Monster Harvest vs Verdant Skies
Monster Harvest
Monster Harvest is a very promising game that features a refreshing blend of monster-collecting and farming simulation. In this game, you grow various “pocket monsters” called Planimals at your farm and bring them to the local rec center to test your mettle or the dungeon to gather special materials. You'll get to develop both your farm and your skills as a Planimal trainer.If you love farming sims and collecting Pokemon - or any other types of pocket monsters really, then Monster Harvest is the game for you! The game features the very interesting premise of turning your crops into battle pets, and how you “slime” them will result in different kinds of pets with varying power. There’s even a roguelite dungeon and a gym for you to test your mettle at and, in the case of the dungeon, gather special resources for upgrades.
The sad thing is Monster Harvest is woefully early access and a work-in-progress. The game still has some pretty massive bugs and pending content (such as the empty-feeling “festival”), though none of them are completely game-breaking. In the worst case, you’ll just have to restart the game, though some players have reported corrupted saved games where all their planimals stored in the pen went missing.
Due to this, I’d not recommend getting the game right now. If you’re really interested, try the free demo and wishlist the game to keep an eye on it. Once the bugs are squashed to a more manageable level and some more features and content are added, then you might want to splurge and grab the game.
Verdant Skies
Verdant Skies is an indie farm simulation/RPG combined with a pretty unique art style and visual novel-like dialogue choices. In this game, you play as the latest pioneer who was sent from Earth to a habitable alien planet whose main job is to set up and manage the farms at the colony, but of course, you are often asked to help out other characters with their tasks. You can also interact with the characters to increase your relationship level and eventually unlock new options such as being able to date them and start a family.Verdant Skies also features a straightforward gathering and crafting where every almost every action you take in this game will cost you time and/or energy. There's no need to restore the time you lost, but energy can be easily restored by consuming food. As a game that's very similar to Harvest Moon in essence, the game's farming aspect can be impressively in-depth, allowing you to splice the genes of your crops and your livestock to produce much more superior versions.
Verdant Skies is definitely the sort of game you'd want to check out if you've loved playing games like Harvest Moon, Staxel and even My Time at Portia. The game isn't too expensive either, considering the hours you can get out of it.