Let's Talk About Wild Season

Harvest Moon is by far my most favorite game series. There's just something about simple farming life on a screen that appeals to me. As the years went by, we developed a love-hate relationship. Sometimes, I would love Harvest Moon games and other times I was like, "dear god why." Later, Natsume split from Marvelous Inc. and kept the Harvest Moon title then created Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley. It was a Minecraft wannabe that did not win over the fanbase and was another, "dear god why" moment. A lot of people turned to Marvelous' Story of Seasons, including me, and it did not disappoint. So, where am I getting at? Ever since Story of Seasons, I'd been looking for my Harvest Moon fill. There had to be something out there similar to Harvest Moon, right? Yes. Yes there was and its name was Wild Season.

I stumbled upon Wild Season by accident on Steam (don't ask me how because I don't remember) and found out it was a Harvest Moon inspired game created by Quickfire Games. I was excited! Hell yes! Wishlisted! For months, I kept a close eye on it waiting for the fully fledged game to be released. I didn't go for the early access version because from other people's comments, it was a buggy mess so I sat patiently and continued checking updates. On November 25, 2015, Quickfire Games released the worst possible news. They decided to make Wild Season episodic. A farming simulator episodic. How does that work? How does that even work? I immediately took it off my wishlist. Backers were highly upset feeling dupped and confused. Unfortunately, the problems didn't stop there. When the first episode was released, backers had not received their Steam key and it took Quickfire Games months to respond. Even after they responded, backers were still complaining about not getting their key. I tried to forget about it because I too felt dupped. All I could say was you were the chosen one. A whole month passes by and I really do forget about it until it pops up in my recommendations, so I let curiosity get the best of me. The first thing I noticed was that the user reviews went from positive to mixed. I scrolled down to see what's wrong. Seems like even after its release, it was still a hot mess. The game has so many bugs, it's unplayable and from what I've read, there's a ton missing from the game. No upgradable tools, animals are useless, buildings are not fully there, and many say the game felt unfinished.

This is why Kickstarter needs to re-work their policy on campaigns. If the company doesn't follow through with a funded project then the backers should be able to get a refund. It's unfair to people who spent 36 bucks on a full game and instead got an unfinished buggy episodic mess. It's a shame because I and many others had such high hopes for this game.