Harvestella

Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, PC
Genre: Role-Playing
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
Release Date: Nov. 4, 2022

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'Harvestella' Reveals More Details About Nemea Town, Farming, Socializing, Jobs And More - Screens

by Rainier on Aug. 4, 2022 @ 2:33 p.m. PDT

Through the changing seasons, explore an imaginative world, tend your crops, make new friends, face enemies in dynamic combat, and unravel the mystery of the season of death, Quietus.

Featuring concept art by Isamu Kamikokuryo (Final Fantasy XII) and music by Go Shiina (Tales series), Harvestella, will let players experience a beautiful world that changes with the flow of the seasons and enjoy a variety of gameplay including tending to crops, befriending townspeople and adventuring into challenging dungeons.

Harvestella is set in a vibrant and colourful world where four giant crystals called “Seaslight” create a stable change between the four seasons. The adventure begins as abnormalities in the Seaslight begin to appear, creating the “Quietus,” a season of death that takes place between the naturally occurring four seasons. During the Quietus the crops wither and people cannot venture outside, and troublingly, these seasons are mysteriously growing longer with each year.

During one particular Quietus, your character - a traveler - collapses in an isolated village. You meet a girl called Aria, who claims to have come from the future and is researching the mysteries of this new, unwelcome season. Thus you and she take the first step on a journey that will reveal the very truth of the world.

The new game is a life simulation RPG that lets you enjoy daily life, socializing and adventuring.

In daily life, you can spend a relaxing day farming, fishing, or raising livestock, before heading to town to socialize and build your relationships with residents. If you want to test your combat skills, you can step into a dungeon to take on hordes of monsters with a variety of weapons and jobs.

Whatever you do, time passes through the seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. But between each one is a fifth season: Quietus! During this time, crops wither and die, and a deadly dust keeps people trapped indoors.

You’ll need to plan around the changing seasons and the grim inevitability of Quietus, as you attempt to solve the mysteries behind this season of death.

The Town of Spring: Nemea

In this beautiful town, the flowers bloom all year round due to the influence of the nearby Spring Seaslight.

Once night falls, the town shows a different side.

Cherry blossoms dance against the night sky in a dreamlike display.

Despite its beauty, there is trouble in the town of Nemea. A giant egg has appeared on the Spring Seaslight - one of the giant crystals that governs the seasons. Ever since, unfamiliar monsters have been flying into town and attacking the residents!

When you visit Nemea, you become involved with the investigation of the Seaslight, alongside Asyl - a member of the Argus Brigade that protects the town.

You can see the Spring Seaslight from the observation deck in Nemea.

Your group sets out to investigate the Seaslight…

… but what will you find waiting for you there?

Resident of Nemea: Istina

Next, we’ll introduce you to one of the memorable characters you’ll meet in this blooming place: Istina.

Istina is a teacher who lives together with the children at the town’s orphanage.

She’s intellectual, quiet, and rarely displays her emotions openly. She enjoys reading about different places in the world and often reads aloud to the children.

This is how she spends her days and she’s beloved by the townspeople. However, it’s said that she only arrived in Nemea a few years ago.

Upon meeting the protagonist, she must confront the past that she’s kept hidden…

Adventure: Jobs

When it comes to battle, you have access to multiple jobs, which define the weapon and abilities you can use in combat. Last time we showed you the Fighter, Mage and Shadow Walker jobs - this time we’re revealing the Sky Lancer.

This job uses a spear and excels at physical attacks with wind attributes. Because it learns many wide-range skills that take advantage of the spear’s reach, the Sky Lancer is very useful when facing multiple enemies!

When you recruit a character who has a certain job, the protagonist will also be able to use that job! In the screenshot above, you can see how working with Asyl has unlocked the Sky Lancer for use!

Socializing: Character Stories

Characters that can join you in battle as allies and other important characters each has their own Character Story.

These stories focus on the problems that each character faces.

As you progress through a Character Story, learning more about each character’s thoughts and feelings, your closeness to them will increase. This grants a range of benefits in combat, and you may even receive rewards!

Daily Life: Special Spring Produce

Farming is one of many Daily Life activities you can do in Harvestella. By planting crops and tending to them diligently, you’ll be able to harvest them to either sell or use yourself in crafting and cooking.

  • Spring crops: Some produce can be harvested all year round, but some kinds of fruit and vegetables can only be grown during a specific season. 
  • Spring Cuisine: These crops can be used as ingredients in mouthwatering meals. Here’s a look at just some of them - apologies if this gets your stomachs rumbling!

Of course, there are many more types of special spring produce you can grow, and plenty more meals to make. But to publish more pictures of food would just be cruel, so we’ll let you discover them for yourselves.

Daily life: Fishing

Fishing is another way to happily wile away the hours in HARVESTELLA. You’ll be able to do it when you obtain a fishing rod.

Find a fishing point, and you can cast your line and catch some fish. Just as with crops grown on your farm, you can ship fish for money, or keep them to use in cooking.

What you can catch depends on your location and other conditions. Perhaps you may even catch something other than a fish…

You can even upgrade your fishing rod, which will let you catch even rarer fish!

Daily Life: Shipping

You can earn money in Harvestella by shipping fruit and vegetables that you harvest from your fields.

You can use machines that you’ve crafted to create processed goods, which ship for an even higher price.

We hope you enjoyed this brief look at what’s to come in Harvestella. Of course, this barely scratches the surface - there’ll be so much more to see and do when the game launches.

In this life simulation RPG, players will grow and tend to crops, use ingredients to cook and craft items, and venture into the overworld, which vibrantly changes based on the season, to visit different towns, interact with townsfolk, go fishing and more. Players can select from various Jobs, such as Fighter, Shadow Walker, and Mage, and venture into dungeons with their party to discover the origins of the world as well as the truth behind the calamity along the way.

Nemea Town, where cherry trees bloom all year round. Shatolla, a seaside town home to a bustling tavern. Lethe Village, resplendent in the vibrant colours of the four seasons. The Holy Capital of Argene, cloaked in snow. Use the world map to travel to all these settlements and their respective dungeons. You will have to traverse beautiful, treacherous paths to reach the Seaslights – four giant crystals that govern the seasons.

Overcome battles by switching seamlessly between jobs during combat – including the Fighter, adept with swift sword techniques, the Shadow Walker, which deals critical wounds with twin blades, or the Mage, specialising in magic attacks. When faced with a mighty foe, skilfully target their weak points to inflict the Double Break state and take them down in an instant!

Harvestella is coming to Nintendo Switch and PC (Steam) on November 4, 2022.


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