Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home a Nice Fit on Mobile

Over the past few weeks, I have been playing Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home. There have been a number of Harvest Moon games released on iOS and Android devices over the years, but in my humble opinion they haven’t been very good. Arguably, we could say that the Harvest Moon franchise hasn’t been that good either. With the launch of Harvest Moon: One World, things began to take a turn – it was the first time I preferred a Harvest Moon game over a Story of Season’s game released in the same year – that is saying something.

With Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home, the franchise moves to mobile in a meaningful way. The graphics from the Nintendo Switch version mostly transition over to mobile nicely, and some of the gameplay elements remain the same as well. If you liked One World, and enjoyed your time with that experience, then I think you’ll have a good idea of what to expect here.

Obviously, limitations and a much lower price tag – I see it lately on sale for around 17.99 CAD – means the world map and available gameplay mechanics are a bit nerfed compared to its Nintendo Switch counterpart, but even at full price, there is a lot of game here for fans of the franchise to enjoy. Whether it’s farming, exploring, or anything else, there is plenty of great things to do in Home Sweet Home, including home decoration!

I had a few performance issues on my OnePlus 12R smart phone, despite that phone being built for gaming – I have the Genshin Impact version, afterall. Those performance issues, however, never negatively impacted my enjoyment of the game. I like that there are a variety of different options for moving your character around the screen. If you like the idea of a virtual joystick, that’s an option here. Alternatively, you can just click where you want your character to go. I did find picking up smaller foragable items to be a hassle at times, but nothing worth tossing the game away over.

Overtime I began to wonder if playing mobile version of farming simulation games is the best option. I know I much prefer to play Stardew Valley on mobile over console, and I’m starting to lean that way with Harvest Moon as well. These games lend themselves to well to the mobile device, and the quick nature of passing days makes it a good game to pick up for 10-15 minutes, and then put down again. I hope to see some improvements and perhaps some additions made to the game over time, but I’m happy with what I’ve played so far!