With the fall season upon us, Natsume is releasing Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns for the DS and 3DS in the coming week. 

The core essence and feeling of the Harvest Moon franchise remains intact. Players must balance their farming with their social life, but the new game features non-linear gameplay. The two villages that players can focus on for farming are the Eastern-style Konohana, which has a focus on planting crops, and the more European-centric Bluebell, which has a focus on animal farming. Players are able to start with either a male or female character, as well as run two farms simultaneously once they find themselves further into the game. 

Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns is about a pair of villages feuding over who has the best cooks. There are numerous and varied people to meet in the two towns. The game features a lot of pets, possibly more than the last few games. These pets have a number of breeds available, and each one can be trained to help out on the farm. For instance, dogs can help herd animals while cats look after poultry “in a good way”. The new animal that is being added to this game is the alpaca. It serves the same purpose horses did in the previous games, but Alpaca fur can also be harvested and be used to craft items in game. 

Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns will be available September 20, 2011.