Harvest Moon One World: Complete Controls & Beginners Guide for Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X

The long-running farming simulator returns with Harvest Moon: One World on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles.

Revolving around a find, plant, water, and harvest cycle, the latest game in the franchise has you exploring several different biomes, being able to pick up your farm and put it down around the map.

While the Harvest Moon: One World controls are very simple, there are several mechanics at play throughout, so we’ll be detailing some of the key ones here too.

For the purposes of this Harvest Moon: One World controls guide, the left and right analogues on any console controller are listed as (L) and (R), while the d-pad buttons are shown as Up, Right, Down, and Left.

Harvest Moon: One World basic controls

Much of the Harvest Moon: One World controls set-up revolves around moving with the left analogue and interacting with items and people with the action button.

Whenever you want to interact with a person, animal, item, or Harvest Wisp, just press the action button. You’ll also need to press this action button to activate the applicable tool or action for your situation, such as using a watering can or an axe.

Here’s how to work the basic controls for Harvest Moon: One World on the Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

How to farm in Harvest Moon: One World

Once you’ve acquired the Hoe and the Watering Can in the prologue, all that you’ll need are some seeds and a plot to start farming. The go-to way to get seeds is to press the action button on the little blue orbs called Harvest Wisps.

With a square of farming plot found, which will be given a blue target when you look at it, press the action button (A/O/B) to till the plot.

Next, press the action button again to bring up the seed selection, use your controller’s top bumper buttons to scroll through the seeds, and then press the action button again to sow the seeds.

Finally, press the action button again to water the plot, turning the soil around the seeds a darker colour. You’ll need to water each plot once per day, unless the rain does the watering for you.

You’ll know when the sewn seeds are ready to harvest because the action button will pull up the fruit, vegetables, or flowers instead of watering the plot.

How to get more seeds in Harvest Moon: One World

The key to getting seeds in Harvest Moon: One World is to find the many little blue Harvest Wisps that are dotted around the map.

In each area of the map, the Wisps will give you different seeds. As well as this, the time of day and weather will also influence what seeds Harvest Wisps will give you.

Harvest Wisps respawn each day, with a round trip from your farm, around your local area, and back likely to reveal a couple of Wisps popping-up along the same pathways and space but with different seeds.

So, to get every seed available in each area, be sure to tread the routes at different times of day, and in different weather conditions.

How to get crop mutations in Harvest Moon: One World

Crops can mutate for many different reasons, including the area that they’re planted in, the weather conditions, and the season in which they’re planted.

By going into your house and pressing the action button on the Encyclopaedia (the blue book) – and then selecting one of the crops or flowers – you’ll be able to see how many potential mutations there is for a particular crop.

In the book, you can also remind yourself of the conditions that were required to get the mutations that you’ve already unlocked.

However, to ensure that the crop can survive particularly harsh weather conditions, you’ll need to give it fertiliser. Once you’ve watered a farm plot, if you press the action button on it again – and have fertiliser in your bag – you’ll be able to give it to that crop.

How to gift an item in Harvest Moon: One World

To gift an item to another person in Harvest Moon: One World, you need to go into your bag (Y/Square/X), select the item that you want to gift (A/O/B), and then select the ‘Hold’ option.

With the item in-hand, go to the person to whom you want to gift the item, and press the action button to hand it to them.

By opening your DocPad and going into the ‘Making Friends’ section, you can see the likes and dislikes of each person that you’ve met, making it easier to win them over with gifts.

How to move your farm in Harvest Moon: One World

Your farm can be picked up, moved, and deployed again across the Harvest Moon: One World map thanks to the Expando-Farm called Sparky.

To move your farm, you’ll first want to scout ahead to find a location that can become your new farm  – marked by the presence of Bountiful Soil and a Sparky Icon.

Next, use the action button on your home farm’s Sparky to open up its energy metre. At first, it’ll be at its lowest level, but you can fill up the bar by putting your crops into the Expando-Farm. When the bar is full, you can move your farm.

With a full bar, you’ll be asked if you want to put away your farm so that you can move location. You should note that this won’t scoop up your farm plots and crops: only your buildings and livestock.

To expand your farm again at a new location, simply press the action button on the Sparky Icon at the new area.

How to make wild animals your pets in Harvest Moon: One World

As you explore the world, you’ll encounter several animals in different seasons, days of the week, and times of the day, with there being at least a Hare, Fox, Brown Bear, and Bobcat in the first area alone.

These wild animals can become your pets in Harvest Moon: One World, but to do so, you’ll need to return to them several times. When you spot the animals, walk up to them and press the interact button to pet the animal.

You can pet them for as long as they are about, but only the interaction that sparks the burst of tiny hearts – often only the first interaction – will count towards taming the animal.

Petting the wild animals will fill up their music note bar very gradually, but when it does eventually fill, you’ll be asked if you want to keep the now-tamed animal as a pet.

If you accept, the animal will join your farm, but you’ll need to make sure that you fill its food bowl with and interact with it each day to keep it happy.

How to save your game in Harvest Moon: One World

There are two ways to save in Harvest Moon: One World, with the easiest way being to do so just before you sleep.

When you go to your bed, you’ll have the option to ‘Sleep’ or ‘Save and sleep.’ Selecting the latter will move the game forward as well as allow you to pick a save slot to keep your progress.

You can also save in Harvest Moon: One World by opening the DocPad, going to the Save/Load tab, and then selecting the ‘Save’ option.

How to recover from a bad condition

If you don’t get back to bed before your Stamina (marked by the hearts atop the screen) runs out, your character will pass out. You won’t lose any items and will be transported back to your farm, but your condition will deteriorate. This can also happen if you cut it close to your Stamina running out.

As shown by the face in the top-left corner, the cheery face will degrade to a flat face, or a blue cross-eyes face. In these bad conditions, your Stamina will decrease at a much faster rate.

To recover from a bad condition, you’ll want to aim to go to bed before you hit one-heart of Stamina the next day. Then, when you wake up, your condition will have improved.

How to pause and stop the clock in Harvest Moon: One World

Part of the farming simulator’s challenge is that you’re up against a ticking clock each day, needing to complete all of your tasks and exploration goals at set times of the day and before your Stamina burns out.

If you need to take a break and pause the game, just open the DocPad. Working as the game’s menu, being in the DocPad freezes the clock to let you do some research or step away for a bit.

With a very easy to grasp controls set-up, Harvest Moon: One World is one of the most accessible farming simulators available, but there’s also plenty to explore and learn about within the game’s mechanics.

How to find Seeds in Harvest Moon: One World

After you’ve played the game for a while, you’ll be able to use the Harvest Wisp search function to locate Seeds that you’ve already found.

To do this, go into the the World Map, via the DocPad, and press the Harvest Wisp List button – shown to the bottom left of the map. You’ll be able to search for Crops and Flowers that you’ve found before, and then they’ll appear on the World Map.

This search isn’t great, with the map itself being distinctly crude and unhelpful. It does, however, help you to see if you can grab Seeds at that moment in time and the general area in which they’ll appear.

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