggestions, even if it was above all the delightful representations of the characters used in the menus and in the dialogue phases that struck our attention (We also point out that Harvestella it is not localized in Italianbut proposes texts in not too articulated English).

Total promotion instead for the soundtrack of the game, which effectively accompanies both the progress of the main quest and the phases related to cultivation, helping to create a dreamy atmosphere in the title.