I don't know much about musical theory, nor am I a musically inclined person. However, I do love to listen to video game soundtracks. They can be a powerful listening experiences in their own right, or be as evocative as the scores composed for film. Each of these posts will feature a sampling of music tracks from a single game title, or series/franchise in some rare cases. A complete list of these can be found on the Video Game Music page.
Composer: Miwako Chinone
North American Release Date: February 2025
A guild of Hunters is surveying an area thought to be uninhabited when they discover a boy lost in the wastelands. The boy was separated from his people when a monster known only as the "White Wraith" attacked the village. This event prompts the Hunter's Guild to launch an investigation into the region.
The Nature Of A Beautiful World | (Main Theme)
The Lord of Ice | (Jin Dahaad Theme)
Earth-Piercing Bolt | (Rey Dau Theme)
Ebon Hellfire | (Nu Udra Theme)
Crested Torrent | (Uth Duna Theme)
Radiant Cry of Life | (Guardian Arkveld Theme)
"The world is vast. Detours are among people's finest prerogatives. Losing one’s way can be a wonderful thing." - Rove
Harvestella is a visual novel-RPG hybrid with strong thematic influences from Nier: Automata and a tiny bit of the farming sim genre mixed in. The storyline isn't terribly complex, but is an odd mix of fantasy, science, and religion whose logic can be hard to follow, particularly near the end when several plot threads come together. Adding to the confusion is inconsistent wording, such as referring to the planets archaically as stars and at other times just as planets.
For those interested in how strange the lore can get and don't mind spoilers, here is a summary of the plot, or at least the best I could make of it:
AI (called Seth or Omens) were entrusted with the salvation of the dying human race (because humans couldn't figure out how to save themselves or something). All the humans were put into hibernation aboard a space-station while the AI abandoned Earth (called Lost Gaia in-game) to focus on terraforming the moon (called ReGaia) using four Seaslight (giant crystals). In addition to the AI, the humans also created blond-haired little girls to act as "operating systems" for dragons (some kind of super-weapon) and the planet itself (which may have its own DNA, soul, and memories or something). The girl-system in charge of the planet discovered the internet and came to the conclusion that humans wanted to destroy themselves (despite humans creating AI to do the exact opposite). So she created the original Seaslight (called Red Queen) to emit "Gaia Dust" or "Quietus" that is toxic to anyone who inhales it, similar to the effects of real-life Lunar dust. She also ripped a scientist's (Aria) soul from her body - to stop her research or something - and held onto it for 2,000+ years before releasing it (somehow with a physical body) onto the moon via the four Seaslight
off-shoots/clones created by the AI.
Meanwhile the moon, with its own girl-system or soul(?), created imitation humans (called Abels) to confuse the AI. She also created the player character by copying or transferring their real-human (called Cains) consciousness or soul from the space-station into an Abel body (where the body came from is never explained) to combat the dust. Fantasy creatures such as faeries, unicorns and sirens were created by the planets and AI for various reasons unrelated to the main plotline.
The game was a bit light on the farming aspects - you have a predefined field and barns with only 2 types of livestock, but I loved the innovations it brought to the genre. More farming sims need a watering mechanic like Harvestella's. Most of the food produced on the farm isn't sold for cash, but converted to dishes/drinks that replenish health and stamina in battle. I was initially surprised by how fast the days moved, but in typical farm sim fashion, the player can take as many days or years to complete objectives as they need. Sprinklers, an upgradable steed and eventually an airship make daily tasks go faster, freeing up more of the day as well.
The daily gameplay loop of farm work, socializing and questing was addictive, but I was disappointed by how disjointed the party members felt because they never interacted with each other. There is a food/rest/chat mechanic in the dungeons that may have solved this, but I forgot it existed. I also thought for sure that Ein's (the protagonist) immunity to the Quietus would factor into the story somehow eventually, but it never does. Instead Aria is the real main character and Ein is just there to support her. In fact, Ein came across as more of a therapist for the group during their personal stories, and in the case of Brakka, as a pest butting into business they had no good reason to be getting involved in. The personal stories for your companions are generally very good. Some are a bit on the nose, like Istina's "shadow of the past" being a literal shadow person, while others were concerning, such as Shrika subjecting an innocent man to religious persecution. But I can look beyond the blemishes to see what the writers wanted to communicate, which are mostly very positive messages.
In 1274 a Mongol fleet led by Khotun Khan invades the Japanese island of Tsushima. Lord Shimura and his nephew Jin Sakai, lead five noble clans against the invaders, but all fall to the Mongols superior weaponry. Shimura is taken captive, and Jin is rescued by the thief Yuna, who teaches him her ways. To save Tsushima, Jin must choose between following the samurai code to fight honorably, leading to countless deaths, or by using practical but dishonorable methods that will minimize the casualties.
The narrative is a straightforward tale that is fairly compelling, but not terribly deep. I'd be hard pressed to recall the names of any of the main cast. Too often it falls into the trap of having someone die in almost every mission - whether it makes sense or not, so you just start expecting it and emotionally distancing yourself from the characters. This made 'shock events' like the deaths of Taka and the horse fall flat. The story does a fairly good job though, of touching on morality in war and the challenges of adapting to a changing world or stubbornly clinging to tradition. The Shogun are shown as acting to preserve the aristocracy of the Samurai over defending Japan in a manner not dissimilar to how the Khan rewards obedience and punishes defiance. On the other hand, the methods used by Jin and the Mongols can be ruthless and without limits. The ending in particular was a standout moment for me, encapsulating many of the themes and challenges faced by Jin over the course of his journey: He has to battle his uncle Shimura and either kill or spare him. Sparing could be seen as Jin demonstrating how finding one's own code can save lives, and lines up with how Jin protected the lives of his people and his family by defying tradition. Alternatively, Jin killing his uncle for an honor code that has stripped him of his home and family legacy could be seen as Jin remembering where he came from, as a warriors death would spare Shimura from grief and the disapproval of his peers, who seem to view him increasingly as a failure. In this way, Jin makes another sacrifice to protect those he cares about. There are just so many ways to interpret the motives behind each ending and it is refreshing to have a story conclude with no definitive 'right' or 'best' outcome; just two equally valid options.
The environmental design and art direction for Ghost of Tsushima is so breathtaking that a lot of the game's flaws, particularly at launch, seem to have been ignored. It makes for an interesting case study in how much aesthetics can elevate an otherwise average game. It isn't even that detailed, just very visually pleasing. Cloth and metal for example are ultra realistic, while skin and plant-life are almost textureless by comparison. Not really a complaint, just an observation.
In combat Jin uses different "stances" against different enemy types: stone (swordsmen), water (shields), wind (spearmen), and moon (brutes). After killing so many enemies without taking damage or by slaying a Mongol leader, Jin can activate a special "ghost" ability that makes him invincible for a set amount of time. Using stealth, the player can evade enemies or eliminate them silently with Jin's tanto. During the late game, a blowgun is unlocked that allows the player to shoot darts that cause confusion and hallucinations in the target.
Ghost of Tsushima had the most bloated open world I have experienced in the last few years with roughly 90% of the map being populated with the same copy/paste activities: shrines, fox dens, bamboo strikes, and haikus (my favorite). Mongolians are the only dynamic world encounter and buildings have the same interiors. There are only a handful of resources to collect and animal species to encounter in the wilderness as well.
I have read that Ghost of Tsushima is best when you ignore everything but the main questline, due to how much of the side content repeats. I didn't do this and greatly regret it. If the development team didn't have the time or resources to make a proper open world with meaningful side content then they should have just made it a linear experience or leaned into a minimalist 'Shadow of the Colossus' type of approach to world exploration.
I seem to be in the minority on this, but I hated the wind mechanic which functions as a sort of quest marker. It is suppose to make the world feel more immersive, but I could never determine where the wind was pointing me. I would've preferred the option to toggle on or off traditional quest markers.
Conclusion:
The game is perfectly fine for what it is. I think I may just be jaded and worn out on open-world games with thin content. The saying, "I'd rather feel something than nothing at all" applies here. Outside of the pretty visuals there just wasn't anything meaty to satisfy or surprise me. A year later I can remember the beautiful landscapes and the amazing ending, but I can't recall any of the characters names or most of Jin's journey.
The focus of this 'cozy' ranching game is more about dinosaur collecting than farming, which is done primarily to earn money. To tame a dinosaur the player needs to lure it near by playing its 'Friend Song' - a series of colored bubbles. Not only does the order of the colors need to be right but the 'loudness' of each note as well. The player then needs to move the needle on a 'Friend meter' into the green zone by feeding and soothing. Too far in either direction and the tame will fail. Once in the green, the player then needs to feed the preferred Poppin (cake) type or the tame will fail. Even feeding the correct Poppin will not always result in an immediate tame, so the process may need to be repeated several times. I imagine children may struggle with this system.
Every animal has two skills: wild (Sprinter, Slasher, Discoverer, Smasher, Stomper) and farm (Waterer, Tiller, Clearer, Harvester, Tender) - that will assist with different elements of gameplay. The Wild variety are useful when you venture out from your ranch and the Farm ones will assist with planting duties.
You have to feed and interact with your dino's everyday to keep their friendship level up or they'll run away.
The farming is a bit of a frustrating enterprise because of how finicky the movement can be along with placement that makes it hard to hit the correct tiles or pull up a fence post. When ploughing with a dinosaur like styracosaurus, there will often be a missed square or two that I would have to go back in and fix by hand. Dinosaurs also spray water in an erratic pattern that makes it hard to tend to crops without multiple passes. On a positive note, this is the only farming sim that I have seen implement a convincing crop rotation mechanic by having each crop prefer a different soil type - soft, sticky or firm, and when harvested leaves behind a soil type different from the one they were planted in. It is a beautifully simple system.
There are repeating quests you can complete, although they are all the same "fetch X item - material -food" type filler. By doing enough of these your bond with NPCs will increase, opening up unique character requests and main storyline missions. Sadly, the NPCs are merchants first, people second. That is, the social elements are almost nonexistent.
Conclusion:
I was really looking forward to this one; unfortunately first impressions are important and this one launched well before it was ready. There are also a host of little annoyances such as there being no hotbar or item wheel, so you have to click through multiple
menus to build or interact with anything.
With patches installed the bugs continued to be a detriment to gameplay and I inevitably lost interest. Only time will tell if it gets properly fixed in the future. Even ignoring the technical issues, there is the fundamental problem that if you took the dinosaurs out of the game there would nothing left worth engaging with.
There is a story to this game but it is murky. From what I could gather:
Space people wielding cannabis-powered guns, travel to a desert planet where they are worshiped as gods by the native people for introducing cannabis to the planet. At some point everyone has to evacuate to Earth because sand worms have become too much of a problem. The protagonist may be a native that rediscovered the portal, or they may be a time traveling space-person. It's unclear.
Gameplay:
The player starts out as a marathon runner caught in a sandstorm (likley inspired by Mauro Prosperi). They take shelter in an old building and emerge to an alien desert with Earth animals. It's an odd mix of survival game and walking simulator that tries to imitate the feeling of being stranded in the desert by having nothing but sand all the way to the horizon. Landmarks are rare. There is no compass. The only save points are the ones the player crafts themselves, and the map is a blank sheet of paper you have to draw out yourself. Travel from one location to the next can take minutes to hours, but the player character or their mount can be set to auto-run, making it possible to look around, manage hunger/thirst, and craft basic items while covering ground; and the absence of points-of-interest or objectives to complete removes the worry of missing something important.
Referencing the map while relying on my memory and the scant few landmarks, often obscured by tall dunes or sandstorms, to navigate the world made exploring the barren landscape strangely rewarding. It was also punishing. Without a save-point bed, there is no way to record progress, making it easy to loose hours (real-world time) of travel because of heat, animal attack, a misstep, or game crashes. The UI and controls are awkward and difficult to learn because the tutorial tells you what to do but not how to do it. After a few hours of fiddling I had most of it worked out, but simple quality of life improvements like a tool-tip or icon showing what button to press for various actions would go a long way.
I had a good bit of fun with this odd indie game until I reached the final oasis and boss area. This is where Starsand transitions from a decent open-world survival game to a terrible linear platformer. The whole final area is a confusing mess of corridors with poorly defined pathways that force the player to make long jumps across chasms that deal enough damage upon landing to insta-kill, and to crawl through maze-like tunnels with insta-death potholes. To complete the game, you will need to backtrack to the starting location in order to gather the resources required to fight the final boss. But this whole final area seems to be designed only for the player to go further into the endgame zone instead of out. When I first got to this area I genuinely thought it was impossible to get back out; I had to turn to an online guide for help. I died over 20 times and had about 7 game crashes while trying to find my way out, and almost gave up. According to the trophies/achievements only 2% of players owning the game have actually beaten the final boss and left through the portal.
Conclusion:
Starsand strikes me as very niche. There just aren't many survival games quite like it and despite it's nightmare of an endgame zone, I ended up loving the first half. I honestly wish the game was longer and had more content because it left me wanting more. If I ever replay it, and I often get the longing for a similar experience, I'll probably just stay in the desert.
