"Times have changed in the land known as the Oasis of the Harvest Goddess. Many people used to live in Skytree Village, and the land was lush and green. However, the power of the Harvest Goddess gradually began to wane, and the land became parched and dry. With a completely new story, players will be challenged to restore the seven legendary Skytrees that make the town so iconic and bring power and prosperity to the land around them. Along the way, they'll meet a new cast of characters (with a few returning familiar faces!), alongside a brand new art style, new character models, and more. With user-friendly tutorials, players will immediately be able to jump into the thick of things, customizing their farm by raising and lowering the land, creating rivers, ponds, and more. Upgraded tools will assist farmers in shaping the land more efficiently, and afterwards they can kick back and relax in their boat to do a spot of fishing! It won't be long before they'll need to weigh anchor to care for their newest herd animal: the Poitou donkey!"
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Not terrible, but don't let it be your first.
This game was my second Harvest Moon-adjacent experience, after Hometown Story (I know, back-to-back homeruns here) and though I dropped Hometown Story after a bit, I got really into this one. Something I really appreciate about Skytree Village is that it has something of a plot. Most of the actual Story of Seasons games don't have one, and I was disappointed when I found this out, because even if the narrative itself is nothing special, I think it adds an extra level of engagement to the game as a whole and more of a reason to interact with the game's farming elements, some specific crops being required to progress.
Speaking of the farming, I also really enjoyed the farming aspect of this game. The hybrid crops were a fun feature (I'm not sure if the Story of Seasons games have hybrid crops? If they do, they're much more tucked away than they are here) and so was the terraforming, as even if it was obviously lifted directly from Minecraft, it still adds a fun level of customization to your farm.
Tying in with the plot, I thought the cast in this one was pretty fun too. I don't have a lot to say on them, since I played this game years ago so my memory is a bit hazy, but like I said in my Rune Factory 4 review, I rarely ever actually engage with the full cast of a farming sim, so when a game is an exception to that rule, it gains extra marks in my book.
So yeah, even if this is part of Nastume's cash-grab Harvest Moon-imitation series, I actually think it's one of the better games to carry the name? Maybe that's farming sim sacrilege, but this one will always hold a fond place in my heart.