Honestly this is perhaps the fastest-paced Harvest Moon title - and yes, I will still call this series Harvest Moon since it's the real Harvest Moon. Naturally it features an incredibly boring overall story and barebones characters that are completely one-note but it's a game meant for and marketed towards kids and all. Where this game shines is its gameplay, where you're capable of expanding your farm and crafting your way up so quickly that I had silver tools before Summer 1 of Year 1. You can become hyper efficient extremely quickly, and it's all thanks to the fantastic new leveling system which gates what you can do based on how often you do those things. Before you know it you'll be maxing out mining and chopping and harvesting, getting all the lovely recipes in the process and speedrunning the game before you even realized you were gunning for a PB.

A story with an interesting gameplay. One of my personal favorites. Highly recommend!

Great game