Harvest Moon: Skytree Village vs Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands
Harvest Moon: Skytree Village
Harvest Moon: Skytree Village is the latest installment of the popular Harvest Moon game franchise where you get to enjoy some virtual farming in addition to experiencing a fun and exciting adventure. In this game though, you need to help the poor people in Skytree Village to revive their dying land by bringing back the seven legendary Skytrees. Similar to the previous games, you'll get to hop right into creating your ideal farm by terraforming the very land you own and raising a wider variety of animals. Want a break from the backbreaking farm work? You can enjoy a relaxing time in your boat fishing. There are also a whole new cast of characters for you to meet and interact with. Interestingly, you can even woo potential mates, get hitched and start a virtual family of your own.Harvest Moon: Skytree Village has shown how far the game series has evolved from its humble beginnings way back then, and despite the changes made, all of them are done for the better and are well-received by fans of the franchise. If you enjoy farm simulation games with a bit of adventure in them, Harvest Moon: Skytree Village is a great game to play.
Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands
Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands is a farm simulation/adventure game where you’ll not only need to maintain a farm and make sure that your surviving crew’s needs are being met; you’ll also need to set off on mini-expeditions to explore the many mysterious islands within the archipelago and to discover the secrets they hide. Maybe, if you’re lucky, you might end up finding a way off the island after all!The game is really easy to get into, mainly because the game is driven by its story-based quests so by completing these quests, you be able to unlock new areas and even new tools that will allow you access to different parts of the archipelago. However, you’re given complete freedom to explore any of the islands as you wish, though there are certain parts of the island that would be “roped off” until you’ve progressed far enough into the story and have unlocked the necessary tools.
Everything you do in this game requires energy - and yes, this includes walking – and it’s the main “currency” you’ll need to keep an eye on whenever you head out for a bout of exploring or just a resource-gathering run. Due to this energy system, the gameplay here can be quite strategic, forcing you to decide when you’d want to focus on exploring and when you’d want to spend some of the energy you have to gather some resources like fishing and chopping some trees.
Being a farm simulation game, Stranded Sails also has an allocated area within your base camp for you to grow some crops and feed your crew. You can even try your luck by fishing at the ocean, and then use those raw ingredients to whip up some delicious food to fuel your adventures.
So, overall, Stranded Sails is an oddly strategic farm sim/adventure game mainly because of its energy system, and as a result, the game isn’t as casual as some players would have liked. That said, the game has an interesting storyline going for it, and the gameplay, aside from the energy aspect, isn’t too shabby either. It’s definitely a game that fans of Harvest Moon or other similar games would love to play.