Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive TownandHarvest Moon: One Worldare two farming simulators stemming from the same original franchise. Now, these two franchises are goin head-to-head as they release in the same month.
It looks like the two games are competing with one another for fan attention, especially fueled by Marvelous ending its work with Natsume back in 2014 by rebranding asStory of Seasons. When it comes tocollector’s editions, both games even include animal plushes. So if players only have time for one, which is more worth their time and money?
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Harvest Moon’s Split into Story of Seasons
Sometimes, fans still get confused when it comes to the split Marvelous made from Natsume, the company responsible for English localization, thereby creating theStory of Seasonsgames. But Natsume, still owning theHarvest Moonname, decided to make its own games inspired by the originals that fans in the east and west had come to love.
It’s unclear why Marvelous pulled itsBokujou Monogatariseries—what the series is known as in Japanese since the beginning—away from Natsume and decided to use its own subsidiary XSEED for localization. But ultimately, both studios developing each franchise are now made of completely different teams than the originalHarvest Moongames, though some consider theStory of Seasonsseries to be the “real"Harvest Moongames.
The Graphics of Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons
For both franchises, the overall graphics quality has been the main focus of criticism. For the originalHarvest Moongames, graphics were never a strong point, While now, many findA Wonderful Life’s graphicscharming for nostalgic reasons and many still enjoy the 16-bit pixel art of some older titles, they were regarded as being “unimpressive” by past critics.
Now, the graphics of neitherHarvest MoonnorStory of Seasonshave quite lived up to expectations by modern standards, butOne Worldhas fallen behind in this race. Many fans feel theHarvest Moongames developed by Natsume look no better than free mobile games. When Natsume announcedOne World, it claimed the game would have fresh graphics brought by a new engine, and while they’re certainly an improvement fromLight of Hope, animations are robotic, textures are rough, and it overall looks behind its time.
But when making the comparison to mobile graphics, some farming simulator fans have said the same aboutPioneers of Olive Town, but perhaps this is more of a positive comment to the strides mobile games have made in recent years. Still, animations inPoOTare much smoother and generally more aesthetically pleasing to look at than those seen inOne World.
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Bachelors and Bachelorettes
Marriage candidates in farming simulators are one of the biggest elements of interest in the community. When it comes toPioneers of Olive Town’s marriage prospects, fans felt that the men were a bit underwhelming while the women’s designs made it difficult to choose between them. But with the recent announcement thatStory of Seasonswill bring back some romanceable charactersfrom past installments, it makes relationships inPoOTall the more interesting.
Then there’sHarvest Moon:One World’s take on relationships. Though some players are excited about Malika’s design and Natsume is attempting to keep the options appealing,Harvest Moonhas opted not to allow same-sex relationshipswhileStory of Seasonswill with its upcoming installment just as it had withFriends of Mineral Town.
Natsume isn’t giving up on theHarvest Moonbrand name yet, but it’s likely that most farming sim fans who aren’t too busy withStardew Valley’s 1.5 updatewill likely chooseStory of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive TownoverHarvest Moon: One World. However, one plusHarvest Moonmay have overStory of Seasonsis that it’s in development for PS4 and Xbox One as well, making it more accessible to players.
Harvest Moon: One Worldis out on July 31, 2025 for the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Townwill be released on July 11, 2025 on the Nintendo Switch.
