Search results for "farming"
Jan 11, 2024
Magical Harvest is a farming and life sim with a magical twist and fantasy races of people. Set in the fantasy world of Hyldena, a magical accident erased magic from the world. Magical plants and creatures disappeared as a result. This lead to scarce food supplies and despair. Even the gods have turned their backs on the living, but perhaps you can help restore magic to the world and save everyone.
In Magical Harvest, you run your very own farm. Grow and harvest different crops, both normal types and unique ones. You’ll discover their magical evolutions, too. You’ll also encounter 27 different breeds of animals, including dragons, that you can crossbreed. Fish for a variety of fish species, then cook them up in some tasty dishes. Get to know a variety of characters, each with their own personalities and backgrounds, and fall in love with one if you’re so inclined. And of course you get to design and create your dream farm!
Release Date
You can find Magical Harvest on Steam, where you can Wishlist it. It does not have a release date yet.
Fae Farm is another magical farming sim you might like.
- Jan 10, 2024
Homestead Arcana is set in a stunning world where deadly Miasma threatens life. You play as a farmer witch who settles on the land that this mysterious Miasma corrupted. Spend your days discovering the secrets behind the appearance of the Miasma, as well as caring for your farm by planting and harvesting crops. Then, heal the land of the deadly mystery plaguing it.
Explore areas of Homestead Arcana that are covered in the dangerous Miasma to go toe-to-toe with deadly creatures. Learn why the Miasma came about, but also find fun new things! Venture into the corrupted land to find new plants, seeds, spells, and recipes. You might also find some useful knowledge along the way. Prepare those spells to ready yourself for your toxic adventure.
Release Date
Homestead Arcana is currently available on Steam and Xbox!
If you’re looking for more witchy games, check out Witchy Life Story, Spells & Secrets, and Grimoire Groves.
- Jan 3, 2024
Sprout Valley is a cute farm sim where you step back from the busy city life to live out a low-stress life farming. Play as Nico, the sweet little cat character who just wants to live a peaceful life. Gather resources to improve your island life. Plant and harvest a variety of crops. Explore neighboring islands to collect resources and encounter random shops. There’s even some fun NPCs for you to encounter and get to know!
Story, Audio, and Visuals
Sprout Valley is a pretty simple farming sim. There’s about 15 hours of story gameplay to play through, and it’s mostly farming and resource gathering. This isn’t a deep, story-rich farm sim like Coral Island, Stardew Valley, or Wylde Flowers. There is no exciting lore to infer or theorize about. What you see is what you get.
And I *love* that about this game. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the deep story games, too. It’s just that sometimes you want something simple; something that’s easy to pick up for a few minutes to play, then put it down to continue later down the road. And that’s what Sprout Valley is. It’s perfect for casual gaming. Its focus on farming and resource gathering lets me just mindlessly grow crops or harvest fruit, then go about my day as normal.
Plus, the pixel art with its great color palette that isn’t too bright or bold is one of my favorite aspects. Paired with the audio that isn’t super memorable, but doesn’t overshadow anything, it’s a good combination. I enjoy playing Sprout Valley when I’m winding down for bed because it’s simple and easy to play, look at, and listen to. There’s no tension to raise my blood pressure, or spike my adrenaline and wake me up. Just chill music with some chill farming to relax me.
Controls
The controls, on the other hand, are less than ideal. Sprout Valley seems to rely heavily on players having prior gaming knowledge, and especially prior farming sim/exploration knowledge to get controls and the idea of the game down. There isn’t really a tutorial and purpose right out the gate. Unfortunately, not everything feels intuitive. So even having played farm sims prior to picking up this one, it took time for me to figure out and get used to the controls.
Crafting isn’t too bad, though. Sprout Valley even has multi-crafting, which a lot of games lack. You can select the number of items you wish to craft at the crafting table. However, ordering multiple items is a pain. There is no multi-ordering with a few clicks. You have to repeatedly click to get to the number of items you want to order. You want 100 carrot seeds? Click 100 times! Less than ideal, and slows down your dreams of creating that massive flourishing farm, but not game breaking.
Final Thoughts
Despite the weird controls and lack of multi-ordering, I’ve really enjoyed Sprout Valley. It’s the perfect casual game. It’s adorable, relaxing, calming, and doesn’t have frustrating fishing mechanics or minigames. Nothing is overly complicated or too in your face. It’s laid-back and so cute.
I give it
You can find this adorable game on Steam, Switch, Android, and iOS.
- Jan 3, 2024
Enter a rich world inspired by classic storybook fairy tales in an adorable up and coming game called Farmwand by developer Irreverent Software. You’re a brand new graduate of the Southern Wizarding Academy, and are eager to start your new adventure: life in the great, wide world! Craft your very own wand, ready your robes, and settle on a gorgeous new farm. Explore enchanted forests, brew potions, get to know the local townspeople, befriend some magical creatures, and even solve some mysteries!
Start your magical new journey by customizing your own character with a creator that lets you choose feature shapes, clothes, colors, and more. Then, dive into a deep, vibrant world full of opportunities. Build friendships, fall in love, or even create rivalries. Grow dozens of crops and flowers available in Farmwand. Care for some pretty cute animals like cows, sheep, and horses. Explore exciting areas full of minigames and puzzles that you can solve through magic spells. There’s even a deep lore with festivals, backstories, culture, and history for you to discover!
There’s so much to do in this adorable farm sim, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it!
Release Date
Unfortunately, there is no release date available for Farmwand. You can find it on Steam, though, where you can add it to your Wishlist!
I’m looking forward to Moonlight Peaks releasing this year, and if you haven’t checked it out or tried the demo yet, you should!
- Dec 14, 2023
Christmas is fast approaching! I don’t know where the year has gone, but it’s been full of a load of great new games. Some I’ve played, and many more I’m hoping to play at some point. I bet many of you will receive a lovely new Switch for Christmas, too. And that means you’ll need games for your brand new console. So, here’s a short list of some great new farming games to go with your Switch.
Roots of Pacha
Roots of Pacha is an absolutely adorable farming and life simulation game by developer Soda Den and publisher Crytivo. You get to customize your very own character and be a member of a thriving stone age community. Discover ideas to improve the village, grow and harvest crops from seeds you find in the wild, befriend a variety of cute animals, get to know your fellow tribes mates, and much more.
Fae Farm
Fae Farm is a beautiful farming sim where you cultivate crops, craft items to decorate your home with or sell, and care for adorable farm animals. Befriend a varying cast of townspeople, and even romance some of them. Plus, you even get to venture into the faerie realm, where you’ll see faeries and fantastical creatures not seen in the human realm. Even delve deep into the mines to collect resources, fight enemies, and uncover mysteries!
Palia
Palia is a free-to-play cozy MMO all about farming, cooking, fishing, and exploring. Immerse yourself in a beautiful new world full of interesting characters and compelling storylines. Expand your homestead and build a gorgeous home for yourself. Craft a number of different furniture and decorative items to make your home suit your tastes. You can play solo or with friends, or even party up with strangers, and play at your own pace!
Paleo Pines
Paleo Pines is a charming dinosaur farming game. Customize your character, and embark on a journey to a peaceful little island where pioneers live peacefully with affectionate dinosaurs. On the island, evolution went a different direction – “survival of the kindest” – and resulted in a world where humans and dinosaurs live together in harmony. Much to the delight of the residents of the island, you’re the last known descendant of the Flute Whisperer. Together with your Parasaurolophus, Lucky, you’ll build a ranch, make friends with residents, and discover the history of your lost ancestors. Tame other dinosaurs using your flute-playing skills. Build enough trust with them and they’ll help you with your farm chores!
Wylde Flowers
In Wylde Flowers, you play as Tara as she starts her new life in the town of Fairhaven, located on a small rural island. She may be a city girl turned farmer with little outdoors experience, but she has the can-do attitude needed to help Gramma Wylde take care of the family farm. Learn how to plant and care for crops, mind animals, and gather materials like mushrooms and wood. You’ll also learn to fish, craft items, and all about magic! Craft potions to help you on the farm, or in your quests. Fly your broomstick around town. Even control the weather and the seasons!
- Dec 7, 2023
Remember Garden Galaxy, that adorable little cozy idle game I talked about here? In that one, you’re collecting coins from random visitors to spend in order to get decorations. Then, you take the decor and build your own little landscapes. It’s perfect for really casual gameplay, and so is this next game!
Rusty’s Retirement is another idle game I came across, but this time instead of decorating you’re running a farm. The game sits comfortably at the bottom of your screen so you can continue your tasks while it chugs along doing its thing. You’ll plant crops and watch as Rusty does his thing taking care of them. He’ll water, nurture, and harvest everything you plant. And as you progress, you’ll unlock new crops to plant.
Then, take those crops and manufacture biofuel. Rusty’s Retirement’s biofuel is clean and energy-efficient, and sells for a good bit of money so you can reinvest in your farm. You can also employ a host of cute robots who will help with planting, watering, and harvesting crops. Even customize and upgrade them for increased efficiency.
Don’t worry too much about getting distracted by Rusty’s Retirement, though. You can turn on “Focus Mode” to slow down production to allow you to concentrate on your tasks!
Release Date
This fun farming idler is listed on Steam, where you can add it to your Wishlist. However, there is no specific release date listed. It’s set to come out sometime in the first quarter of 2024, though!
- Nov 30, 2023
Fae Farm is a beautiful farming sim where you cultivate crops, craft items to decorate your home with or sell, and care for adorable farm animals. Befriend a varying cast of townspeople, and even romance some of them. Plus, you even get to venture into the faerie realm, where you’ll see faeries and fantastical creatures not seen in the human realm. Even delve deep into the mines to collect resources, fight enemies, and uncover mysteries!
What’s Great About the Game
The art in Fae Farm is absolutely gorgeous. It’s easy to fall in love with the game based on that alone. The scenery is varied. The NPCs all look different. Even your clothing options are lovely. Then, the furniture and decorating choices are great. You’re sure to find something that suits your style, whatever it may be. Adventuring into the fae realm is probably my favorite part. It’s so whimsical and magical. Even the dungeon is dreamy, though chock full of enemies. The art is absolutely what drew me to the game to begin with!
What I also really like about Fae Farm is that tools switch automatically for you. Walk up to a tree to chop, and you’ll immediately have your axe in hand. Then, go to a rock and poof! There’s your pickaxe! It’s a super handy mechanic that I would love to see in all farming sims. It saves time and lets me switch between activities much faster. Besides that, fast travel unlocks early game. There are several points across the map called Wayshrines that act as fast travel spots. You need to craft a seal from cave resources in order to activate the Wayshrine, but you can accomplish that easily early on. Having fast travel early in the game makes it genuinely useful and not just an afterthought. Plus, the mines have waypoints where you can place seals you’ve crafted in order to get to different levels without going through the whole mine. Think Stardew Valley’s mine elevator, but with more magic and teleporting!
What I Dislike
Unfortunately, Fae Farm has more aspects that I dislike than I like. In order to play multiplayer, or even just name your character, you need to create a Phoenix Labs account. Otherwise, your character’s name defaults to the account name that’s on the system you’re playing on. So, my character’s name is a string of random letters I used for my Steam name. It kind of ruins any romance when my husband calls me by name.
I once wasted a precious Fae Farm day sitting in the crafting menu or almanac menu thinking the game was paused. It certainly was not. The nice thing is that you aren’t negatively affected for passing out after bedtime, so all I truly lost was a day of play time. It didn’t decay friendship points with my critters, and it didn’t ruin any quests. Then there’s the sales tables. The limited sales table spots really get in the way of me mass selling a hoard of items I’ve held onto for too long. It doesn’t inhibit money-making, just clearing out that stack of 600 fibers I probably don’t need so many of.
The exuberant laughing at everything is obnoxious, though. When I accomplish something, I laugh. When talking to an NPC, they laugh instead of speak. None of it is funny! I’d prefer if they muttered some nonsense like Sims do. Unfortunately, the laughing just lends itself to the overall soul-less feel the game has. The NPCs have no deep backgrounds, and their dialogue is repetitive and shallow. There’s not even a point to befriending anyone unless you’re trying to marry them. And there’s only a handful of marriage candidates. Even the festivals feel lifeless. They’re not exciting and engaging. Everything feels very surface level.
Final Thoughts
Don’t get me wrong, Fae Farm is somewhat fun. I’ve put some hours into it, but I’d hoped for a lot more polish for that AAA price tag. A better story with more meaningful characters would have made this game an absolute gem. I’d also like for everyone to have a nose, please! Everything feels so shallow and surface level. I don’t need some deep, dark secrets to go into it, just a little more substance that makes me want to talk to people or do things. And when you add up several minor gripes, things feel lackluster, and that’s what we have here.
Overall, I’d give it:
You can find Fae Farm on Steam and Switch now!
Check out another of my reviews on a magical game: Witchy Life Story!
- Nov 9, 2023
What happens when you take the classic farming sim, throw in some microbe research, and a dash of romance? You get Little-Known Galaxy! This adorable pixel graphics game has you playing the main character, a new captain-in-training. You work with your crew to solve the mysteries of an ancient relic found on the Grey Planet, and live a life full of exploration, crafting, and of course farming!
Your crew initially starts small, with just 20 people, but will slowly grow as you meet new friends. Little-Known Galaxy has all kinds of different NPCs like full families and single people. You get to build relationships with them though chatting, gifting, and more. There are also 10 single people ready for you to woo them! Win their affection and you can eventually marry one, too. Not everyone is human, though. An alien, an android, and a genetic clone are all possible romance characters!
When not romancing and befriending your crew, Little-Known Galaxy lets you engage in quite a few different activities. Take off to new worlds to explore to gather resources for crafting. Collect alien artifacts and gems while out exploring to fill in your museum. Raise cute little pet creatures called Xeno. You’ll need to give them love, attention, and plenty of food to see them thrive. Complete microbe research, or use the microbes you find for crafting or selling. Even rise through the ranks to become a full-fledged captain by completing missions and keeping crew morale up. And when you want to kick back and relax, spend time decorating your living space!
Coming Soon
Little-Known Galaxy is coming soon to Steam. There is currently no release date listed.
One Lonely Outpost is another space-based farming sim.
