Sent To The Farm(ing Sim) Up State

As much as there had always been a certain cohort of people that really dug (no pun intended) Harvest Moon, it was Stardew Valley - another indie, big surprise! - that helped re-popularize the farming sim genre. Turns out, people just love planting veggies, watching ‘em grow, then harvesting their crops! Who’da thunk.

No Place Like Home

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before - humans wrecked Earth, so they moved to Mars. What’s cool about this farm sim though is that you are heading back to our home planet, cleaning up the place, and building a flourishing farm in the process!

Spirit of the Island

Has demo

There’s an air of colonization and profiteering with this one that… let’s just say, makes me uneasy. (I feel like there’s an interesting piece to be had here about the relationship between colonization and infinitely reproducible land mass, but I digress.) That aside, the idea of starting from nothing and building up a whole community from scratch around you is strong here. You’re not just farming crops here - you’re building an entire town.

Hokko Life

Erring somewhat more into the Animal Crossing side of things, this is a community focused game with plenty of farming, crafting and construction in the mix. Very open ended in its creative freedom potential.

Potionomics

Positively joyous animation work headlines this potion brewing shop sim. Narrative driven with deck building elements, the feedback loop through the systems of this one is quite strong.

Wylde Flowers

An enchanting farming sim with a heavier focus on narrative than most in the genre. You can’t help but be charmed by the expressive characters as you go about your witchy life.

Coral Island

Early access

Laid back farming and living off the land is the name of the game with this one. Here you will find a large cast of diverse characters, plenty to see and do and much relaxation to be had.

Blue Oak Bridge

Early Access

A positively beautiful hand drawn 2D isometric farming sim. Even the negative reviews are just sad the game isn’t working on their PCs! A bit of work to do in early access, but some excellent foundations mean this game has the chance to be awesome with a bit more time.