Harvestella is an upcoming farming simulation RPG from Square Enix. The new IP combines the sweet day-to-day life of farming with combat to protect your friends and crops. In preparation for its November 4 release date, Square Enix has been providing more information about what to expect from the game. We’ve already seen a couple of posts on two other Seaslight seasons, Spring and Fall. Now we get a look at Summer.
But first, let’s get some context! Harvestella begins with the protagonist, whose appearance and gender are customizable, waking up during an event known as the Quietus. It’s a season of death between each season, and it seems to be taking longer and longer to dissipate. The overarching quest will be to figure out why and how to stop it. In the meantime, players will explore different towns and biomes, planting different crops and cooking, and occasionally they will take up arms to defend against enemies. The cities are Nemea Town, Shatolla, Lethe Village, and The Holy Capital of Argene. Each place will hold different weather, resources, and obstacles. Players will also meet new allies and choose different jobs that function more like classes in a typical RPG.
With that in mind, Square Enix’s blog post introduced a few new crops, dishes, jobs, friends, and the city of Shatolla. Shatolla is a seaside town that primarily lives off of, you know, the sea. It’s a beautiful place that looks more like a resort than a fishing town. The local tavern attracts the townsfolk after work, and they swap stories about a sea witch and more. Some of the characters you’ll meet in Shatolla are Heine, an eccentric inventor, and Emo, a mysterious singer who works mainly in the tavern.
Because jobs are your class, you have your pick of jobs once you recruit other characters with that job. In this blog post, we were introduced to the Mechanic, who is good at physical attacks, and the Woglinde, who can wield magic through song as a supporting character. These two jobs correlate to Heine and Emo, for anyone who’s keeping track.
The different crops you can grow are also fun. Some of the summer produce includes Shatollan Paprika, which looks like a yellow bell pepper, something called Bellhop. I think we all know what this is.
Players can then cook some summer specialties, such as the Fisherman’s Sandwich, Shrimp and Mushroom Tapas, and Hop Juice. Yes, Hop Juice. It looks very refreshing.
Finally, we got to see both the Waterside biome and the Cave biome with a bit of detail on what grows best in each. The Waterside biome is a very well-irrigated field in which you can grow watermelons and tall palms. The Cave biome is the opposite. The ground is dry there, so it is good for spices and seasoning.
Harvestella looks like an interesting mix of RPG and farming simulation, so we hope to see more about it over the next month. It will be available to play on PC and Nintendo Switch on November 4, 2022, but you can pre-order now.
