Metacritic (PS4) (??)
Metacritic (Switch) (54)
OpenCritic (51)
Mashable (no score):
LadiesGamers.com (liked):
GAMES.CH (69%):
DASHGAMER.com (6.5/10):
Cerealkillerz (6.5/10, review in German):
Digitally Downloaded (3/5):
Millenium (60/100, review in French):
IGN (5/10):
Critical Hit (5/10):
4Players.de (41/100, review in German):
iMore (2/5):
WellPlayed (4/10):
Metacritic (Switch) (54)
OpenCritic (51)
Mashable (no score):
I wish the disappointment in a game series I loved as a kid wasn't enough to barrel me over emotionally. But it's just the cherry on top of a year that's proven how absolutely nothing is sacred, no one you love is safe, and entropy destroys all things that exist in linear time (again, not to be dramatic). Harvest Moon is dead. May she rest in peace after someone finally puts her shambling corpse out of its grotesque, reanimated misery.
LadiesGamers.com (liked):
Harvest Moon: One World isn't part of the long standing series of games that went on under the name Story of Seasons in the West some years ago. Nevertheless, it focuses on the same game idea and audience. While I'm not sure it's a good idea to seek competition with Story of Seasons by releasing in the same month, I did like my time in One World.
Is it as good as as Story of Seasons games? No it's not. In comparison the world feels empty and the characters a bit flat. The dating scene could use some sprucing up too. But judged on its own by this farming simulation fan I can honestly say I enjoyed it. The developers tried out some novel ideas, like the Expando-Farm. And not having to bother with scrolling through your pocket for the right tool: the game always does the right action at the right time. An excellent range of various crops and a new way to get your seeds. The farming itself really felt fresh to me.
So even though I wonder if the price point isn't a bit high and the opinions on the internet vary quite a bit on Harvest Moon: One World I must say it kept me playing for quite some hours. But I want to add, keeping my comments above in mind, the game should have been offered at a significant lower price point than the competition's game.
GAMES.CH (69%):
Harvest Moon One World lives up to its name and lets players travel through a world with different climate zones and challenges. There are countless plants to grow, which creates the typical farming pull very well. It would be a good game if quest givers didn't just fade away and someone would put more effort into the graphics.
DASHGAMER.com (6.5/10):
Regardless, Harvest Moon: One World is exemplary. I refrain from using exceptional due to its glaring omissions that are now prevalent within the Story of Seasons series. One World tries to reinstate itself as the industry standard in adventure-type simulation, but lacks a certain heart and unfortunately its charm wears thing after a short period.
Cerealkillerz (6.5/10, review in German):
Fans of the series will quickly find in Harvest Moon: One World that the glamor of the previous day is unfortunately gone. Farmer's life is surprisingly monotonous and boring with little detail, graphically outdated and playfully flat. The five different regions provide a bit of relief, but due to the shallow action and tasks they can hardly motivate over a longer period of time.
Digitally Downloaded (3/5):
Harvest Moon: One World is ultimately forgettable and limited, but I didn't regret my time playing it. Perhaps that is simply because I'm such a fan of these anime-casual farming sims, and have been since the "genre" emerged all the way back on the SNES, but as someone who has played an awful lot of these things, One World's effort to do something different by getting you to travel around, and the streamlining of the farming mechanics so you can focus on the best bits, is admirable. There's still a long way to go for Natsume and its development teams to catch Story of Seasons, and I question the wisdom in releasing this game to compete directly with the upcoming new entry in that series, but this is still a genuinely pleasant little world to lose yourself within for a while.
Millenium (60/100, review in French):
At first glance, Harvest Moon: One World isn't very attractive graphically, but it's still a good farm game. All the features you'd expect are there and even if the landscapes are still very poor, the game offers a good storyline with several regions to explore, seasonal events and some nice improvements like teleportation. This new Harvest Moon game will certainly delight the franchise's lovers, but remains a light version of what we could expect in 2021.
IGN (5/10):
At the heart of Harvest Moon: One World is an interesting twist on farming sims, but its bland, soulless world kills all potential.
Critical Hit (5/10):
A half-hearted, boring attempt at a farming RPG, Harvest Moon: One World does nothing especially well. Even though it does show some initial promise, it quickly squanders that on poor farming mechanics, a bland open-world and lifeless characters.
4Players.de (41/100, review in German):
While the changing biomes and surfaces are a nice idea, the core with its simplified farm labor is presented too lackluster and monotonous.
iMore (2/5):
Harvest Moon: One World left me wanting more. As I played, I kept waiting for things to get better, but nothing ended up exciting me. Even some of the more interesting storylines in certain town quests were overshadowed by how tedious others were, not to mention the absence of any feelings of progression given that tools can't be upgraded to make life easier. When I thought about other similar games, I wished I were playing them instead. I think it's safe to say that you won't miss out on anything by skipping this entry in the Harvest Moon series. When it comes to farming- and life simulator games, you'll definitely find better games on the Nintendo Switch.
WellPlayed (4/10):
One World certainly isn't unplayable, and while I'm sure some may enjoy it, compared to the many other farming sims I've tried and reviewed in the past couple of years it feels like this is something from the distant past. At best it's vastly underwhelming, unpolished and almost like an early build rather than a finished product. When you take into account that this isn't a game being sold at a bargain price but a full AUD $69.95 title, I would highly recommending waiting it out for a price drop before shelling out your hard-earned cash for this title. I'm usually very quick to sink good time into farming sims without noticing, but not this time. Any enjoyment was quickly washed away by a core design that seemed tailor to suck the fun out of things. I'm sad that this title doesn't move the series forward in any of the ways that it should, and with the game out at the time of this review and devoid of any updates or patches I feel as though that's how it'll stay.
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