Just in time for the 20th anniversary of the Harvest Moon series, Natsume today have announced a brand new entree to the Harvest Moon series -- Harvest Moon: Light of Hope. The new game promises to encompass twenty years of what has made Harvest Moon great and will be releasing for PlayStation 4, and for the first time ever on Nintendo Switch and PC through Steam.

Released originally in Japan in August of 1996 and in North America in June of 1997, Harvest Moon for the SNES.

Players will begin the game after their ship is hit by a monsoon and is ship wrecked where  you'll awake on the shore of a small harbour town in complete ruin from the storm. You, as the player, will be able to help rebuild the town by doing what you do best in Harvest Moon! Growing and harvesting crops, tending livestock, gathering materials to help repair stuff, make friends, start a family, and in the end save the town.

Hiro Maekawa, President and CEO of Natsume had this to say regarding the new game announcement:

"Harvest Moon: Light of Hope will set itself apart from other Harvest Moon titles with its depth, including a robust story and clear-cut goals. We set out to create a SNES-style nostalgic game with deep and meaningful characters and events, and we are excited to have our fans play it at E3 and tell us what they think!"

Light of Hope will also be playable at this year's E3 in the South Hall, Booth 2047 in June.

As part of the 20th anniversary celebration, Natsume also announced re-releases of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life Special Edition and Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland for the PlayStation 4 and Harvest Moon 64 for the Nintendo WiiU. Harvest Moon Lil' Farmers was also announced from Rising Star Games, in cooperation with Natsume as their first ever game for smart devices.

Will you be checking out Harvest Moon: Light of Hope or Lil' Farmers? Let us know in the comments and for everything Harvest Moon related, stay tuned to GameSkinny!

Deadly Premonition, the flawed but amusing quirky cult classic from Japanese developer Swery, has been re-imagined as a 2-4 player board game on Kickstarter. Not only has it been fully funded, but it has reached over double its funding target in less than a week, and is still going strong.

At time of writing, the game has been on Kickstarter for less than seven days, and has amassed over $113,000 -- far surpassing its initial goal of $50,000. The game also apparently reached its target goal in only 8 hours. 

Deadly Premonition: The Board Game seeks to translate the intrigue and detective skills portrayed in the original Deadly Premonition into a strategy card game of sorts. You must apply the appropriate strategy in order to discover the accomplice to the killer of Anna Graham.

In the words of the game's creators from the Kickstarter page:

"You have each been assigned a line-up of six townsfolk to investigate. Your suspects begin in the “incriminated” row until you provide evidence that they should be presumed innocent. Once all your suspects have been cleared of guilt and you have proven yourself to be a trusted detective, you can begin to go on the offence to identify which player is the hidden killer by extracting information from incriminated suspects on their board. Correctly identifying an accomplice of the hidden killer wins you the game!"

These mechanics explained within the Kickstarter paint Deadly Premonition: The Board Game as a murder-mystery that plays somewhat like a cross between Guess Who? and Secret Hitler.  

You can watch the extended campaign video for the board game in the video above in order to learn a bit more about its rules and find out about its creators. But if you just want to skip that step and get straight to the good stuff, then you can check out the official Kickstarter page.

88 Heroes is a fast-paced, 2D platformer from the minds of UK-based independent game developers Bitmap Bureau. With a somewhat retro feel, and puns and pop culture references galore, this hilarious, frantic gaming experience will appeal to gamers young and old.

The game is a literal race against the clock to stop Dr. H8 from destroying Earth, as each level in 88 Heroes -- which is set across 4 zones -- is just 88 seconds long, all with a unique boss encounter.

You’ll play as 88 unique characters, each with their own set of skills and abilities. With each level change or death, you’ll switch to another randomly selected hero, and hopefully find that the character is more help than hindrance for the level they’re dropped into!

There are multiple game modes to choose from, including Magnificent 8 Mode, in which you can put together a team of just 8 heroes to take you through the entire game, and the challenging Solo Mode, where you choose a single hero, work on mastering their skills, and survive for as long as you can.

From publishers Rising Star Games, the boxed edition of 88 Heroes, available only on PlayStation 4, features exclusive content not available on digital releases. This includes two additional playable characters, and the new H8 Mode, with 8 new challenging levels.

88 Heroes is now available worldwide on digital stores for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC -- and the boxed edition for the PlayStation 4 is out now across Europe.

Note: The physical retail release will be available in the US and Canada from March 28.

Amidst the massive swaths of AAA titles this fall, tiny little indie gems hide, just waiting to be uncovered and circulated throughout the gaming community. Unfortunately, some of these titles are short lived, only having a small amount of exposure or recognition when released, even if they prove to be amazing experiences. This is a true travesty of the gaming industry, and the reason why you should be keeping your eye on Earth's Dawn.

Earth's Dawn (known as Earth Wars in Japan) is a 2D action-RPG developed by OneorEight and published by Rising Star Games. If that name sounds familiar it's because Rising Star also published the incredibly polarizing and divisive Deadly Premonition, an open-world survival horror game with a reputation for remarkable strangeness. Rising Star Games is a publisher that's committed to bringing more unique titles over to the west, and Earth's Dawn reflects this mission statement.

Set in a dystopian Tokyo where the alien "E.B.E" race has taken over, Earth's Dawn has created a world that is undeniably Japanese. The art style oozes classic manga influences like Akira and Ghost in the Shell. The action and animations feel like watching an episode of Attack on Titan, with swooping aerials and aggressive sword swipes. Fans of Japanimation will be right at home here. But even if you've never heard of Akira in your life, there's plenty here for fans of deep and satisfying action-RPG mechanics.

The combat in Earth's Dawn will be very familiar to those who have ever played a 2D action game such as Muramasa Rebirth or Dragon's Crown. However, the game feels unique thanks to specific moves tied to the analog sticks, likening it to more to a fighting game when pulling off long strings of combos and complex juggles. But don't let this deter you, as the developers have tuned the systems of Earth's Dawn to be accessible to both hardcore players that wish to "S" rank every mission, and casual players that just wish to play through each mission for pure enjoyment.

If you're wondering why you are fighting the dangerous E.B.E race, the Rising Star Games website describes the story as:

After decades of peace, the Earth was decimated by an invasion from an alien race known to humans as E.B.E. The E.B.E. moved across the planet, consuming anything in their path and proved impervious to existing weapons. Ahead of the impending annihilation a breakthrough was made – the E.B.E. was susceptible to damage by weaponry designed using its very own technology. The power to fight back was now in the hands of an elite fighting force.

Earth's Dawn knows exactly what it is: a fun 2D action-RPG with great mechanics and a wholly Japanese style. This is a game to watch this fall season, especially for fans of indie games. For a full review, check back in to GameSkinny after the game releases for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on November 1st.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, the fantastic 2D Platformer from developer WayForward that originally released in 2014, will be receiving a physical release for the Nintendo 3DS thanks to Publisher Rising Star Games.

For those unfortunate enough to miss it, Shantae and the Pirate's Curse was an excellent 2D Platformer with tight Metroidvania-style design, a great and diverse soundtrack, wonderful pixel art, charming characters, and memorable comedic dialogue just to name a few of it's many selling points.

It's a must own for any fan of 2D Platformers, especially if you own a 3DS, and it will soon be available for any of your shelving desires.

While a physical 3DS version has been available in Japan for some time, the rest of the world will be granted the same privilege soon, with the added benefit of new content exclusive to the new version, as well a discounted price ($29.99/€29.99/£29.99).

While Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is now available for almost every current-generation platform in addition to the 3DS (Xbox One, PS4, Wii U, Steam, GOG.com, Kindle Fire TV), anybody interested in owning a physical copy of the game on 3DS will be able to come September 27th in the USA, and September 30th in Europe.

I Want To Be Human made me wish I wasn't human, but rather a cat or perhaps a garden snail, just any creature that lacked the brain capacity and appropriate appendages necessary to play video games would do. That way I would have never had to endure the hours I spent with the game. I might be exaggerating slightly; I Want To Be Human isn't completely awful, just mildly terrible.

The game is a 2D action-platformer which sees you take control of a girl who, through genetic manipulation by an evil corporation, has been turned into a vampire. With trusty shotgun in hand, you're on a mission to save her boyfriend (who is now... a hat), and exact your revenge on those responsible. It's not exactly a strong story, although that doesn't stop the game trying to present it through crude, scrollable images of drawings and text. That's ok though, this is obviously not a narrative-driven experience; the problem with the game is that the rest of I Want To Be Human manages to be just as weak.

Something 'bugs' me about this game

From the get-go, you are immediately assaulted by a dated punk song straight out of the 90's, blaring out at headache-inducing volume levels. I can only assume this is intended to disorientate players in the hope they will overlook the game's many flaws in their confusion. Changing the volume in the options menu lasts until you get into an actual level where it will ramp itself back up to maximum.

This bug of reversing any settings changed also extends to the controls, which are bizarrely set as arrow keys to move and mouse to aim by default, instead of WASD. Using a controller instead doesn't solve many problems. For starters, there's no d-pad support, a strange thing to omit considering this is a side-scrolling platformer after all. Secondly, aiming and moving are now as one. Want to kill that enemy to the right? Well you better be running towards them then since there's suddenly no way to aim and move separately, because who even uses that other thumbstick? And what is a trigger button?

It's all irrelevent anyway, there's no saving the awful, unwieldy controls of I Want To Be Human. As a platformer, you'd think that would be an area of the game that would receive particular attention, but no, they are awkward, clunky and unresponsive. Then there are mechanics in play where the character will stick to walls slightly, presumably to make traversing them easier. The problem is this only seems to work about every time you don't want it to and never when you do.

It's a shame because there are lots of nice, hidden away areas to find in levels and some decent platforming sections thrown in here and there. They become frustratingly difficult to navigate at times, however, due to the game's cumbersome controls.

Art attack

Even I Want To Be Human's visual design is out to get you. Although the game has a nice art style, it's often impractical. The game uses a monochromatic colour scheme with prominent use of red, mostly to accentuate the blood of exploding enemies. A nice idea in theory, except I Want To Be Human has some issues when it comes to creating contrast between its visual elements. This lack of clarity only serves to further the exasperation of playing the game.

In addition to this, there was also rare occasions where the foreground would actually obstruct my view of the bottom of the level as I frantically spammed attacks in the hope they would hit the enemies I couldn't actually see. It's just bad design, plain and simple.

One of I Want To Be Human's few redeeming features comes from the pulsating electropunk soundtrack, provided courtesy of Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence fame. While there's a couple of duds and it can get repetitive, for the most part it serves as a good fit for the action.

A bloody mess in every sense

The word "action" might give you the false impression of excitement however, which is something I Want To Be Human is unlikely to provide. You're outfitted with a shotgun right at the start, and that's all you ever have throughout the whole game. There's no upgrades, it's slow, inaccurate, and it gets pretty old pretty fast. Any difficulty in the game feels manufactured out of poor design and controls rather than being a genuine challenge.

There's collectibles and a high score system to add replayability, but it's hard to imagine anyone spending much more time with the game than they have to.

I Want To Be Human is essentially just a glorified flash game, which makes sense given lone developer Sinclair Strange's previous works. One game of his in particular, The Devil's Daughter, which was made in a 72 hour game jam, seems to be the inspiration behind I Want To Be Human. Ironically The Devil's Daughter turns out to be a more competent piece of work, despite its limitations, than this $14.99 release. There's a hundred games just like it on Newgrounds that won't cost you a penny. 

At least I Want To Be Human manages to be slightly less obnoxious than it's predecessor. Slightly. The game declares itself as being "packed with off the wall dark humour" which apparently means being ladled with 'amusing' insults like calling enemies tampons and 'don't drop the soap' jokes. 

It's hard to see, and may sound odd to hear given everything I've had to say about the game, but somewhere under all the bugs, clunky controls and dodgy design decisions I can't help but feel there was a good game waiting to be made. I Want To Be Human, however, fails to achieve on almost every front.

The Vikings are coming! Swedish developers Zoink and publishers Rising Star Games released the physical version of Zombie Vikings Ragnarök Edition for the PS4 this week for $19.99 (£19.95). The game is currently available to download from Steam. The boxed edition features five exclusive arenas, two additional player characters (Frostbjörn and Raybjörn) and, a deluxe digital art book.

Zombie Vikings is a co-op hack 'n' slash brawler which allows up to 4 players fight their way through the Nordic cosmos on a quest to retrieve Odin's magic right eye in an attempt to make up for the terrible deeds that they have committed in the past.

The bonus features in the Ragnarök Edition come in addition to an already impressive game full of fantastic graphics and great storyline (written by Zach Weinersmith of SMBC Comics). There are 25+ levels spanning 8 different worlds such as the gingerbread swamps of Molgaga and the intestines of the great Midgaard Serpent. In addition players can obtain up to 40 unlockable weapons,inluding the mighty Stinknir. There are also a lot of ways to combine characters to make great combos and enhance multiplayer gameplay.

“We are excited to finally release the physical boxed version of Zombie Vikings into the hands of players. The additional exclusive content in Zombie Vikings Ragnarök Edition makes for a compelling and definitive version of this comedic and barbaric brawler”

Martin Defries, Managing Director of Rising Star Games

No longer going to be a PlayStation 3 exclusive, Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut is now available on Steam Greenlight.The game will also include a new scenario from Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro, as well as improved textures and PC exclusive bonus content and DLCs.

During its original release in 2010, the game had intensely mixed reviews. In fact, Deadly Premonition holds the Guinness World Record for the most critically polarizing survival horror game. But the title has become a cult classic with many devoted fans.

The game is a psychological horror that gives players the freedom to explore a small town and interact with the many characters and events that happen alongside the game’s overall story. You play as an FBI special agent sent to the fictional town to investigate the murder of a young woman. The game quickly becomes a surreal and bizarre mystery where many of the characters, including your own, become untrustworthy and dubious.

This will be Rising Star Games's first release on Steam. The studio hopes to give fans a chance to make a difference and have the freedom to get the game made.

So go have a look at the PC announcement trailer:

And check them out on Steam!