Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life review – soothing and sentimental farming sim

Even among the eccentric stable of farming games, this is a bit of an odd duck. A Wonderful Life was originally a Harvest Moon game on the Gamecube, and though it retains the trappings of most farm games (crops, livestock, fishing, spelunking), there isn’t as much moment-to-moment pressure to maximise your yields. Where games such as Stardew Valley or Rune Factory lock you into an absorbing cycle of equipment upgrades and farm expansion, A Wonderful Life is content to let you potter around town at a leisurely pace. Each season lasts just 10 days. Farming seems almost an afterthought.

That’s because the game’s focus is – as the title suggests – on having a wonderful life; there’s far more to do after you’ve built up your farm, chosen a partner and settled down. Characters age and change over time; new faces move in and others depart. You can’t even progress past the first year until you get married, though thankfully the bar for marriage here is set unrealistically low. If you don’t propose to a prospective partner after your first year, they’ll turn up on your doorstep and make it happen.

New to this version are non-binary gender options and same-sex marriage, none of which are any impediment to having a child together (thanks, harvest magic). The game’s end point is to see what your kid ends up doing when they reach adulthood, influenced by your actions and your friendships with the community around you. There’s something very comforting about snuggling your virtual tyke, introducing them to all your cute farm animals and gently guiding their development as the years roll on.

Despite the remake’s upbeat and colourful art style – a major improvement over the last few Story of Seasons games – there’s a melancholy tinge to the game’s setting, the Forgotten Valley, aided by the vastness of space between dwellings, the oddly disquieting sounds of the weather and admirably restrained use of music. Characters, too, are cheery on the outside but may reveal more once you get to know them; continual heartbreak, unhappy marriages or the pressure of parental expectations are not uncommon themes, though they’re not always explored in great depth.

It all adds up to a feeling of becoming enmeshed, slowly but surely, in a little community – one that you become familiar with and part of, even if the moment-to-moment interactions can feel a little shallow. Marvelous also seem to have finally nailed the technical performance for their remakes, too, especially on the Switch, with fast load times and little to no slowdown even with loads of animals on screen. It’s not going to be a game for everyone, but if you can meet A Wonderful Life on its terms, you’ll find a lot to love in its slow-paced, small-town gait.

• Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is out now; £34.99