Harvest Moon: Light of Hope Announced For PlayStation 4, PC, and Nintendo Switch

Natsume announced a new Harvest Moon game today. The game will be called Harvest Moon: Light of Hope and will be coming to the PlayStation 4, PC, and Nintendo Switch. The official press release for the game is below, along with my thoughts on this newest Harvest Moon game!

Harvest Moon: Light of Hope was announced today. It will be coming to the PlayStation 4, PC, and Nintendo Switch. No footage was shown of the game! We’ll get our first look at it via E3 in June.

Check out this press release for the game (via Nintendo Everything):

“Burlingame, CA. – May 16th, 2017 – In celebration of Harvest Moon’s 20th anniversary, Natsume Inc., a worldwide developer and publisher of family-oriented video games, and Rising Star Games, European video game publisher and long-standing partner of Natsume, today announced an all-new title, Harvest Moon: Light of Hope. The new game will encompass twenty years of spirit that has made the franchise what it is today, and will be available on Nintendo Switch, Steam, and PlayStation 4! This is the first time the Harvest Moon brand will be on Steam and the Nintendo Switch. The title will be playable on both Switch and PC in the Natsume booth at E3 2017 in South Hall, Booth 2047 in June.

In Harvest Moon: Light of Hope, players begin the game as they set out looking for a fresh start and new surroundings. During their voyage, their ship is hit by a monsoon and goes down. As they drift into a small harbor town, now in a shambles from the storm, it will be up to the player to help rebuild the town and save the lighthouse…but it won’t be easy! Nevertheless, with some hard work growing crops, tending livestock, and gathering materials for repairs, players will be able to make new friends, start a family, revive the lighthouse, and save the town!

“Harvest Moon: Light of Hope will set itself apart from other Harvest Moon titles with its depth, including a robust story and clear-cut goals,” said Hiro Maekawa, President & CEO of Natsume. “We set out to create a SNES-style nostalgic game with deep and meaningful characters and events, and we are excited to have our fans play it at E3 and tell us what they think!”

“Partnering with Natsume for over a decade, we’ve been delighted to bring the joyful gameplay of Harvest Moon to fans in Europe and beyond”, said Martin Defries, Managing Director, Rising Star Games. “We are excited to be part of the unveiling of Harvest Moon: Light of Hope at E3”.”

Harvest Moon: Light of Hope sounds like it’ll be a good game. I like that its focusing more the characters and events like the older games. Even so, its the “rebuilding the town” part of the game that worries me. The more recent Harvest Moon games have been having you rebuild your town via complicated interfaces. I haven’t cared for those more recent games because of those building aspects. It would be nice to see a Harvest Moon game go back to just farming and interacting with your neighbors.

One things for sure, since the game is going to be on the PlayStation 4, PC, and Switch, it should be the best looking game in the Harvest Moon franchise!

Time will tell if Light of Hope is a good entry in the Harvest Moon franchise. We’ll get our first look at the Switch and PC versions during E3,

What do you think of Harvest Moon: Light of Hope?