Harvestella Demo: What’s New in the Garden?

Harvestella Demo: What’s New in the Garden?

Autumn is my favourite season. Every time it rolls around I feel the most alive and reflective. During these months, nothing’s better than cozying up with hot cocoa and some chill games, so I was very happy to hear about Harvestella, from Square Enix and Live Wire. (more…)

Character Creators, Fatness, Gender, Body Horror, and Me

Character Creators, Fatness, Gender, Body Horror, and Me

I’ve been uncomfortably conscious of my body since a pretty young age. When it came to food, I was a fussy child, which resulted in me being overweight. In turn, adults would feel like they were entitled to comment on my body. I have a specific memory of eating a Yorkie (a plain chocolate bar, for non-UK readers) and a stranger harassing me on the street about it. My school’s principals once contacted some form of authority, I can’t remember which, about my fussy eating, which in hindsight broke some serious boundaries. The doctors weren’t even concerned, as other than being overweight I had no serious health issues. But everyone else always had problems with my body. (more…)

5 Reasons Rune Factory 5 Should Bring Back Love Rivals

5 Reasons Rune Factory 5 Should Bring Back Love Rivals

Rune Factory is probably the best farming sim you’ve never heard of… mostly because it’s been assumed dead for the almost eight years, since its original developer Neverland filed for bankruptcy. Rune Factory is a fantasy-themed spinoff of Story of Seasons (formerly known in the States as Harvest Moon, which is now a different franchise) that combines farming with dungeon crawling: you split your time between tending your crops, befriending local townsfolk, and then inviting said townsfolk to come kill monsters with you (or taming the monsters so they can tend your crops and you can get back to killing their brethren). The franchise was only recently revived by Marvelous subsidiary Hakama, inc. with the arrival of the remaster Rune Factory 4 Special and the announcement of Rune Factory 5, expected in Japan in May 2021 and sometime in later 2021 for the rest of us.

Details are coming out slowly—a trailer has been released and the love interests announced—but there is one thing I hope to see in the new RF that’s been missing from the last couple of generations: love rivals. Common to older SoS/HM games was a mechanic where each love interest available to the player also had an NPC vying for their virtual affections, known in fandom spaces as “love rivals.” So, in honor of Rune Factory 5’s upcoming release, here’s 5 reasons why love rivals should be a thing again.
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Port This, You Cowards: Game Boy RPGs Not Named Pokémon

Port This, You Cowards: Game Boy RPGs Not Named Pokémon

The nice thing about the games market is how often new things come out. Especially now, it’s easy to find a decent game in your preferred genre on your console of choice. The bad news is, it’s appallingly easy to miss out on good games that just slipped through the cracks or couldn’t compete with the constant “MARIO ZELDA PIKACHU ZOMG” hype. The portable market, with its smaller share of cultural awareness, is especially vulnerable to hype-drownage. So here’s a few things I think got lost in the shuffle that deserve another crack at the gamer market.

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Games For Your Ears: Our Favorite Tabletop Podcasts and Let’s Plays

Games For Your Ears: Our Favorite Tabletop Podcasts and Let’s Plays

At Sidequest, we love games. We love games so much that when we’re not playing games, we’re probably watching or listening to people playing games. But which people? And what games? We’ve rounded up a few of our favorite actual-play tabletop podcasts and tabletop-related let’s plays for your perusal, and please, let us know your favorites in the comments! (more…)