Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Reviews
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town continues the same charming cutesy aesthetic as its predecessors, although at times feels discombobulated in organisation. A decent enough farming management addition to the genre, the game features a depth of gameplay but is light on narrative. Prepare and expect to be in it for the long haul if you want to see any real results from your hard work.
Anyone who has played a Story of Seasons or Harvest Moon game will feel right at home with Pioneers of Olive Town. It doesn’t break any new ground for the series, and is perhaps a bit too slow paced for its own good, but it proves that the series’ core loop is still engaging and addicting even after so many years. If you have an itch for a charming game that will take you back to a simpler time, it’s definitely worth your time.
Ultimately, Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is exactly what you would expect from the beloved staple. The farming sim makes some bold leaps with its crafting system, but there is nothing groundbreaking in its formula. You can expect the same charming and wholesome aesthetic from this game much like all those that came before it. And even so, this routine will keep fans of the franchise coming back for more.
The implementation of “makers” and poor optimization may hinder Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town but it still remains a solid entry in a franchise that is still going strong 25 years later.
My fondest memory with my PlayStation 2 is buying games with my pocket money from Bromley Shopping Centre, whenever I went to visit my late grandparents in London. On one of those occasions, the game in question was Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. I read the manual (I really wish games still had those!) front to back while I visited since I had to wait to get home until I could play.
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is a bit far from reaching its fullness as the protagonist of a genre, but it is on the right path. In technical terms, its greatest merit is in the gameplay, especially due to the crafting elements, although it still suffered too much in the setting, narrative and game atmosphere.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Personally, I found the game to be an okay experience. It wasn’t by any means bad, I enjoyed my time playing Pioneers of Olive Town. Which reminds me, I should mention that the game has a ton of content. It took me about 50 hours just to get through year 1 and see the credits resulting from completing the main goal of the game, attracting tourists to Olive Town. I also want to state that, for as much inconvenience was added this time around, there is also a lot of convenience added in, particularly when it comes to taking care of your farm animals. And that reminds me, XSEED has stated that they have various fixes planned for the game (aside from fixing freezing problems), including making the loading screens less annoying and somehow improving the maker system. We don’t know at this time more specifically what they’re going to do, or how much better the game will be when they’re done. In the end, it was still merely an okay experience, like I said. I had fun and I enjoyed myself, but it’s far from my favorite Bokujō Monogatari game and not the best Marvelous could’ve put out for the 25th anniversary. However, if you’re a huge farming sim fan, or you simply appreciate the care XSEED always puts into their physical releases like I do, then you might want to consider picking this one up.
A good game for tourists in the Story of Seasons franchise, although not the great place to live longtime fans would like.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is an ambitious game that suffers from some technical shortcomings but has no shortage of content.
"Industrial revolution is close."
Review in Finnish | Read full review
It is a game that emphasizes getting rewarded for labor, but it lacks optimization. Interacting with attractive town dwellers offers a variety of interesting stories, but the ordinary production is a bit disappointing. Nevertheless, it contains the core and charm of the "STORY OF SEASONS" series.
Review in Korean | Read full review
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town – Switch Review Overall though, Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is a great addition to the series and will easily appeal to longtime fans as well as newcomers. With plenty of options of how you want to go about your days, you’ll easily see the real world clock jump hours ahead of the last time you saw it and even debate playing for “one more day” before calling your own day quits to get some sleep for your own next morning. ----- Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Review (PS4) Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is a fantastic experience. Whether you are looking for something to casually hold your attention in a soft roll of days forward or have grander ambitions in mind with wanting to grow all of the crops or raise all of the adorable livestock and be outstanding in your field, this is for you. Score: 9 / 10
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town has potential, some good ideas and a certain unfulfilled ambition hidden behind some layers of performance problems and strange game design choices. The game is fun enough as a farm simulator and will likely please fans enough, but certain issues are glaring and hinder the fun. Story of Seasons became more daring, but at the same time it forgot some basic elements. If you are very curious, at least wait for the updates, which will certainly improve the experience as a whole.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Pioneers of Olive Town is a good game, but it is hard to recommend when Stardew Valley continues to dominate the farming sim genre.
Fun addictive timeless gameplay married with grind and bugs. Much like seasons you take the good with the bad
Story of Seasons: Pionners of Olive Town is a nice game with rough edges. It's well tailored for younger players or gamers new to the genre.
Review in German | Read full review
With promises from the game’s producer to support the game by patching more issues and DLC releases being staggered throughout the year, Pioneers of Olive Town will become a bountiful entry in the series. For now, despite its flaws, it’ll woo a sizeable portion of the series’ fanbase and hopefully blossom into a polished game before these farmers move to greener pastures.
There’s some good here. There’s some bad here. There are a few odd choices that don’t quite lend themselves well to the overall experience. If you don’t care about getting access to everything you can so you can become a mogul the experience is great. For me, I like options. I like being able to find that one niche for goods I thrive in and making it my focus.
An innocence that glows throughout the onset, and charm that cannot be overstated. Story of Seasons’ legacy continues to grow through its muddied Harvest Moon bedrock, right to foundations that deliver a contrast and loop that’s sorely underrated.
If you like peaceful, low-stakes simulation gameplay and have a few months to spare, consider relocating to Olive Town.