Sigh… Another game I can’t be a cute black farmer girl… Sad.

Yes, it has a Pokemon knockoff look but at least it doesn't crash all the time or have Pokémon falling through floors!

I picked this up a couple months ago and it’s quite possibly the most addictive farming game l've ever played. As someone who has loved Harvest Moon since I was a little kid, and haven't actually really really loved a HM/SOS since Animal Parade, I loved this game, I haven't felt this happy playing one of these games in a very long time (and believe me, I've tried, I have played every HM/SOS game that's come out). It has the nostalgic feel of the old school games. I really like helping out the harvest goddess and her sprites/fairies ("help us restore X to this world") and a lot of the SOS games gloss over that aspect.

I loved exploring and taking things at my own pace and this certainly seems to scratch that particular itch. Despite the world looking mostly empty, it’s still very pretty, enjoyable to explore and there’s so much more to it. And as a completionist, the large amount of crop mutations, fish, and forage items is so great.

I really wouldn't write off Winds of Anthos, I’ve personally had a lot of fun with the game, and there's more to world exploration than what most people mention. There's a bit of pokemon like qualities to WoA and that makes sense since the developers, Appci, worked on certain aspects of the modern pokemon games.

While exploring the world you'll come across out of the way areas with a lot of resources, secret fishing holes that net a LOT of money, Power Wisps that behave like Koroks and give you Power Berries that can expand your stamina or bag when you take them to the harvest goddess spring (a lot of them can also only be collected during certain seasons), Rare animals to tame, and more.

The world might look empty at first but the point is to explore and find things along the way. It’s reminiscent of Pokémon Arceus in some way, you use similar stealth mechanics to approach animals/sprites. The farming aspect is also very solid, there are a LOT of different crops, some of them being fantastical mutations like snowmen and jack o lanterns.

You can approach the story however you want to by going wherever you want, and they added little harvest goddess shrines in that you can travel to just like in Zelda. The Doc Pad you start the game with can warp you to any of those goddess statues you activate in the world, as well as allowing you to look for specific things you've discovered previously so you aren't wandering aimlessly looking for that one Harvest Wisp. Each town has a cultural level and as it grows the town changes and becomes more lively!

There’s so many cute new animals in this game and you can track them on your map. On top of that, you can befriend any animal and bring them to your barn. Some have different skills they can offer you, while your basic farm animals give you products.
You can also find animals in the wild, and if you take the time to befriend them bring them home with you.

The QOL improvements are huge, the auto selection on tools lets me deal with my crops and barn in no time. Getting seeds from the wisps is really cool, and I love the random (or maybe not random, and I haven't figured out what causes them) mutations. Heading to the mountains on foot to find and tame my own horse was really satisfying. I loved the dowsing feature in the mines. The fishing is prime, you actually need to use skill to get the fish.

I also appreciated how the game has so many characters, yet it only tracks important characters/marriage candidates on the menu. You can still befriend all of the other characters, but this makes the friend’s menu way less cluttered. There are many other cool aspects, such as the camera feature, animal traits that aid you in various ways, and very useful search function. There are a few complaints but nothing significant enough that kept me from enjoying it.

Natsume's Harvest Moon is definitely going for a more open, world-traveling adventure, while Marvelous's Story of Seasons focuses more on tight-knit communities. These styles both have a lot of potential for amazing experiences, even though Natsume fumbled a lot with the past entry. Now, though, I'm proud to say that I think Natsume has finally found some footing in a solid entry in the new "Harvest Moon."

The last Harvest Moon was a step in the right direction but a lack of experience and an unclear vision held the game back. However, the team learned and came back with Winds of Anthos. With a much more focused vision and experience under their belt they were able to execute far better. The series finally has a really solid foundation to build and improve on. Future looks bright for the series. There's so much to this one and if you’re a fan of these farming games I really think you should give it a try!

8/10 because I couldn’t marry Doc Jr!

For $50,... nah man this game aint it. Just buy Sunny Side more content on there than this.
Ambient is mid, scenery is basic, not much settings to change, character creation is trash and you can't jump over a damn fence.

Wait for this to go on sale for $15-20 and play it when you're bored.