Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town on PS4
As one of Harvest Moon’s successors, Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town combines all your favorite simulation games into one with its intricate gameplay mechanics and fun social interactions. Like other installments of the franchise, you’ll be able to upkeep and manage a farm while helping improve the overall map.
At the beginning of the game, the character makes their way to Olive Town, a place their grandfather and his friends established long ago. After growing up listening to all the stories of the area, they finally decide to go there and expand their grandfather’s legacy.
Once I reached the player customization of Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it offered additional options you don’t often see in other games in the genre. Instead of simply choosing your gender, you can do a mixture of any feminine and masculine characteristics. For example, you can have a character that has a female body pose and male facial features while choosing any voice of your choice.
On top of the gender-neutral components, you’ll also be able to decide the colors of your left and right eye, with the option of having two different colors.
After wrapping up the customization section, I was quickly treated to a cutscene of the character’s motorcycle breaking down at the entrance of Olive Town, where the mayor, Victor, comes in to help. He begins talking to me about how great the character’s grandfather was and asks me a couple of questions, such as my birthday and gender.
When all introductions are out of the way, we go to the family’s old farm, which is overgrown and completely disheveled. I always wondered why farming simulators often choose this storyline of inheriting a messy place, like Stardew Valley and My Time At Portia. But, since it’s become such a classic narrative in these games, I still appreciate it, nonetheless.
The story’s primary goal is to fix your farm and help Olive Town grow its business by improving things like buildings, outdoor areas, and new places. Moreover, there are instances where you’ll decide how you can boost tourism, including choosing a mascot and curating promotional events.
My first base of operations was a tent given to me by the mayor, a home that can later be improved upon once players make enough money. To become the richest in the town, you must sell your crops or creations and complete requests from various people. The game is relatively nice in the initial playthrough and gives you a set of tools to collect some much-needed items, such as grass and logs.
If you want a game with a variety of things to do, this installment will never leave you bored. I got so lost in the farming gameplay that I almost forgot about the town next door because I could partake in so many adventures and projects. For instance, you can go into the caves and mine for valuable elements that you can sell or use to upgrade your tools.
Another aspect of the game is fishing which I found helpful for making meals to increase the character’s endurance. That said, in the beginning, the stamina mechanic proved to be challenging at times since you couldn’t do as much with the low-level tools and attributes. Fortunately, you won’t need to worry about your character fainting as time passes because the game offers bathing and big enough meals to fill your stamina bar.