For many players, Stardew Valley was their first taste of the joys of a farming RPG, but it’s certainly not the first of its kind. Story of Seasons – formerly known in the West as Harvest Moon – has defined the genre since the Super Nintendo days, but it’s historically been a console-only series. That’s going to change this October with the launch of Doraemon Story of Seasons on Steam.
As the title suggests, this is a crossover with Japan’s wildly popular anime franchise, Doraemon. It’ll feature the mascot and his traditional cast of friends. You’ll play as Noby and aim to rebuild a farm, make friends with local townsfolk, and enjoy the country life – with some help from Doraemon’s selection of secret gadgets.
Doraemon Story of Seasons will hit Steam (and Nintendo Switch) in North America and Europe on October 11, publisher Bandai Namco confirms in a press release. No word yet on price, but it was a full, retail release on Switch in Japan earlier this year.
We already got Harvest Moon: Light of Hope on Steam back in 2017, which forces me to address the whole confusing lineage of the series. Known as Bokujou Monogatari in Japan, it was originally released as Harvest Moon in the West by publisher Natsume.
Mark your calendars, #Doraemon Story of Seasons is coming to #NintendoSwitch and PC on 11 October! Help Noby bring a destroyed farm back to life with the help of his friends and Doraemon’s secret gadgets! pic.twitter.com/KTfD2paKl7
— BANDAI NAMCO UK (@BandaiNamcoUK) August 13, 2019
Developer Marvelous switched publishers for Bokujou Monogatari in the West in 2014 which led to the new English title, Story of Seasons. Natsume continues making unrelated games under the Harvest Moon name – which have mostly not been very good.
Story of Seasons, however, has broadly kept the quality up, and if you’ve been looking for more games like Stardew Valley on PC, the Doraemon crossover should provide a good option in just a couple of months.