Harvest Moon: Light of Hope is the fourth Harvest Moon title developed by Natsume. It was released on Steam in November 2017 and was ported to the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in May 2018.
The story starts when the protagonist's boat is caught in a storm. They end up on Beacon Island and are saved by a mysterious woman. However, only three people still reside on Beacon Island. Everyone else left after the famous lighthouse's light suddenly died a few years. The protagonist volunteers to fix the lighthouse and bring life to the desolate island, all the while fixing up a nearby farm.
The physical version was released as Harvest Moon: Light of Hope Special Edition. It includes four DLCs and a new character: a Gem Sprite named Soleil who can help you harvest crops, collect resources, and be married. Light of Hope Special Edition is also the first title in either the Harvest Moon or Story of Seasons series' to feature co-op multiplayer.
This game provides examples of:
- Adipose Rex: Gorgan, King of the Underworld, is by far the largest character in the game, in terms of both height and width.
- All Animals Are Domesticated: There's a bobcat cub in the mountain that you can pet. If it likes you enough, you can even take it home and make it your pet. It sounds and is treated exactly like a housecat.
- Ambiguously Bi: You can see all the first few Note Events even if you're of the same gender as the character. This makes it seem like Everyone Is Bi, except you can't marry them.
- Ambiguously Brown:
- Gabriel, his mother Sofia, and his brother Michael all have light brown skin and indigenous-looking clothes.
- Nova has dark skin. Her mother is unknown and her father is King of the Underworld.
- Ambiguous Time Period: Even more-so than most titles due to the general lack of modern technology such as television. The characters dress as if they're from different time periods, with, for example, the female protagonist's more modern attire contrasting with Cyril's anachronistic one. The game is presumably in Retro Universe like other titles.
- And Your Reward Is Parenthood: Marry your love interest, and the two of you will eventually have a baby. The Harvest Sprites take care to point out that they'll look after your child for you while you're farming, to avoid the potential worries of your child being left alone while you work.
- Bluebird of Happiness: The bluebird is a part of the game's story and gives the protagonist the Blue Feather, which they can propose with. It's also the Harvest Goddess in bird form.
- Captain Obvious: Doc, who has this piece of advice for you: "If you fix the bridge, you'll be able to get to the other side".
- Caring Gardener: Dean, an incredibly nice guy who absolutely adores flowers. Luckily, his mother happens to run the local flower shop.
- Dating Catwoman: Gorgan is the closest thing any Harvest Moon game can have to an antagonist. He created the storm that destroyed most of the island; though his intention was only to keep his daughter by his side, he still has a very cavalier attitude about the effects of his actions, and adamantly refuses to help fix the damage he caused. Nonetheless, a female PC can later end up courting and marrying him.
- Developer's Foresight:
- If the female PC gives birth to Dean's child, Carol's dialogue will be different than with any other characters.
- Marrying Gabriel causes his mother Sofia and brother Michael to have unique dialogue referencing it.
- Divine Date: You can court and marry the Harvest Goddess if male, or the Gorgan, the King of the Underworld, if female.
- Divine Intervention: Your child becomes suddenly ill with a terminal illness called "Petrification". The local doctor and even the local witch can't help them. It's only through help with the Harvest God that your kid is saved.
- Gender-Inclusive Writing: With few exceptions, your spouse and child aren't gendered in dialogue.
- Guide Dang It!: Good luck getting most mutated crops without a guide. Some of them have extremely specific requirements, the amount you need to sell to unlock the seed for it vary with each one, and whether or not a crop will mutate is randomly determined the day it reaches full growth, so you're not even guaranteed to get any mutated ones at all. The game offers absolutely no clues on how to get mutations, either.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Heavily implied with Nova. Despite being Gorgan's daughter, her magic is relatively weak, and she is unable to see the Harvest God, Goddess, or Sprites, meaning she most likely had a mortal mother.
- Hidden Depths: Gorgan, who comes off as thoughtless and arrogant at first, especially since he refuses to help the PC restore the lighthouse. However, he reveals a much softer side to a female PC who romances him.
- Hot God: The Harvest Goddess, as usual with any Harvest Moon game, is an attractive young woman who can be married.
- Interspecies Romance: The protagonist, a human, can marry Soleil, a Gem Sprite.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy:
- Edmond is a Bishōnen with long Mystical White Hair.
- Cyril is a proper looking Bishōnen who has his hair tied into a ponytail.
- Mayfly–December Romance: With Gorgan or the Harvest Goddess, if the PC marries them. They will both lampshade the fact that they are immortal, while the player character is not, but choose not to dwell on the subject.
- Mission-Pack Sequel: Light of Hope is similar to the mobile game Seeds of Memories but it has many improvements over it.
- No Biological Sex: The Harvest Sprites are unisex looking and aren't listed as having any genders, though they will occasionally refer to each other with specific pronouns — i.e. Blossom is referred to as a "she," while Dewy is referred to as a "he."
- Not Allowed to Grow Up: Sally and Michael don't age, even after your own child has grown into a child.
- Parental Abandonment: No character has both a mother and a father present.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: The female Soleil is pink-themed and the male is blue-themed.
- Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Soleil is in "baby form" by default, but ages up to an adult if you marry them.
- Puppy Love: Michael is a young boy with a crush on Sally, though won't admit it.
- Second Love: Rare for a Harvest Moon game — a male player can potentially be this for the Harvest Goddess.
- Shrinking Violet: Jeanne is so shy that she even stutters in her letters.
- Shout-Out: In one cutscene, Cute Witch Tabitha yells "bippity-boppity", which she calls the highest form of praise. The Harvest God also says the term later on.
- Stealth Sequel: Characters reference past events from previous Natsume titles.
- Taken for Granite: In one scene your child contracts a disease called "Petrification" that causes people to turn into rocks and die. The only cure involves divine intervention from the Harvest God.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Gorgan becomes considerably nicer if a female PC romances him.
- Trademark Favorite Food: The Harvest Goddess absolutely loves strawberries, especially strawberry jam. A male PC who courts her eventually learns that this is because she fell in love with a human man long ago, who was also a farmer, and would always bring her his fresh strawberries.
- Vague Age: Your child has aspects of a toddler and a young child once they reach the third stage. The game skips from a baby who has just learned to walk to a child, but your child still sleeps in a crib and enjoys being given baby bottles.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The wildlife, namely the bobcat, suggests a North American setting, but it's never mentioned where the island is.
- Wife Husbandry: A straight example with Soleil if the PC is male, or a rare gender inverted example if the PC is female - you basically raise him/her from birth, and he/she spends most of the game as a baby who only speaks a few words. He/she only learns how to speak and gains an adult form if you pursue a relationship with him/her.
