Square Enix puts their spin on the farm and fantasy life sim with Harvestella

Square Enix is putting their distinctive spin and visual style on the perennially popular life sim and farming game genre this year with Harvestella. With a combination of farming, exploration, and action-roleplaying combat, Harvestella looks like Square Enix's answer to Rune Factory—a similar game in the genre that blends the traditional friendship and farming with action RPG elements.

"Lead a life of self-sufficiency with your vibrant house as a base and cooperate with allies to overcome various threats," says the official description.

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Screenshot from upcoming game Harvestella, by Square Enix. — (Image credit: Square Enix)

The twist, because of course there has to be a twist, is that Harvestella will have five seasons. Quietus, the season of death, also exists. The fifth season "visits with the changing of the seasons. Plants wither. People cannot even walk around outside, due to the dust of death that fills the air. And each year, Quietus persists for longer and longer."

Much of the journey will be funded and enabled by the things you grow on your farm. Materials like wood and wool created will be used for crafting equipment, and produce will enable effects like stat boosts and health recovery. Combat will have three classes you can switch between—Fighter, Mage, and Shadow Walker.

Which gives us our nice impetus for a journey out to do some big, world-altering JRPG events, don't it? You can find Harvestella on Steam, where it will release on November 4th, 2022.

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.