I realize Natsume and Marvelous are different companies, blah blah, controversy and all that, blah blah blah, but I like this game a lot more than I did Pioneers of Olive Town and the A Wonderful Life Remake. It's a pretty solid game done right this time around by Natsume and I have no regrets buying it.

I do have to admit it's slow going at first (for at least the first 2 or so hours) up until you get the barn fixed, so keep on goin' until you finish that up and afterwards you're free to wander around and do what you want when you want as everything opens up for you then. That's when I started to really enjoy the game.

Three things I don't like about it however are:

1. The inability to jump. It just feels weird and unnatural, but after awhile you get used to it.

2. The fact that you cannot jump/walk off ledges/mountainsides. It's a weird choice and makes traveling cumbersome, and again, unnatural. This I still haven't gotten used to and it's annoying because it costs you a lot of extra time having to travel all the way down a hill or up a hill to get to another path when you should have just been able to jump down to begin with.

3. There are no graphic options. I have an ultra wide monitor and there is definitely no wide screen support for this game. And because of that I won't play it on my PC anymore. I use my Steam Deck, and for those of you wondering - it works great with all the default settings. I am on Proton GE 8-16, so I never experienced any crashes after making a character or getting into the game.

I don't really have any other complaints about the game, not even the in-game day time. I see people saying it's only 8 minutes of real world time and they're wrong. It's anywhere from 15-18 minutes depending on what you're doing (if you're in the menus and such, because time does pause when you have your inventory open of if you're talking to someone). I know a lot of other people complain about the character using stamina just to walk, and well, I guess I see their point as it's not very common in games like this, but as long as you're not running it doesn't use stamina fast at all. Even better though. just buy the damn horse for 3,000 coins (which you can make in two days by selling the fish you catch) and never have to worry about it again.

I think my favorite thing about the game is the fast travel, no joke. The map is HUGE and I couldn't imagine having to ride my horse all day to get to another part of the world only to have an hour or so before having to head back to bed. The graphics are also lovely, they remind me of the style used in Pokemon Arceus and also Breath of the Wild. I also like that I don't have to manually switch tools while doing something, it's automatic. Every single game in this genre should continue to stick with this trend because I never want to go back to having to manually choosing which tool to use. It's such a chore and you just don't realize that until you've played a game that switches for you automatically. I just wish they would have made it so you can hold down the A button while chopping trees, mining, etc. instead of having to press it for each axe chop or mine swing.

As far as character interactions go, they are fine in my opinion. Take that with a grain of salt though because conversating or even marrying in games like this has never been a strong focal point for me. There is one weird aspect to the characters though, they don't really seem to have a real-time routine. They mostly stand around in the same spot every day at a certain time (even while it's raining, lol), but that's fine with me, it makes it easier to find them to turn in one of the many fetch quests you will receive from them.

I realize Natsume and Marvelous are different companies, blah blah, controversy and all that, blah blah blah, but I like this game a lot more than I did Pioneers of Olive Town and the A Wonderful Life Remake. It's a pretty solid game done right this time around by Natsume and I have no regrets buying it. I do have to admit it's slow going at first (for at least the first 2 or so hours) up until you get the barn fixed, so keep on goin' until you finish that up and afterwards you're free to wander around and do what you want when you want as everything opens up for you then. That's when I started to really enjoy the game. Three things I don't like about it however are: 1. The inability to jump. It just feels weird and unnatural, but after awhile you get used to it. 2. The fact that you cannot jump/walk off ledges/mountainsides. It's a weird choice and makes traveling cumbersome, and again, unnatural. This I still haven't gotten used to and it's annoying because it costs you a lot of extra time having to travel all the way down a hill or up a hill to get to another path when you should have just been able to jump down to begin with. 3. There are no graphic options. I have an ultra wide monitor and there is definitely no wide screen support for this game. And because of that I won't play it on my PC anymore. I use my Steam Deck, and for those of you wondering - it works great with all the default settings. I am on Proton GE 8-16, so I never experienced any crashes after making a character or getting into the game. I don't really have any other complaints about the game, not even the in-game day time. I see people saying it's only 8 minutes of real world time and they're wrong. It's anywhere from 15-18 minutes depending on what you're doing (if you're in the menus and such, because time does pause when you have your inventory open of if you're talking to someone). I know a lot of other people complain about the character using stamina just to walk, and well, I guess I see their point as it's not very common in games like this, but as long as you're not running it doesn't use stamina fast at all. Even better though. just buy the damn horse for 3,000 coins (which you can make in two days by selling the fish you catch) and never have to worry about it again. I think my favorite thing about the game is the fast travel, no joke. The map is HUGE and I couldn't imagine having to ride my horse all day to get to another part of the world only to have an hour or so before having to head back to bed. The graphics are also lovely, they remind me of the style used in Pokemon Arceus and also Breath of the Wild. I also like that I don't have to manually switch tools while doing something, it's automatic. Every single game in this genre should continue to stick with this trend because I never want to go back to having to manually choosing which tool to use. It's such a chore and you just don't realize that until you've played a game that switches for you automatically. I just wish they would have made it so you can hold down the A button while chopping trees, mining, etc. instead of having to press it for each axe chop or mine swing. As far as character interactions go, they are fine in my opinion. Take that with a grain of salt though because conversating or even marrying in games like this has never been a strong focal point for me. There is one weird aspect to the characters though, they don't really seem to have a real-time routine. They mostly stand around in the same spot every day at a certain time (even while it's raining, lol), but that's fine with me, it makes it easier to find them to turn in one of the many fetch quests you will receive from them.