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In 2018, Natsume released “Harvest Moon: Light of Hope” for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. The Harvest Moon series has seen many entries, some of them filled with great gameplay and updates, others more on the boring side. Harvest Moon: Light of Hope brought the popular farming simulator on the Switch which is the version I’ll be reviewing today. Do the crops see the light of day in this Harvest Moon Light of Hope review?
Harvest Moon Light of Hope Plot:
Here’s the official description of the plot to Harvest Moon Light of Hope:
“Looking for a fresh start and some new surroundings, you set off on a voyage to begin your new life! Unfortunately, the weather has different plans, as your ship is hit by a monsoon, and goes down! You drift into a small harbor town, now in a shambles from the storm, where a young doctor named Jeanne saves your life. The town has essentially been deserted, but you’re never one to back down from a challenge! It will be up to you 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, you will be able to make new friends, start a family, revive the lighthouse, and save the town, your new home!”
Harvest Moon Light of Hope Review
Wow, Harvest Moon sure has ramped up what you can do in the game! My wife has beat Harvest Moon: SNES, Harvest Moon GBC 1, 2, and 3. She hasn’t played any of the other Harvest Moon games but I bought her this game for Christmas and I could tell right from the start she was in love.
Like other Harvest Moon games the goal is to grow crops, make a profit, and complete various tasks given to you by characters throughout the town. Let’s take a look at the crops my wife grew in this Harvest Moon Light of Hope review. It’s a long list!
- Cabbage
- Red Cabbage
- Huge Cabbage
- Green Cabbage
- Dome Cabbage
- Celery
- White Celery
- Mystic Herb
- Royal Herb
- Onion
- Scallion
- Petite Onion
- Red Onion
- Pearl Onion
- Strawberry
- Tomato
- San Marzano
- Corn
- Fodder Corn
- Sweet Corn
- Green Pepper
- Orange Pepper
- Wheat
- Durum Wheat
- Hot Pepper
- Habanero
- Potato
- Giant Potato
- Carrot
- Baby Carrot
- Brown Carrot
- Pumpkin
- Zucchini
- Squash
- Spinach
- Savoy Spinach
- Broccoli
- Broccolini
- Blueberry
- Watermelon
- Asparagus
- Grapefruit
- Peach
- Apple
- Orange
- Marguerite
- Tulip
- White Tulip
- Yellow Tulip
- Pink Rose
- Sunflower
- Pink Dahlia
- White Dahlia
- Yellow Dahlia
- Red Rose
- Cosmos
- Sunny Red
- Carnation
- Pink Carnation
- White Rose
- Pink Pansy
- Yellow Pansy
- Purple Pansy
- Viola
- Blue Rose
WOW, that’s a ton of crops and plants that you can grow! That doesn’t even include the mutation list which happens when you plant seeds in various terrains under certain circumstances.
You’ll be able to make money with animals too including cows, sheep, chickens, donkeys, horses, and your pet which my wife always picks the dog and names it Tiko.
Compared to the other Harvest Moon games, Light of Hope is very realistic with what you need to farm. My wife even made fertilizer to help grow her crops during the Harvest Moon Light of Hope review!
If you aren’t hoeing around on the farm (my wife is great at hoeing) then you are probably filling orders for civilians on the island. These orders range from giving certain ingredients, catching a type of fish, materials like wool or ore, and recipes for food. These requests are almost never-ending as they keep coming each day. You’ll see how many you’ve filled with the stat menu but my wife probably filled over 500 requests and she was only around 65 percent done with the requests during the Harvest Moon Light of Hope review. There are fun mini-games like dog races, fishing contests, and cooking competitions.
This isn’t required but like almost every Harvest Moon game you have the option to get married. My wife always chooses to be a boy when she plays so let’s take a look at the eligible bachelorettes in the game.
Elise, Harvest Goddess, Jeanne, Melanie, Michelle, Nova, Soleil, Tabitha.
My wife ended up marrying Elise during the Harvest Moon Light of Hope review who worked at a restaurant but she never cooked my wife dinner or helped on the farm! Once Elise gave birth to the child (my wife named him Harper) Elise slept in a lot and let Harper crawl around the house unsupervised!
There were a lot of positives from our Harvest Moon Light of Hope review. My wife really enjoyed building the town up again and reopening the businesses for the owners. She couldn’t grow anything until she repaired the shops. The daily requests broke up the monotony of the daily grind of growing crops and rewarded her with bonuses like crops she didn’t have or new recipes to use when she cooked. The competitions were monthly and she liked that the events were more often instead of annual like in other Harvest Moon games. Recipes were new to my wife and she liked cooking food at night to restore her stamina. Other small bonuses included chocolate milk from brown cows and cotton candy from pink sheep.
One thing she didn’t care for during the Harvest Moon Light of Hope review was that she felt getting married was pointless. It was fun to get girls to fall in love but the wife doesn’t do anything once marriage happens (Hey that sounds like my wife in real life! Just kidding, cutie). She doesn’t help out on the farm or with the kids, she just stands there. Toward the end of the game, my wife discovered that some of the requests were repeats which simmered her enthusiasm for filling them.
Memories:
My wife put in 140 hours into her Harvest Moon Light of Hope review. She fondly remembers the mines which were in a sense another bonus game of reaching lower levels of the mine to pick up ores and turn them into gems. It was a quick way to make money. She loved discovering the mutations of crops and didn’t always believe me when I said you could grow cannonballs!
Harvest Moon Light of Hope Review
I’ve never seen my wife play a video game as much as she did Harvest Moon Light of Hope. She was simply addicted and told me she thought about it while at work. The massive list of crops to grow, daily requests, friendly characters, and better plot points make Harvest Moon Light of Hope the king of Harvest Moon games.
Harvest Moon: Light of Hope scores a 9.3 out of 10.
What would you write in your Harvest Moon Light of Hope review? Do you remember when Harvest Moon: Light of Hope first came out? Did you play as a boy or girl and who did you marry? What crops were your favorite to grow? What did you think of the request system and the mines? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!
Tiger Chainsaw 