Natsume Inc. has confirmed the next Harvest Moon game which is called The Winds of Anthos and will release soon. The Harvest Moon franchise has gone through ups and downs since its initial release on the Super Nintendo, and it continues that trend on modern consoles, highlighting the series' longevity.
Harvest Moon has maintained a dedicated community of fans since 1996 and although it has changed developers on multiple occasions, players can rely on getting a robust farming sim from the games. The Harvest Moon: Rune Factory titles provided some variety to this established formula by adding more activities for players to do and areas full of monsters for them to defeat on top of expanding on the lore of the series. While PS4 players already have access to popular Harvest Moon games like Light of Hope and ports of Save The Homeland and A Wonderful Life, the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S have missed out on the franchise until this freshly announced title.
Like each Harvest Moon title, The Winds of Anthos is expected to have its own features that set it apart from the others, with one key focus allowing farmers to move quickly from one place to another with what's called Expando-Farm. Harvest Moon fans be able to ride around the large world of The Winds of Anthos using a mount, but the travel experience has been streamlined through fast travel, a staple of recent RPGs. Romance has long pervaded Harvest Moon titles, and that's no different with The Winds of Anthos which offers ten potential partners to choose between as some players look to settle down with their favorite characters.
According to Natsume's announcement of Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos, the region in the game had been protected by Harvest Goddess and Harvest Sprites until a volcanic eruption threw the land into turmoil. Fans who pre-order The Winds of Anthos through Amazon or GameStop will be able to acquire a 25th Anniversary Sleepytime Cow Plush which resembles the Harvest Moon cows. Similar to when Harvest Moon: One World was released, The Winds of Anthos will have a limited edition version, with this one including a one-disc Soundtrack, Animal Lapel Pin Set with six to choose from, and the aforementioned cow plush.
Although Natsume Inc. has confirmed Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos with a release window in the near future, the announcement wasn't accompanied by a trailer or gameplay footage which leaves some fans waiting for more. While Harvest Moon games often offer bigger worlds to explore with modern releases than the ones of the past, The Winds of Anthos' focus on easy travel may suggest that it offers one of the largest explorable areas to date.
Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos releases on September 26 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
