Natsume Announces “Harvest Moon: Skytree Village”

Virtual farmers, you’re in luck! Natsume announced today that a new Harvest Moon title, Harvest Moon: Skytree Village, is in the works. The new game will be a playable at E3 in a couple of weeks.

Harvest Moon: Skytree Village will include many of the familiar features that fans have grown to love such as growing crops, supernatural elements, and winning over a romantic interest and having children. Naturally, there has to be plenty of new to accompany the old. This game is said to take place in a brand new location called the Oasis of the Harvest Goddess. There will be new characters to meet and befriend, and even a new art style with new character models. Perhaps the most important things to the farming enthusiasts are the new crops, flowers, fish, and a new livestock animal, the Poitou donkey.

Touting the success of Harvest Moon: Seeds of Memories for mobile devices, Natsume President and CEO Hiro Maekawa says that fan feedback has “been taken into account a great deal in the development of Harvest Moon: Skytree Village! We hope they will see and feel their contribution in this new game!” Although it can’t be certain what “fan feedback” Maekawa is referring to, one of the most common suggestions in the Harvest Moon community is the inclusion of same-sex dating and marriage in the games. The closest the series has come so far to this was the “best friend ceremony” in the Japanese version of Harvest Moon DS: Cute, where the female protagonist could be magically bound to a female friend instead of having a husband. It has been speculated that because of the restrictions of same-sex marriage in Japan, the chance of it being included in a Harvest Moon title is slim.

However, something that I noticed in today’s press release was the wording of the bullet point about marriage. The press release states that players can choose to “play as a boy or a girl, woo bachelorettes and bachelors, and start a family!” Let’s take a closer look at the conjunctions there. “Play as a boy or a girl.” Okay, or means one or the other. “Woo bachelorettes and bachelors.” And, not or. And means both. This could mean absolutely nothing, or it could be a hint at something very new coming to the series.

Another point of interest is that the land itself will be somewhat customizable. According to the release, players will be able to raise and lower the land and alter the course of flowing water and catch rarer fish. This will help give the game some replay value by allowing players to try out a variety of landscaping styles for varying outcomes.

Harvest Moon: Skytree Village will be exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS. More details are expected during E3 starting on June 14th.

Author: Daftly Debonair

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