With a like-to-dislike ratio strongly tilted towards the latter, it’s safe to say that this is not the Harvest Moon people wanted, at least not when it comes to its aesthetic with an awkwardly animated 3D model gliding over a terrain of cheap-looking assets.

It’s worth noting that Harvest Moon: Light of Hope isn’t actually made by the usual series developer Marvelous. In a strange game of legal hopscotch, Marvelous wasn’t able to keep the name of its own series when it switched publishers away from Natsume. Now the long-running series has been renamed Story of Seasons, and it’s distributed by Marvelous’ own publishing company XSEED in North America, while Nintendo publishes it in Europe.

As for the Harvest Moon moniker, Natsume kept the name and has continued to make its own farming sims under the known brand. First there was Talbot’s 2014 entry Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley, and now Natsume is trying its own hand at developing duties with Light of Hope.

Not much is known about Harvest Moon: Light of Hope, other than it’s set in a small troubled village where the player character finds themselves shipwrecked, and they must save the town through – what else? – farming.

Harvest Moon: Light of Hope is in development for Switch, PS4, and PC.

Xbox One beta access will follow “in the coming days”, Microsoft stated in a blog update.

Each version will let you play with people on other platforms, such is the nature of Minecraft’s Better Together Update, which will launch properly this autumn. (There’s no beta for Nintendo Switch players, though Switch will also be getting cross-network play).

The update adds features yet to appear on console – stained glass, parrots, coarse dirt and perhaps most importantly, world conversion.

There’s a handy FAQ on how the update will work for each platform – which is just as well, as it is a little complicated.

PC folk can download the Minecraft Better Together Update beta now via the Xbox Insider App. On Android, it will be available to those who have already bought the game via the Google Play Store.

Worlds you have been building and playing on already will be present in the Better Together Update, and if you play with a world from Xbox One and Nintendo Switch then you’ll get extra world generated for you when you reach the edge of your map.

Microsoft has also included several details on parental controls and child safety, after Sony’s Jim Ryan told Eurogamer PlayStation players would not be part of the Better Together cross-platform update to keep them safe within the PlayStation Network.

“The Better Together Update will enable players to discover new content and creations across all devices, as well as the option to find new and like-minded players, as with any multiplayer game,” Microsoft wrote. Helping keep kids safe online is a priority for Minecraft, and we provide parental controls across platforms via Xbox Live which help parents choose the content, communication and sharing settings that are right for their families.

“For many, the most important of these is making sure that your kids are using child accounts which you have control over. To do this on Xbox, you can find out more at http://aka.ms/xblsafety.”

As for the likelihood of PlayStation people getting the update in the future? Microsoft continues to say it is open to the idea.

“We are still in discussions with Sony about PlayStation and have nothing to confirm. We would love to work with Sony to bring players on PlayStation 4 into this ecosystem as well.”

In a lengthy article on the Minecraft website titled, “How to stay safe online,” Microsoft outlined safety tips for playing the game with others, and announced some new requirements.

An Xbox Live sign-in is now required for online multiplayer no matter which platform you’re playing on. That includes Android phones and, eventually, Nintendo Switch. You need a gamertag to connect to a Realm, an official server partner or a hosted Minecraft world via an IP address.

“By creating an Xbox Live account and gamertag, when logged in you can set your own privacy and multiplayer preferences, create and manage accounts for your family members, and stake your claim on your name in the Minecraft universe,” Microsoft said.

“Plus, because everyone will have an account, if you do run into any creepers ruining the fun, it’s easy to report them, and for our Enforcement team to identify the player in question.”

Of course if you are playing on a local area network (LAN) connection, you won’t need to sign in to play with friends on the same network.

In the same article, Microsoft detailed how to add, mute, block or report players from the pause menu.

“We take reports very seriously,” Microsoft said. “All our players are expected to adhere to the Xbox Live Code of Conduct. When you report bad behavior you’re helping to create a positive and welcoming experience for all Minecraft players.”

There’s a lot more in the article on Minecraft online safety. Clearly, it’s important for Microsoft to highlight the work it’s doing and the steps it’s taken to keep Minecraft safe for users – and it’s easy to see why.

At E3 in June, Sony executive Jim Ryan expressed concern about letting PlayStation gamers connect with those on other platforms. His comments came after Microsoft announced Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PC, mobile and VR Minecraft players would all play together.

In defending Sony’s decision to block cross-play, Ryan told Eurogamer:

“We’ve got to be mindful of our responsibility to our install base. Minecraft – the demographic playing that, you know as well as I do, it’s all ages but it’s also very young. We have a contract with the people who go online with us, that we look after them and they are within the PlayStation curated universe. Exposing what in many cases are children to external influences we have no ability to manage or look after, it’s something we have to think about very carefully.”

Ryan’s comments clearly irked Xbox boss Phil Spencer, who told GiantBomb in a later interview:

“The fact that somebody would kind of make an assertion that somehow we’re not keeping Minecraft players safe, I found – not only from a Microsoft perspective, but from a game industry perspective – like, I don’t know why that has to become the dialogue. Like, that doesn’t seem healthy for anyone.

“We take the safety of Xbox Live, of our players across all of our games – inside of Minecraft, obviously an incredibly important part of that – it’s incredibly important to our team. We would never put Minecraft in a place where we felt like […] we weren’t keeping our players safe.”

Fast forward a couple of months to the release of Minecraft’s Better Together update, and you can see Microsoft hammer home Spencer’s point. The message is loud and clear: it’s safe to play Minecraft on Xbox Live.

While we’re on the subject of cross-platform play, Microsoft has said it’s still talking with Sony about PlayStation but has nothing to confirm right now. “We would love to work with Sony to bring players on PlayStation 4 into this ecosystem as well,” Microsoft said.

Microsoft really wants you to know playing Minecraft online is safe