The Ultimate Guide to Saving Anthos in Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos

While saving may not be a concern for most players nowadays, certain games still require players to understand and manage the saving mechanism. This is particularly true for many single-player games, where saving may not be immediately available.

This can be quite frustrating, as players might risk losing their limited progress if they don't have sufficient time to advance in the storyline. In the case of Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos, there is no automatic saving, but fortunately, it doesn't take long for players to safeguard their progress.

Minor spoilers beyond this point, so players should proceed with caution.

How to Save

Despite its modern design, Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos employs a somewhat antiquated method of saving progress. To save the game, players must navigate through the initial day of the first year, which serves as a tutorial for basic mechanics such as farming. Once the day concludes, players are directed back to their character's house.

When players interact with the bed, they will be presented with two options: sleep or save and sleep. The reason for the option to sleep without saving is unclear, but it is available for players who may have a specific reason for wanting to do so. This allows players to take periodic breaks and save their progress if they don't want to rush through the tutorial, which takes place over several in-game days.

While this feature does offer the ability to save, it is not very convenient due to save points being an outdated mechanic. However, there is good news as players can eventually save anywhere. At the start of the game, when pausing, the option to save or load is initially disabled. Fortunately, this inconvenience is only temporary.

To unlock the feature of saving and loading at any location, players must successfully complete the entire tutorial in Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos. The tutorial concludes on the fifth in-game day after players depart from the village. The game's time does not progress until players fulfill the necessary objectives, meaning it is not possible to fast forward to the end of the fifth day by letting the clock run. Once players gain the freedom to explore outside the village, they will have the ability to save their progress anywhere. Additionally, players can still choose to save at the end of each day. Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos is currently available for purchase on Steam, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.