Remakes are always tricky. Fans want games to be just how they remember them for nostalgia’s sake, but they also want extra bells and whistles to bring them up to modern standards. The problem is the more you lean into one, the further you get from the other.
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Lifebalances both well, making it a worthwhile return for longtime fans and an excellent choice for newcomers who want to experience one of the series’ more unique titles. This version takes all the best parts of every past iteration of this title and presents them in the perfect package that takes advantage of clean, modern graphics and quality of life improvements.
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As Story of Seasons fans, we always want more, more, more. More marriage candidates, more customisation options, and more farm life. A Wonderful Life delivers on that in spades. And trowels. And hoes. Being able to romance and have children with any marriage candidate regardless of gender is the most welcome change, but equally important are all the features that the game tidies up well.
The toolshed is gone, with your tools now living in your inventory and automatically swapping out as you upgrade, while bells call your animals outside, and you can now sell that damned goat when you want to get rid of it. Even little things such as automatically moving to the next square of soil after you sow seeds are a nice touch. Some changes seemed pointless, like swapping out character names, but overall everything has been polished and improved to an impressive degree.
The only major irritation was that at certain times, characters are difficult to interact with, sometimes blocking you completely. If they have their hands in their pockets or are in the middle of something, they won’t accept your gifts or speak with you. Spending time at the dig site leads to endless frustration because the NPCs will wander close to you — or evenintoyou — and prevent you from digging while they linger too close.
Initially, I mistakenly compared AWL to more recent titles brimming with features — mining, secret unlockables, in-depth crafting, more mini-games, and all those extras the series has added over the years. As I played through my first year in Forgotten Valley, I was too hung up on the missing things to remember what made this title so special in the first place, but as I reached year two, it all came rushing back to me.
Unlike the games you’re able to play forever, expanding your farm and family as you see fit in a neverending stasis of the perfect life, A Wonderful Life has set chapters and a sense of closure you won’t get elsewhere. More importantly, your virtual world grows and changes as the years pass. NPCs age — and even die — while the town develops with each chapter. People move in and out of houses, and you can watch your child grow from a baby into an adult who will walk their own path of choosing a career.
A Wonderful Life shouldn’t be compared to the rest of the series, especially more recent releases. I can embrace the game’s more restricted nature because its unique experiences with the set timeline and aging environment can’t be found elsewhere. In many ways, AWL has returned to basics by stripping back to its core mechanics.
In the second chapter, the game’s bittersweet narrative becomes glaringly obvious with the death of the old dear who lives in town, but newcomers might find the game a bit too vanilla at first. However, even with fewer elements than newer titles, it’s not like you’re stuck twiddling your thumbs.
Each day still feels too short and as if you have so much to do in too little time. You’re balancing the constant running of your farm with the aim of improving it and turning a profit and juggling relationships with the townsfolk. Optional side content such as the dig site and getting into the think of it with hybridising crops can easily take over your life, too.
Some might dislike that you have less control over your life as it’s tied into the storyline. Youhaveto marry and settle down with a kid. Well, you can refuse, but the game ends there, with you leaving the farm immediately after kicking your potential spouse to the curb. If you haven’t spent your first year wooing your favourite NPC, you’ll have limited options foisted upon you at the start of the next year based on who you’ve interacted with most.
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life remains one of the best that the series has to offer, managing to preserve what made it so special in the first place with its unique emphasis on an aging town and cast of characters, while also raising the bar with new content and improvements. While more recent titles in the series tend to offer distractions in the way of more mechanics and options, A Wonderful Life is a return to form that focuses more on the life sim and farming aspects that fans fell in love with all those years ago.
Score: 4/5. An Xbox Series X code was provided by the publisher.
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life
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Story Of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is a total remake of the classic farming sim formerly known as Harvest Moon. Your job is to tend a farm in the charming town of Forgotten Valley, forging relationships and making memories along the way.
