Bandai Namco Entertainment and Marvelous released Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom on PS5, Switch, and Steam worldwide earlier this month as the second collaboration game between Doraemon and Marvelous’ Story of Seasons series. While the original was a good take on the formula, it was lacking in many ways. Thankfully, Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom builds on that base with new features, improvements, and is basically a much more complete experience. For this Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom review, I will be focusing on the PS5 version, but I will also cover how it runs on Switch and PC including Steam Deck.
If you haven’t played the original or a Story of Seasons game at all, Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom is a fun farming and life simulation game with a relaxed pace. Despite it having a lot of improvements over the original letting veteran Story of Seasons players progress much faster, it is still something you will play to relax as you get into a routine of farming, exploring, talking to people, growing relationships, and making money while you progress the story.
Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom is an improvement over the original
You can still enjoy Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom as a standalone Story of Seasons experience if you aren’t familiar with either series. The first game was a nice take on Story of Seasons, and Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom is a lot better in important areas. There are many quality of life updates that make things a lot nicer. These range from less annoyances and restrictions while farming to interface and menu improvements. This is one of the best examples of a sequel fixing notable issues from the original to make everything feel better to play and waste as little of time as possible.
Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom PS5 features
While Doraemon Story of Seasons saw a late PS4 release, Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom arrives only for PS5 on the PlayStation side. I was curious to see if this was just a bare-bones port or one that uses the PS5 functionality well. I’ve detailed the technical differences below, but I was glad to see PS5 Activity Cards supported here to show you progress and let you load your activity in-game directly. There is no haptic feedback or adaptive trigger use as of this writing. The improved load times over Switch are appreciated though.
Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom Nintendo Switch vs PS5 vs PC – what to buy?
Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom is best on PC thanks to support for higher frame rates and image quality, but on the console side, the definitive version depends on what you’re looking for in this game. The original Doraemon Story of Seasons’ performance wasn’t great on Switch. Thankfully, Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom runs a lot better thanks to less frame pacing issues and a lot less judder overall compared to the original. The PS5 version honestly just feels like a PS4 game but with support for PS5 Activity Cards. This is a nice addition, alongside the 60fps gameplay and much faster load times, but I was hoping for more.
If you want to play Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom on a portable, play it on Steam Deck if you have the option. If you don’t, the Switch is still a good way to experience this release in handheld mode. I’m not sure why this wasn’t released on PS4 as well given how it looks. The PS5 version also doesn’t support frame rates above 60fps like the PC version does. It isn’t even getting a physical release on PS5 which makes the decision to do a native PS5 version even more surprising. With many retailers selling more PS5 physical games compared to PS4, it makes sense to do physical PS5 games, but this digital-only release confuses me.
I hope a few of the text spacing issues can be addressed in future patches. I noticed a handful in my time with the game on all platforms, and since the game is being updated with new paid DLC, these potentially could be fixed. Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom is definitely a big step up over the first game, and is the best new Story of Seasons experience you can have on PlayStation right now despite the visuals being a bit lacking compared to PC. I can’t wait to see how the season pass content builds on this release in the near future. Hopefully my Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom platform comparison review helped you decide if this new collaboration game is worth your time and what version is best for you.
