Doraemon Story of Seasons Review – Dorayaki Dreaming

Doraemon is a classic family manga and anime series. Debuting in 1969, it features a robotic cat from the future sent to the past in the hopes of improving the Nobi lineage’s trajectory. Armed with his fourth dimensional pocket of gadgetry, Doraemon and Nobita Nobi often find themselves having grand and interesting adventures. Most of the time these include his friends Sue, Big G, and Sneech (names used in the English translations). With dozens of movies and a video game heritage tracing back to Famicom, Doraemon Story of Seasons is the latest in a long line of media tie ins for fans to gobble up.

During summer break, Nobi discovers an interesting seed and plants it as part of his summer assignment. The seed grows rapidly, and a sudden storm sweeps Doraemon, Nobi, and the others into another dimension. Doraemon’s gadgets scatter, leaving the kids no choice but to help out the small community that has taken them in. That’s the way it goes in Natura; every child in the town pitches in. His friends find employment at several establishments around town, leaving Nobi to tend to a neglected patch of farmland alone.

Doraemon Story of Seasons Review – Early to Bed, Early to Rise

Doraemon Story of Seasons is not my first foray into the kawaii farming simulator genre. That honor goes to Stardew Valley. Fans of the Harvest Moon series will be right at home here as the game shares the same DNA. Nobi is granted a very large farm with room to expand. A small chicken coop and barn are already erected, meaning you can start raising chicks, sheep, and cattle just as soon as you scrape together enough coin. Once you’ve cleared away the debris, it’s time to get planting.

Basic tools are at your disposal. A hoe to plow, a rusty can to water the plots. The general store has seeds and fertilizer to purchase. Most crops are seasonal, meaning they will wither away once the months change. Fodder and wheat will grow year round. If you’re like me, you’ll soon settle into a bit of a pattern. Plant and/or water crops first thing, check on your animals, maybe chip away at a few more boulders or trees still in your field. After you’ve dealt with the morning tasks the rest of the afternoon is yours. I try to change up what I do every day. Some days I like to fish at the various watering holes. Other days it’s sweating things out in the mines digging up precious ore.

With resources in your storage box and coin in your pocket, I suggest visiting the smithy to upgrade your tools first. But you may decide that a roomier house or silo for feed is at the top of your list. I just finished my first renovation and now I have a kitchen to cook in! Now I need to save up some coin for utensils. Give me a couple more days and there will be delicious smells wafting from my window sill.

Doraemon Story of Seasons Review – Gadgets and Gizmos Aplenty

You can’t have a Doraemon game without gadgets! When the group went tumbling through time, we see some of the most iconic ones tumble from his pouch and scatter. They’ll need to collect all of the missing gadgets if they want to return home. It’s dangerous to leave that sort of future technology behind.

So how does one go about collecting them? Several of them require triggering cutscenes with the villagers. As with any game in this genre, Doraemon Story of Seasons encourages getting to know your neighbors. Gift giving and taking part in community events are a great way to have people open up. You can also complete requests to boost relationships. New scenes will occur as you run into villagers when you’ve hit the required relationship levels or brought a necessary item.

My favorite Doraemon gadget is the Anywhere Door. While I do love traveling on foot, sometimes it’s just easier to take the Door. Like going to the Big Tree Root. I’ve been there a few times but always forget where the hidden path is. Now that I have the Anywhere Door I can zip over there in an instant. It’s also a nice way to head to the mines with as many empty pockets as possible. When I go on foot I inevitably stop to catch bugs or do some fishing.

Other familiar items from his fourth dimensional pocket include the Super Gloves, Pass Loop, and Searching Cane. Let me tell you, that searching cane is great when trying to narrow down exactly where someone is in the Lumberjack Forest or Lake Drench. The Super Gloves are also great to unlock as early on as you can, however I don’t want to tell you why; that’s something you should discover on your own.

Things to note: the game file is relatively small due to very little voiceover work and there is no English dub. Which for me is fine. I’m more of a “sub over dub” kind of lady. Important scenes are voiced over and short clips recycled in other places. With dwindling hard drive space on my external hard drive (and none to speak of internally) I’d rather read the text than waste space on all that voiceover.

All in all, I’d recommend Doraemon Story of Seasons to fans of the series and farming sims alike. Sure, you won’t get to experience marriage like other SOS games, but you do get fancy doodads. There’s plenty to do, lots of ways to spend your coin, and fishing is super easy and relaxing. Just a great way to unwind at the end of a long day.

Doraemon Story of Seasons review code provided by publisher. Version 1.10 reviewed on a standard PlayStation 4. For more information on scoring please see our Review Policy here.