Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Reviews
A Wonderful Life is the first that's properly forced me to settle down and I've found its focus on slowly and carefully tending my farm isn't defunct; it's a different strain of sim that deserves to bloom again after being left fallow for so many seasons.
Ultimately, however, this latest entry in the franchise is simply not exceptional. It’s easy to get sunk in and lose huge chunks of time tending crops and animals or befriending villagers. But, overall, Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is a steady middle-of-the-road offering with nothing to recommend over anything else currently available in the genre. Almost every aspect of the game is good but not great.
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is an admirably updated remake, but those improvements can only do so much when the heart of it feels as dated as it does.
Improving old features, alongside introducing new ones, results in a delightful reimagining of a classic farming simulator.
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life remains one of the best that the series has to offer, managing to preserve what made it so special in the first place with its unique emphasis on an aging town and cast of characters, while also raising the bar with new content and improvements. While more recent titles in the series tend to offer distractions in the way of more mechanics and options, A Wonderful Life is a return to form that focuses more on the life sim and farming aspects that fans fell in love with all those years ago.
This meter is somewhat emblematic of my overall experience of this game. Ideas that were once novel are outdated or uninteresting by today’s standards. While Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is a welcome update to a classic farm sim, stripping away nostalgic fondness leaves you with an experience that feels lacking in the genre's modern landscape.
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful life is an adequate remake, but its lack of modern trimmings makes for a game even former fans might find empty and antiquated.
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life retains the charm and the pleasant tedium of the original while bringing enough features up-to-date that it's not a total chore to play. Fans of later farming/life-sims might find it too slow and too dull, but we encourage you to embrace the slow-and-dullness to find a surprisingly fulfilling and earnest game underneath. After all, this game is the granddaddy of Stardew Valley, and it's not too hard to see the family resemblance.Just, uh, use a guide. Trust us.
However, if you’re more used to modern farming sims and want one that will give you more to do on a daily basis, AWL might be too simplistic for you. There’s just not a lot happening in Forgotten Valley. Regardless of your preference, the in-game marriage being pushed within the very first chapter felt way too rushed and forced. If you were hoping to have fun, interesting characters to spend your in-game life with, you’ll again likely be disappointed.
There's nothing particularly bad about Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, but compared to modern farming games it's just a bit dull.
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is a remarkable experience. It takes the classic farming formula and gives it a purpose beyond just seeing how many S-ranked tomatoes you can grow. With its focus on family, legacy, and living a good life, this is a farming sim where what you do away from the fields is as important as what you do when you’re tilling that land. It’s a game that encourages a healthy work-life balance, and there is no better lesson we need in our modern era than that.
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is right to update the 2003 classic to the present day. It is not the most complete of the saga, and inherits errors, but Marvelous knows how to transmit nostalgia in this remake, as special and charming as usual. A new life awaits you in the Forgotten Valley.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
All things considered there are some really great aspects of this game that make it a fun play. I highly recommend STORY OF SEASONS: A Wonderful Life for both beginners and experienced farming RPGs as it is its own unique experience. It is a little slower-paced than others like it, but this may make it a less overwhelming experience.
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life manages to toe the line between the core features that made the original great while adding and improving upon aspects that needed a little love. If all the systems had been completely modernized, it wouldn't maintain the charm that made the game so beloved in the first place. The differences between Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life and most other modern farming games will likely be somewhat jarring and divisive among players, but it's a unique journey unlike any other, and one worth going on for veterans of the genre especially.
Being my favourite entry in the STORY OF SEASONS series, A Wonderful Life is a wonderful game. If you are new to the STORY OF SEASONS series, A Wonderful Life is an excellent place to start. Having previous knowledge of how the game works can be an advantage but there isn’t anything you can’t learn. All you need to do is work hard and make the most out of every day – but most importantly, have fun while doing so. And if you’re like me, you’ll fall in love with everything the game has to offer and find the Forgotten Valley is truly an unforgettable place.
Hardcore fans of the original game may find some fun here, but those who have played more comprehensive farming sims from recent years, like Stardew, don’t expect it to keep your attention for too long.
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is a journey that teaches us many important things about life through a simulator, it is an experience that you must try for what it offers and enjoy it as if it were the last time. We fall short on words about everything the game offers, but at least you'll get a great impression of it.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Marvelous Inc. recreated a great remake of the 20-year-old Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life. While there are some things that make it feel outdated, there are also plenty of quality-of-life changes that make this a worthwhile farming game.
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is still unique in what it offers to the farming sim sub-genre: it's a slice of life, but you live the whole life. It's a shining example of worthwhile risky choices, and how genre-defining features only come through experimentation over imitation.
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life does lose some of the original's soul in this remake, but it gains some incredible convenience and quality of life updates to make it much more enjoyable for a modern audience. Returning to the Forgotten Valley is a nostalgic experience for veterans, and newcomers will discover why the original game is a classic.