With the holidays approaching, you may be looking for a more relaxing video game to pass the time. Harvest Moon: Winds of Anthos, the latest in a long line of Harvest Moon games, strikes a great balance between engaging and relaxing. It has definitely become my favorite "chill out" game.

Like most farming sims, the game has an overarching story to inform the gameplay. This involves a Harvest Goddess and four harvest sprites all saving the world from an erupting volcano by surrounding the various villages with protective walls. This is how Harvest Moon: Winds of Anthos begins; you’ll need to farm and mine to awaken the sprites and open the passage between areas, which will also restore the Harvest Goddess to her former glory (and size—she’s smaller than a human when you start out).

Yes, it’s all rather silly and convenient, as are the extremely charming interactions between you and the various non-player characters like Doc Jr, the gadget-head/inventor of the fledgling village, or the sweet couple running the restaurant, or the friendly but dull owner of the flower shop. You’ll have to find seeds and grow flowers for the latter and he’s so grateful for your help as he stands outside his shop waiting for someone to do all the work for him.

I don’t play these games for the storyline though. I play them for the flow state they can put me in. The mechanics of planting and growing different vegetables and flowers, buying or taming different animals to keep in the barn, and mining for precious metals and minerals keep me playing late into the night.