Harvest Moon creator's new concept was too big for just one game, so Birthdays: The Beginning is only the start
Birthdays: The Beginning is a more expansive sandbox from the creator of Harvest Moon.
Harvest Moon and Hometown Story creator Yasuhiro Wada is back with a new game - in fact, a new game series.
As Wada explains in the video above, Birthdays: The Beginning is the first entry in the series, which will hopefully continue, allowing him to add in all the elements which were too big for just one game. There's a limited edition available for PS4 on the NIS America Store, if you're keen.
Releasing on PC and PS4 on May 9, Birthdays: The Beginning allows players to build blocky worlds that then spontaneously produce lifeforms. The ecosystems that result are shaped by player changes to geography and temperature, as well as item use, as you nurture your lifeforms from single-celled organisms through plants, mammals, dinosaurs "and more".
Environments range from forests to islands to mountains and beyond, and NIS America says no two worlds will ever be totally alike. Players can explore their worlds in micro mode, tracking down and documenting new species as they arise. It sounds a little bit like Populous meets No Man's Sky.
There's more to it than that, though. The next episode in this video series will go into detail on what comes after the creation stage.