I have fond and terrible memories of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. Every night for what felt like a month, I dedicated hours at a time to push through it.
You live year after year through the changing seasons while performing largely the same chores over and over. You wake up, feed your animals, water your plants, go mining, fish a bit and go to bed. I had no idea when the game would end, but it was clear it had to eventually. This is not Animal Crossing, where your town and character exist forever mostly unchanged. Annually, the village evolves slightly and characters age.
Most of the dialog and routines of the townspeople are identical day-to-day. Even the seasonal shifts become like clockwork. Occasionally an event or character will come into town, but it’s a rare treat.
As time passes, the community changes bit by bit. The usual ramblings of townspeople alter slightly, couples are formed and individuals move away. More importantly, new character are born while the old die. In the moment, it doesn’t feel like much is happening. But when I was at the end of the journey, I realized it all adds up.
In terms of making life into a video game, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life is a surprisingly successful representation of what of most of us go through. We see everything slightly shift around us as we perform the same tasks each week, month and year. Then, we die; leaving many of life’s stories incomplete.
It’s impressive, but it doesn’t make for a very fun video game.
