MOOMIN Welcome to Moominvalley

Written by @Kef Edited by @cheddar Do you love Stardew Valley? Do you love games that focus on farming, managing your land, and building relationships with the townspeople? Do you live farming sims? If so, it’s time to pay respects to the o.g. This month marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the North American release of Harvest Moon, which is considered by most to be the first full farming simulation game. Launching on the Super Nintendo in June 1997 (and the Super Famicom in Japan about a year earlier), Harvest Moon introduced gamers shocking idea that an entire game could be built just around mostly mundane, everyday tasks like taking care of chores, giving gifts to other villagers, and just generally being the best farmer you can. The game’s visuals may have slightly resembled Japanese RPGs like the Final Fantasy series, but the gameplay was entirely without combat, which was extremely rare at the time.