We get a look at more farming, socializing, and one of the town’s residents
Square Enix is sharing some more info about its slice-of-life farming RPG Harvestella today. A new blog highlights one of the locals, some of the in-game activities, and the very hometown itself of Nemea.
Nemea is the town in which Harvestella takes place, and life there is governed by five seasons. While we’re familiar with autumn, winter, spring, and summer, Nemea’s fifth season is a bit more dangerous. Quietus arrives between each season, and it carries a deadly dust that keeps residents indoors and destroys crops.
So clearly, figuring out what’s up with Quietus is a sizable preoccupation for the player. But in today’s Square Enix blog, we get a bunch of looks at Nemea, a gorgeous town with flowers constantly in bloom.
Much to do around town
The residents of Nemea also seem like they’ll be helping the player out on their quest. One new character introduced today is Istina, a teacher who runs the town’s orphanage. She only arrived in Nemea a few years prior to the game’s events, but has quickly ingratiated herself as the quiet intellectual who reads aloud to the children.
Getting to know the residents of Nemea will be pretty important, it seems, as they’ll also be your gateway to new classes. This is an action RPG, after all, and Harvestella will have different job classes available for changing up combat. While the last look spotlighted jobs like the Fighter and Mage, today we got a glimpse of another class, Sky Lancer.
Recruiting a character who has a certain job will unlock it for the protagonist, according to today’s update. And alongside gaining combat abilities, getting to know others will raise your standing with them, revealing more of their story and potentially even yielding rewards. And honestly, why play a farming RPG if you’re not trying to socialize with the townsfolk?
Life on the farm
We also got a look at some of the crops and foods of Harvestella, which have a Vanillaware-grade deliciousness to their illustrations. Plus, if farming ever gets old, there’s fishing too.
And on top of the farming and fishing, there’s also some industry to be set up. Much like Stardew Valley, Rune Factory, and other farming RPGs, the player rakes in cash through shipping out goods. You could always send out pure ingredients, or you could bump up your profit margins by installing some machines to create processed goods.
Harvestella is quickly becoming one to watch for me. It’s using all the better aspects of the Rune Factory series with a coat of Square Enix RPG paint, and the mixture of style and substance has me intrigued.
The wait won’t be too long either, as Harvestella will arrive on Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam on November 4.
