Harvestella

 Switch
User Score
4.1

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 148 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 55 out of 148
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 148
  3. Negative: 83 out of 148
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  1. MishaPixelF
    Nov 5, 2022
    5
    Good stuff first, the character creation let's you be nonbinary and femme with a "masc" body and vice versa which is awesome! The game should be commended for that. Additionally the graphics are beautiful, the game looks visually delightful. There's a lot of potential in the story as well.

    As farming sim, this game is extremely lackluster. It feels tacked on in a way that makes the    Good stuff first, the character creation let's you be nonbinary and femme with a "masc" body and vice versa which is awesome! The game should be commended for that. Additionally the graphics are beautiful, the game looks visually delightful. There's a lot of potential in the story as well.

    As farming sim, this game is extremely lackluster. It feels tacked on in a way that makes the whole experience very perfunctory. Crops grow very quickly and sell for very little compared to their seed cost. It's also unclear why you would even want to grow crops? The NPCs don't seem to know or care either since there's more effective healing items you can get as drops from enemies and resource nodes. The town is populated by nameless NPCs with only a handful of named characters that only seem to exist to sell you things or upgrade your equipment. The farming and homesteading only seems to exist to pad out the combat and story.

    Unfortunately the combat is also a drag, just basic character action style button mashing. It varies it up by giving you other jobs you can switch to, but then it puts your job switching on cool down when you do it. And the first job you get is a mage with no regular attack and only a long cool down spell. So you get stuck doing nothing but running around the stage waiting for your cool downs to pop. Presumably this is alleviated when you have a lot more jobs to switch between but it makes a pretty bad impression to start.

    Only play this if you really want a Final Fantasy farming sim, and that's what you're after then this will deliver! (Though to be honest, I'd sooner recommend Rune Factory 4.)    … Expand
  2. PMG-Writer
    Nov 14, 2022
    7
    Square Enix created a good title for the Switch and PC with HARVESTELLA. The two elements basically work well together, but a bit more depth in the two genres would have been great. Thus, the plot of the game is really good and the dialogues make from the first to the last second of the story of "HARVESTELLA" well done. The life simulation and also the fights are good, but would have beenSquare Enix created a good title for the Switch and PC with HARVESTELLA. The two elements basically work well together, but a bit more depth in the two genres would have been great. Thus, the plot of the game is really good and the dialogues make from the first to the last second of the story of "HARVESTELLA" well done. The life simulation and also the fights are good, but would have been simply more dringewesen. Here simply falls more depth. In return, the controls and the great soundtrack in the game are right. Unfortunately, the graphics are not always good. Those who would like to experience a new gaming experience on the Switch and PC should take a look at "HARVESTELLA". Undecided players can also try the free demo version in advance.… Expand
  3. Dyron
    Dec 6, 2022
    7
    "É um bom jogo, mas poderia ser bem melhor". Esse é o sentimento que fiquei quando terminei o jogo. Ele faz muita coisa boa, mas ao mesmo tempo não é espetacular em nada. Já no começo, ele tem alguma personalização de personagem, mas te dá tão poucas opções de personalização, que acredito que seria melhor nem ter. Na parte da "fazendinha" ele tem umas boas ideias, mas o retorno que o jogo"É um bom jogo, mas poderia ser bem melhor". Esse é o sentimento que fiquei quando terminei o jogo. Ele faz muita coisa boa, mas ao mesmo tempo não é espetacular em nada. Já no começo, ele tem alguma personalização de personagem, mas te dá tão poucas opções de personalização, que acredito que seria melhor nem ter. Na parte da "fazendinha" ele tem umas boas ideias, mas o retorno que o jogo te dá pelo trabalho de cuidar de sua plantação não é proporcional. Isso frusta bastante o jogador, porque as coisas são relativamente caras, você vende por quase o mesmo preço das sementes (por exemplo, a cenouta, que você compra de 90 a 110 dependendo da loja e do estoque, e vende por 130) e gasta bastante estâmina pra cuidar. Estâmina essa que você usa pra todas as suas ações na batalha do jogo. Como acontece em praticamente todos os jogos de fazenda, você só consegue vender seus itens na caixinha de venda, que te entrega o dinheiro todo dia após dormir. Como a história do jogo pende mais pra aventura do que para o farming, vender coisas nas lojas em tempo real seria uma boa opção de melhora. Na parte da batalha, é tudo também muito mais simples do que deveria ser. Não tem nem mesmo um botão de defesa, ou esquiva. O que torna essa parte apenas um apertar de botões e uso de itens de cura e recuperação de estâmina. Não é como se o jogador não precisasse usar nenhuma estratégia nas batalhas, mas como falei no começo, não é de todo ruim, mas poderia ser muito melhor. O jogo até té dá bastante opções de classes, 12 no total, cada uma com 4 ataques especiais, que dá um pouco de diversidades nas batalhas, mas nada que deixe ela exepcional. A história é um pouco confusa no começo, mas se torna bem previsível do meio pro final, até me deixando um pouco frustrado em certa parte com a burrice dos personagens principais que não viam coisas tão óbvias até alguém basicamente dar as respostas pra eles. As missóes secundárias são em sua grande maioria bem fraquinhas também, salvo algumas poucas que chegam até a surpreender. O final da história principal até chega a surpreender um pouco também, pelas escolhas moralmente complicadas que dão para o jogador, mas nem nisso eles se aprofundaram, basicamente te obrigando a seguir o "bom final" pra poder continuar o jogo.
    Resumindo, se você gosta de jogos de farming, alá harvest moon, e de rpgs de ação antigos, tem grande chance de gostar desse jogo. Levei em torno de 47 horas pra fazer tudo que o jogo me ofereceu, entre missões secundárias, entregar pedidos de receitas, pescar peixes raros, conseguir e evoluir todas as classes, e claro, a missão principal, e me diverti pelo menos em 70% desse tempo. Mas com todo o potencial que ele tinha, não tem como eu pensar nesse jogo como um desperdício do que poderia ser.    … Expand
  4. Jt0429
    Nov 10, 2022
    7
    Good-
    Fun, engaging farming mechanics; Other life sim activities are mostly enjoyable; Serviceable story and setting; Strong art design.
    Bad- Combat is dull and disappointingly simplistic; Gameplay feels too straightforward at times; From a technical perspective, the visuals are horrifying. Thoughts- The easiest way to describe Harvestella is as a classic example of an unpolished    Good-
    Fun, engaging farming mechanics; Other life sim activities are mostly enjoyable; Serviceable story and setting; Strong art design.

    Bad-
    Combat is dull and disappointingly simplistic; Gameplay feels too straightforward at times; From a technical perspective, the visuals are horrifying.

    Thoughts-
    The easiest way to describe Harvestella is as a classic example of an unpolished yet enjoyable AA Square Enix game, of which we’ve seen quite a few in recent months, from The DioField Chronicle to Valkyrie Elysium. It’s rough around the edges, it doesn’t shake up any formulas, and it doesn’t ever come close to setting any new standards in its genre, but it’s not an unenjoyable game. In trying to be both a farming sim and an action RPG, it ends up failing to make an impression as either- though it’s a much better farming sim than it is an action RPG, and taken as a whole, it’s a decent experience that’s worth clocking a couple dozen hours into… if you have nothing better to play.    … Expand
  5. hacknslash6
    Nov 6, 2022
    6
    Big Final Fantasy fan, big OG Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley fan. Took a gamble on this game being the best of both worlds. It doesn't really deliver unfortunately. The dialogue is often clunky in English, perhaps a localization issue but hard to say. Character models are bizarre; the women are thicc and the men are even thicc-er. Everyone has their knees locked in a perpetually bentBig Final Fantasy fan, big OG Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley fan. Took a gamble on this game being the best of both worlds. It doesn't really deliver unfortunately. The dialogue is often clunky in English, perhaps a localization issue but hard to say. Character models are bizarre; the women are thicc and the men are even thicc-er. Everyone has their knees locked in a perpetually bent position that makes running look painful. There are voice actors, but only in the dungeons while battling. Some of the soundtrack is nice, but most is repetitive and boring. The dungeon exploration is fun, but the combat isn't anything to write home about. Generally feels unbalanced, and again, clunky. The potential for this kind of game is definitely there, but it's not in this game. Despite all the annoyances, I have been enjoying playing it, and will continue. It's difficult to care too deeply about the story or characters but for some reason I have still been sucked in.… Expand
  6. judgementblade
    Jul 27, 2023
    7
    It takes a little too long until you get the option to manually save so if that is as important to you as it is to me, you speed through the first in-game week following the story or prepare a 5 hour playing session until you get there.

    Graphics, obviously a game like this wouldn't get much polish in graphics and the Switch isn't that strong of a system anyway but at least they could    It takes a little too long until you get the option to manually save so if that is as important to you as it is to me, you speed through the first in-game week following the story or prepare a 5 hour playing session until you get there.

    Graphics, obviously a game like this wouldn't get much polish in graphics and the Switch isn't that strong of a system anyway but at least they could have done better with Character models and animations. It might be just the view-angle but on the regular the character models look all outta whack. The proportions of the upper half to lower half of the models have such a discrepancy. They look like they were made by two different teams with vastly different skill levels, a small torso on giants hips and legs or so.

    I can deal with the environmental graphics but they are not that great in quality though. However, they did at least put some effort in creating nice graphics that feel unique to this world and didn't just basic good looking pre-made assets and called it a day.

    I do like the indication of loading zones and they aren't so bad, Rune Factory 5 had worse. What I don't like is you get no map indication of unopened chests or not collected items, even if you just pass by them with a bad camera angle and thus miss em.

    They certainly did a smart and give the player easy watering where you just can pour water endlessly on the fields. You also get some nice skills as you progress to make farming easier but that is somewhat expect so at least you can't say to fail on quality of life mechanics.
    On the other hand, what I didn't appreciate was the lack of selling value in descriptions so you had to note it down during shipping if you wanted to know. You hardly make any money plus compared to the price of the seeds. It also is a VERY terrible decision to not give you any way to break big stones on your field until close to endgame.

    UI is nice and clean and the map helps out though you have to "use" gathering spots at least once before they appear. Bit weird of a control scheme but not that bad to get used to.
    Many quest have surprisingly deep themes behind them.

    Cookie points for not making the player carry materials on you if you wanna craft something. Still a bit of a pain that you can only carry 9 of an healing item per each slot in your backpack.
    It doesn't do a good job to tell you all the places you can mine or gather specific materials. Another issue with that is that I like a reliable source of certain materials, especially heavily used ones and hate it if it's "RNG be merciful" all the time so either give me a shop to purchase materials (after you discovered them) or make it so "this spot only yields this material" and don't be too cheap with the amount you can get per day instead of 1 or 2 per spot.

    Over all it's a nice game. Sadly, it turned out to be exactly what I worried about when first I heard of it. It tries to be an RPG and a Farming-Life-Sim and didn't do either proper. For an RPG it's too short and simple where you leveling hardly improves anything for you and for a farming-sim, it's too shallow with too few crops, livestock variety and too little customization. You can't even have a pet (that isn't like a horse) and there are no festivals to attend do during the year. The trailer and previews also showed decoration but you only get 3 fences in color variation.You even have to place all your processing equipment on your field and can only use for one item at a time on the lower levels and a set amount of material for the higher ones.    … Expand
  7. Mlynnp1987
    Jan 29, 2023
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. When I first began this game, I really enjoyed it. As time has gone on, and during chapter 4, I can’t wait for it to end. The main issue is you get like 8 party members at this point, with 10 levels to complete friendship and each of the levels for each of the 8 party members (so far) has its own, sometimes extremely long cutscenes consisting of just dialogue. I don’t care anymore, I just ‘a’ through them all and don’t have the patience to read anything anymore. This makes the side quests and main story a drag to read. I’m semi interested in what’s going to happen, but I can’t wait for it to end. I understand you need the time aspect, be home in bed by midnight, but it’s just annoying. The only reason I haven’t put it down is because my back log is big enough, so I’m just trying to power through.… Expand
  8. elventurtle
    Jun 24, 2023
    5
    Made it about 15 hours in as I really wanted to give this game a chance but the combat is boring, the stamina system is annoying at best, and the story and dialogue are poorly written. Get literally any other jrpg or farming sim. This was an attempt to marry the two that unfortunately instead of being 50/50 is 25/25 and 50% filler story and bad writing.

Awards & Rankings

23
#23 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2022

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 46 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 46
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 46
  3. Negative: 0 out of 46
  1. IGN Brasil
    Mar 10, 2023
    70
    Harvestella is ideal for anyone looking for a game with the peace of mind of a farm simulator and the challenge of combat. You'll likely feel a mix of relaxation and excitement as you tend to crops and fight off threats, all while trying to uncover the truth behind the mysterious "death station", Quietus.
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  2. RPG Site
    Feb 8, 2023
    80
    Harvestella is the type of game that’ll just simmer in your brain the further you get from it, I’m convinced this will be a beloved cult classic for years to come. There’s so much here that feels like an experiment, and it’s surprising how much of it comes together into a great package despite its shortcomings. When your greatest sin is being maybe a tad too simple, I call that a success.I think there’s a lot of room for growth in a hypothetical follow-up with a larger budget, and, hopefully, Square Enix agrees with me.
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  3. Shindig
    Jan 27, 2023
    80
    Here’s yet another farming RPG, but one that turns the familiar setup in a philosophical, existential direction—and dares to really, really go places with it. What at first looks like another descendant of Harvest Moon ends up bearing a closer resemblance, thematically and tonally, to NieR Automata. That’s not a comparison that’s easy to live up to, but Harvestella manages to leave its mark.
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