The Ushi No Tane websites specialize in information, FAQs, and guides about the Nintendo console versions of the Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, and Legend of the River King video games. These game genres are created and published in Japan by Marvelous (JP). In other regions, you'll find Natsume, XSeed Games/Marvelous (USA), Marvelous (EU), and Rising Star involved in the series' release.

The latest version of the mainstream farming series that have been released in various regions of the world are:

• Japan: Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (January 2023)
• North America: Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos (September 2023) and Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (June 2023)
• Europe: Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos (October 2023) and Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (June 2023)

The latest version of River King, in all regions of the world, is River King: Mystic Valley (JP 2007, NA 2008, EU 2009).

Since 2000, Ushi no Tane has been run by a grouchy old lady who happens to be fond of video game agriculture along with two feline helpers: Intern Captain Bootu and Intern Hondo Mewnaka. The website is not officially affiliated, sponsored, endorsed, or employed by the developers of Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, or River King. This is simply a fan site.

Latest Farming Video Game News

Happy Farm'n Friday! It's time for the dreaded waiting game. Will the seeds germinate? Are they duds? Nothing to do but check on them twice a day, spray the surface with some water, and put them back under the grow light. Then wait some more. Ug, this is so agonizing... grow dang it!

The potato seedlings arrived this week, and the weather is forecasted to be sunny for the next few days, so that's this weekend's project.

The fingerling potato seedlings planted last year could have been more productive. I expected the plants to produce about 10 pounds of potatoes but only received about 1 pound at harvest. I experimented by planting the spuds deep in the dirt instead of planting them shallowly and then building the dirt around the sprouts as they grew. Apparently, that wasn't the best way to grow this particular potato variety. I saved some spuds and will try again using the hill method this year.

The new variety that arrived produces larger spuds, and the planting instructions say to plant them deep, so these guys might grow well in the front yard garden box where I buried all those table scraps. Plus, bigger potato seeds mean I need more space to grow anyway.

Will this be the year we get soooo many potatoes that we can share or trade the harvest with others? We'll see...

HM: Winds of Anthos Discounts

If you wanted to try Harvest Moon: Winds of Anthos but weren't interested in paying $50 (or $65 for the game + DLC), the game is finally discounted a little bit.

• Nintendo Switch version - 20% off for both the base game ($40) and game + DLC ($52) in North America. This sale is also in the EU region, where it is currently £35.99 / €39.99 for the base game, with 20% off on the DLC. On sale in Australia for $60 (base game) and $78 (game + DLC), too! These discounts expire on April 7.
• PlayStation version - The base game and the DLC are also discounted 20% off as part of the PSN Spring Sale, active until April 24.

Anthos is not currently for sale on Steam/PC or XBox platforms. If 20% off is not enough discount to entice a purchase, I'm sure we'll see deeper discounts further into the year. The prior entry in the series, Harvest Moon: One World, shows up at 50% off occasionally and is free on PlayStation Plus.

Farmers in the EU and Oceania regions also have several Story of Seasons games on sale for Nintendo Switch, such as Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (40% off), Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town (70% off), and Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town (75% off). These discounts are not available on the North American eShop.

Indie Farm'n Updates

The development studio for planetairy homestead early-access farming game One Lonely Outpost has finally started working on adding robot cows and chickens to latest build. Caring for normal or mechanical farm animals was one of the features promoted during the original crowdfunding campaign, with color customization of the robo-animals as a completed stretch goal. This game still has a long way to go before its 1.0 release due to a change in developer (and graphic style), but it's nice to see they're making progress. A home console version will be released after the Steam/PC launch.

• One Lonely Outpost | Steam Store

The second-to-last stretch goal for the Sugardew Island crowdfunding campaign has about €5000 remaining with just 5 days left until the end. If RokaPlay receives enough backing, they will have the funding to implement character customization into their farm and store simulation game.

• Sugardew Island | Kickstarter
• Sugardew Island | Steam Store

A demo of Claudia The Dev's blobby farming game, Ova Magica, will be available during the upcoming Steam Next Fest, taking place from June 10 to June 17. Ova has been in the works for a few years and is planned for a release during the second half of 2024.

• Ova Magica | Steam Store

The latest improvements added to the PC, PlayStation, and XBox versions of My Time at Sandrock have finally made it through Nintendo Q&A! The New Year Better Me free content patch adds performance and visualization improvements to the Switch version of the game, new weapons like the Keyboard Sword, an end-game dungeon, new rides at the game's theme park once constructed, and much more. Huzzah to Switch farmers!

SkyReach Studio's Critter Crops: Mystery of Mullery Mansion was slated to release on April 15, but development hiccups have postponed the game's release to an unknown date. Additional QA time was needed to ensure the game was in good shape for release. SkyReach will announce an updated date once that has been completed.

• Critter Crops | Steam Store

Until next time!

-Cher
(Yaay, more flower seeds arrived in the mail today!)

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