Stardew Valley is one of the shining examples of the farming sim genre with its breadth of activities, singles to potentially romance, and cozy vibes that not many games aspire to have. This means that despite coming out about seven years ago, it has remained a popular game, aided by community mods and official patches that add loads of new content.

Despite being an incredible game, many gems are within the farming sim genre that might share some of the core mechanics with Stardew Valley but offer something that gives them their own identity separate from that title. This means there are some pretty great alternatives for anyone looking to branch out and sow their seeds elsewhere.

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Story of Seasons is a Legacy Franchise Still Worth Visiting

One of the easier recommendations for anyone wishing to explore farming sims outside of Stardew Valley would be any title from the Story of Seasons franchise, formally referred to as Harvest Moon before the developer started creating new titles separate from publisher Natsume. The series also inspired Stardew Valley developer ConcernedApe to develop the title due to being disappointed with the series' more recent releases.

Story of Seasons is still going relatively strong to this day, with most of the latest releases being remakes of classic titles like Friends of Mineral Town and A Wonderful Life which add some new features like romancing any eligible person regardless of gender, as well as some quality of life changes. That said, a fair warning to give anyone who wishes to check the games out is that they are not as feature-rich as the game that would eventually inspire it, like multiple towns or dungeon-crawling.

Even without those, Story of Seasons offers an incredibly comfy atmosphere with likable characters throughout the installments, and A Wonderful Life is unique in the genre since its story deals with living out a whole life as that title begins with players as young adults and ends with them being in their twilight years. For those wishing to experience the latest mainline title outside of remakes, Pioneers of Olive Town offers a modernized experience while keeping the series' identity.

Rune Factory Offers a Great Dungeon-Crawling Experience With Some Farming Elements

For players who want some of those features absent from Story of Seasons along with a main quest to focus on, Rune Factory is a great series to try out with the fourth entry being a big highlight. There is even some DNA from the older Harvest Moon titles as it had begun life as a spin-off before becoming independent of its roots.

What makes Rune Factory especially stand out is that not only is the protagonist an active character with a set personality, the game puts less focus on the actual farming part in favor of dungeon-crawling and character builds. While harvesting crops might still be the primary way to gain more money, players will be aided by the stream of new equipment that can be used and eventually sold at high prices.

Unlike other farming titles that make romancing characters a streamlined process, it can be complicated in Rune Factory 4, meaning players have to be sure of who they are pursuing by triggering certain date events only available at specified times. One unfortunate thing is that same-sex romance is only available in Rune Factory 5, a title that added some new features that are interesting to mess around with but is overall still seen as lacking compared to its predecessor.

Regardless of which installment is picked, the focus on improving one's magic and weapon skills with varying types to choose from is a fun way of getting value out of the simple combat system on top of there being a consistent sense of challenge ramping up as players complete more of the main quest. Whether one becomes a bruiser focused on heavy weapons or keeps a distance by utilizing a variety of spells, there is a lot of room to experiment with in any Rune Factory even if the latest games still come with some caveats. Since new gear is a player's primary means of upgrading their character and can only be obtained by crafting, players must know what they want while having room for backup options if a new recipe for the main build is not found for a while.

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Sun Haven Mixes Farm Sim With a Traditional RPG Structure

The title that is arguably the most distanced from Stardew Valley but still a great farming sim to recommend is Sun Haven, which ramps up the RPG elements and skill-building found in Rune Factory, allowing players to create vastly distinct builds while also having a story that is more at home with JRPGs. It also feels the most like a straightforward RPG due to the plot's stakes and a decently big world to explore. On top of the dungeon-crawling, there are multiple towns to visit with their own farms to cultivate unique crops. Something interesting that it does with each town is that they each offer a unique currency that players build up to purchase items exclusive to that area.

Sun Haven arguably also has the most robust romance system as players experience multiple stages of a relationship before marrying the person or people of their choice. It is also distinct for not only including same-sex relationships but also allowing polyamory for those who wish to date multiple people at once.

It can be frustrating to play sometimes, though. Not helping this is that the sheer number of systems at play and a lack of polish in some areas can make Sun Haven an overwhelming game to play if fans don't take it easy, but these flaws don't take away from what is a wonderful indie game.

Regardless of how someone branches off from Stardew Valley into another genre, farming sims have about as much variety in them as any other genre. Some focus purely on the farming and social sim elements inherent to many titles, but others can often feel more like action-RPGs. All of these have merit even with their flaws, and it can be nice to play something with an overall slower pace.

Stardew Valley is available now for Android, iOS, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.

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