“Harvest Moon: One World” was released on March 2 for the Nintendo Switch. Its gameplay is very easy to learn, but a bit harder to master. They have made farming easier by indicating exactly where crops can grow, where to find specific seeds, and what people need exactly to complete their requests. While farming may be easier, it’s harder to master because the main goal is less concrete, and there is less hand-holding to figure out what you need to do to save the harvest goddess. Like other games in the series, there is more than just farming crops and animals, with a whole world to explore, yet in this installment the game has many different climates and regions.

In a world where the Harvest Goddess is gone, it is up to you to bring her back and save the world’s agriculture. You will farm to get specific materials for people in order to save their farms and villages, unlocking more tools and crops along the way. Outside of the main goals, villagers will make requests for what crops to farm, or what animal products they want, like milk and eggs.

For those who have not played a Harvest Moon game, you play as a teen who must always save the region they reside in. It’s based on a day system where you have a certain amount of energy to do stuff throughout the day, like farming, caring for animals, buying new equipment, and giving needed materials to people to save the region.

The series’ art style has drastically improved since the older installments, with a shift to more of an older-looking, anime-style character, rather than the small younger-looking characters. Each environment presents entirely different atmospheres, which separates one environment from another, similar to Minecraft biomes, which creates more of a worldly vibe.

Regarding the sound and music, it has been a delightful upgrade and experience. While they have kept simulator gameplay sounds, the music has become more dynamic. Each environment and region get their own music, adding another layer of immersion, which is something the older installments avoided, having less of complementing music to the regions. 

This game has been a good addition to 2021, with its enhanced graphics and multitude of environments and regions, but falls short of leading in new players to the series, so I give it a 9/10.