Wild Season: Premature publishing

Early Access games, like the shareware titles of the nineties, have become something of a craze amongst indie developers, a means of generating funding for games that would otherwise never see the light of day. While there have been a few releases that have highlighted the potential of the model (most noticeably Minecraft), its very nature means that Early Access titles are flawed and often under-deliver, leaving a sour taste in the mouths of many PC gamers. It’s a preconception that any indie developer choosing to go this route will have to face, but one that Quickfire Games are taking head-on with Wild Season.

A farming simulator, according to the developers Wild Season has been inspired by “the greats within the farming simulation, visual novel, and RPG genres”, meaning that as it stands it’s looking a lot like Harvest Moon. Besides the actual farming, which will require you to repair and expand your plot in addition to the expected manual labour, players will have the chance to interact with townspeople and engage in romance, all the while attempting to “solve the secret of Bedford Valley.”

The game has just been released on Steam as an Early Access title, with Quickfire Games predicting that it will take another five months to reach completion. Early Access releases are notorious for their constant delays however, and should you chose to take the plunge beware that the game is currently listed as early beta, and will undoubtedly come with a host of bugs, some potentially game breaking. Nonetheless Wild Season has generated mostly positive feedback from the community, and if all the planned features make it into the final product there should be plenty to keep gamers entertained.