Stardew Valley is widely regarded as being one of the best farming sims on the market. The cute pixel art style, relatable characters, and cozy atmosphere make Stardew Valley easy to return to time and time again, especially if players are looking for something to relax with.

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It is easy to get stuck in a rut after playing the game to completion, starting a family, befriending everyone in the village, and making huge sums of money every day. While modding the game can help make Stardew Valley feel new again, there are also plenty of other great farming experiences for gamers to try out.

Updated May 14, 2024, by Rie Takumi: ConcernedApe gained a great reputation among gamers for consistently updating Stardew Valley despite the title's age. Stardew Valley's longevity and mod support made it a permanent title for fans, but some have grown bored with the loop. Luckily for them, dozens of cozy farming games with great NPCs, gameplay, storylines, and co-op support are available across all platforms.

Some farming sims focus on certain gameplay elements in order to scratch a particular itch. Combat could be the major sub-element for a game, as could crafting, settlement building, and maybe even a title's social elements. What's common about these particular games, however, is the importance of farming and crafting in the overall gameplay system.

18 Rusty's Retirement

The Ultimate Desktop Farming Sim Idler

Rusty’s Retirement is a newer title, yet it’s already made a splash among streamers and time-crunched gamers. This is partly thanks to its charm and also due to the clicker/idler game essentially playing itself while players do their tasks. Because of its horizontal/vertical layout, players can check in without tabbing out of or breaking their concentration.

The idler game centers on Rusty, a newly retired bot that relaxes by tending to its small farm. Rusty can eventually be joined by bots that can help with planting, watering, and harvesting crops. Twitch streamers can even have their chat help maintain their farm through chat commands.

17 Harvest Yuuka

Features Retro Graphics And Encourages Gardening

Known as Gensou Garden Monogatari in Japanese, Harvest Yuuka is a Touhou fan game featuring the flower yokai Yuuka Kazami. The caretaker of flowers aims to plant a perfect flower garden in Gensokyo, and it’s up to the player to decide what that “perfect” means.

Yuuka can plant fruits, mushrooms, rice, and other crops along with her flowers, and even raise animals. She can spend all her time on the farm or befriend the residents of Gensokyo and beyond. Yuuka’s activities and friends determine her ending, though the game doesn’t force players down certain paths.

16 Lightyear Frontier

A Combat-Free Title With A Fun Farming Loop

Lightyear Frontier upgrades the usual farm machinery to full-blown mechs. Not only that, but players farm and explore in first and third-person perspectives. The new vantage points and intuitive controls settle players into a comfortable loop of sowing crops, logging and replacing trees, and building their homestead.

Although it features mechs, Lightyear Frontier is combat-free and has no survival mechanics. Players can freely explore the world and its lore-heavy ruins with their scanner satellite to learn more about it. Even clearing pollution from the environment poses no threat to the player’s well-being.

15 Fae Farm

Features A Vibrant And Magical World That Is Ready For Cultivation

Fae Farm plops players into the colorful, magical world of Azoria, where they are given a homestead to nurture. Players tend to magical crops and creatures while making friends with the local population, including mythical beasts. Combat is part of gameplay, though players can stay in town for as long as they want.

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Co-op is slightly difficult, as individual progress is tied with the host’s farm. Fae Farm is also exclusively online co-op, which means that groups need to have their own consoles to play together. On the other hand, they can play the story cooperatively, and new players can gain wings and upgrades early with certain tricks.

14 Paleo Pines

Replaces Stardew Valley's Farm Animals With Dinosaurs

Instead of dealing with the usual farm animals, Paleo Pines lets players create a ranch for their dinosaur friends to hang out on. Dinosaurs cannot be domesticated (only befriended), and they can leave the ranch temporarily. They may even leave permanently if they are neglected or mistreated.

To befriend dinosaurs, players need to play their flute to catch their attention, play their friend song, and soothe or feed them. Dinosaurs appreciate clean pens, treats, and their preferred biome. Aside from being jolly companions, dinosaurs can help out at the farm or with exploration. Helpers allow the player to ride them to inaccessible areas and break obstacles along the way.

13 My Time At Portia

Offers Stardew Valley-Like Goals While Incentivizing Players To Repair A Workshop

My Time At Portia is a simulation RPG game set in the post-apocalyptic town of Portia. Players are tasked with repairing their Pa's old workshop by fulfilling commissions from townsfolk, growing crops, raising animals, and befriending the quirky characters who live in the community. By mining, foraging, and crafting, the end goal is to build the workshop players inherit into the best in town.

Similarly to Stardew Valley, My Time At Portia follows the four-season calendar, celebrates the birthdays of the townsfolk, and hosts regular in-game festivals, including Day of the Bright Sun, Day of Memories, and Winter Solstice.

12 Harvestella

A JRPG With Farming Elements And A Great Story

Harvestella is a story-driven combination of JRPG elements with a farming sim. As players awaken in the middle of Quietus, the season of death, they turn to self-sufficiency to survive. In this title, players grow fruit, vegetables, and crops, and cook with the produce harvested from the land, care for animals, and defeat threats in combat.

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With a narrative-heavy focus and a surplus of cut scenes, Harvestella is more suited to gamers who enjoy a good story rather than those who want to explore and farm in their own time.

11 Farming Simulator 22

A Farming Game With An Emphasis On Realism

The Farming Simulator series always had a bit of a reputation as a meme, but as a cozy and realistic farming game, it's tough to beat. As a realistic, mass farming sim, its gameplay loop is long and engaging. Players must follow the proper steps to yield crops, care for their animals, and refresh their forests. Getting used to the machinery takes time, but without a time limit, players don't need to rush.

In fact, completing the tutorial is highly recommended for beginners. The tutorial covers the basic loop that will help gamers access the more expensive animal husbandry and forestry options.

10 Lemon Cake

A Farm-To-Table Bakery Experience

​​​​​Lemon Cake is a cutesy farming sim that lets players run their own bakery, stocking their cupboards with farm-fresh produce grown in their own greenhouse and serving customers baked goods, sweets, and coffee.

At the beginning of each day, there is time to prepare the bakery before customers arrive. By setting the menu, watering plants, caring for animals, and ensuring the bakery is decorated well, players can give themselves a head start on the lunch rush. Despite this, as orders come in, there are some more stressful elements of gameplay that can make Lemon Cake a bit less relaxing than typical farming games.

9 Farm Together

A Simulation Game That Places All Focus On Farming

What's immediately notable about Farm Together is that it doesn't have combat, mini-games, or NPCs to befriend and romance. Exploration isn't a priority either, as the game is completely focused on farming and decorating. The most exploration players can do is to unlock more farmland as their farm levels up. Leveling up also unlocks more decorations, fences, buildings, plants, and even animals. The latter three make farming easier and produce unique resources.

Farm Together's co-op only requires one person to own the game on PC if they're playing split-screen local co-op. Console players can access co-op in a more straightforward manner. Steam's remote play also allows online split-screen co-op.

8 Story Of Seasons: Friends Of Mineral Town

Provides A Simple Stardew Valley-Esque Experience

With Stardew Valley taking some inspiration from the Harvest Moon franchise, Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town is a great option for players who want to change their favorite farming sim up a little bit without straying too far from it. After moving to the charming village of Mineral Town to tend to their late grandfather's farm, players can grow crops, befriend the neighbors, and fall in love.

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With many similar elements, the main thing that separates Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town from Stardew Valley is the nostalgia that comes with playing a childhood game again. As many gameplay elements are simpler in Story of Seasons than in more modern games, it is ideal for players who want a relaxing experience without many new mechanics.

7 Sun Haven

A Fantasy Farm Sim With Dozens Of Skills To Level Up

Sun Haven puts a fantasy RPG spin on Stardew Valley as the player embarks on a mission to help save the town of Sun Haven from dark magic. There is a much more linear storyline than other traditional farming games thanks to the use of RPG-style quest lines.

Using a set of rusty tools, the player can grow crops, raise livestock, craft, mine, defeat bosses, fish, cook, fall in love, and explore. There are also in-game features that bring quality-of-life changes to the player experience, including the ability to set the length of a day and a bigger map.

6 Dinkum

Allows Players To Paraglide, Boat, & Farm In The Australian Outback

Often described as Australian Animal Crossing, Dinkum is a life sim set in the Australian outback. A twist on the classic farming sim, players can care for giant wombats and explore unique environments, including tropical eucalyptus forests and billabongs.

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Dinkum is a blend of exploration, survival, and town-building with various mechanics that can be challenging for beginners to the genre.

While farming is a focal point of Dinkum, the resources that players can gain from doing the usual mining, foraging, and fishing tasks are able to go toward building a village from the ground up. This will eventually attract visitors who can choose to stay on the player's island, allowing gamers to build their own community.

5 Littlewood

Allows Players To Build A Farm In A Post-Adventure World

Set after the world has already been saved, Littlewood asks players to rebuild a town from the ground up. With the chance to terraform and design the city with whatever buildings appeal to them, players are given a lot more control than in other similar games.

Littlewood is described as a 'Stardew Valley lite' resource management game. With blocky pixel graphics, simple mechanics, and friends to meet along the way, it leans heavily into the relaxing side of cozy gaming. There is a list of hobbies to try out, including gathering, mining, fishing, farming, and cooking.

4 Slime Rancher

A Sandbox Game With Similar Farming Elements To Stardew Valley

Slime Rancher, while not the typical farming game, is a vibrant sim about looking after slimes, breeding chickens, and growing fruits and vegetables. Exploration is a key aspect of the game, as different areas contain new slimes to take back to the farm.

There are some similarities to Stardew Valley that will keep Slime Rancher feeling familiar. Players are given a series of mini-quests to complete by nearby residents, can forage for wild fruits and vegetables, and sell animal products in the form of slime plorts.

3 Roots Of Pacha

Allows Players To Improve A Prehistoric Village With Farming Work

With character customization, a close-knit community to befriend, and pixel art graphics reminiscent of Stardew Valley, Roots of Pacha is a co-op farming sim set in the Stone Age. By connecting with nature, making artisanal goods, growing crops from seeds foraged from the fertile land, and wielding a sharp stone, players are able to turn what was once an empty space into a thriving farm community for their clan.

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Roots of Pacha takes on the best aspects of a typical farming sim by reducing the number of tools a player needs to juggle to just one, eliminating the possibility of prematurely destroying crops and providing a mount to traverse the land on.

2 Coral Island

Allows Players To Revitalize A Polluted Island Through Farming

After leaving big city life behind for Coral Island, players are able to design their dream farm and spend their time exploring, shaping the days however they wish to by diving in coral reefs, mining, and fishing.

With over 70 characters to meet and befriend, there is a lot of emphasis on relationships. From finding their special someone from a cast of 25 unique, dateable townsfolk to conversing with and giving gifts to the locals, Coral Island places just as much focus on friendship as it does farming.

1 Wylde Flowers

A Cozy Farming Sim That Incorporates Magic

Wylde Flowers has a definite narrative ending despite allowing players to continue their farm beyond it. The season is stuck in permanent Spring after the first year of gameplay. However, Wylde Flowers' story and gameplay remain a cozy treat despite the tight deadline.

As Tara, players will learn how to cast spells, brew potions, and even fly a broom. At the same time, players can do everything they expect from a farming game. The garden allows players to grow crops, raise bees, and compost, while the barn lets them raise animals. Crops and animal products are critical for crafting, cooking, and even some potions.

Stardew Valley

Platform(s)

PC , Xbox One , Android , iOS , PS4 , Switch

Released

February 26, 2016

Developer(s)

ConcernedApe

Genre(s)

RPG , Simulation