General Discussion

How about Palia or Paleo Pines? They're both pretty small games in early development but they're super cute and have a ton of potential!

[quote name="Vardia" date="2023-10-25 17:39:39" ] Sun Haven might be up your alley! It's a high fantasy Stardew basically. Fields of Mistria isn't out yet, but it looks like it'll be a good farming sim! [/quote] +1 for Sun Haven, I got really addicted :'D Also Rune Factory 5 is nice (or any previous title, haven't played those though) Also, maybe a bit far from the farm sim (even if it has elements) I REALLY recommend Dave the Diver, maybe worth a look into some trailer and a bit of gameplay! And the characters and humor are great, it's so chill and the OST is great, too! Really enjoyed this game

Valheim?

If you have any interest in RPG's (or don't mind them), I had a great time in Harvestella! That was actually the game to get me into farming sims, even if it's only half the game.

Definitely second Terraria, its one of my favorite survival crafting type games and the cave exploration and progression in the game are great. It's the kind of game where you might need to check the wiki though because it doesn't tell you everything or hold your hand much.

If you liked Minecraft's general gameplay but not it's open-endedness, you might like Vintage Story which is a more structured survival game where you progress through various ages (stone through steel atm).

Roots of Pacha came out a little while ago and it's inspired by Stardew Valley and I think on Nov. 14 it's Coral Island's 1.0 release! Bear and Breakfast is very relaxing as well. I've also heard Potion Permit is good!

For farming/life sim, you HAVE to try Paleo pines and Spiritfairer!

I've heard Paleo Pines is pretty good, it's a cute life-sim/farming game where you befriend dinosaurs and grow crops in your own ranch. It came out just recently and I'm thinking of getting it for the Xbox Series X when Christmas rolls around.

sorry for long post, op, but building/life sim/farming sim/open world-y games are my bread and butter. i'm always on the hunt for my perfect life sim game so i have played... so many.

Rune Factory 4(s) - SWITCH/PC
- whether to get rf4 or rf5 is a hot debate among rune factory fans. there's a long storied history as to why 5 has more jank/awkwardness.
- what is it: farming sim with combat/rpg/monster taming elements. extremely in-depth town and romance mechanics. almost no decorating aspects. crafting that is simple on surface but complex when you head towards endgame.
- has a really long story. the credits roll three times iirc.
- original rf4 is on the 3ds, but an upgraded version called rf4s is on the switch & pc. the QOL on rf4s is significant but subtle.

Garden Paws - SWITCH (unstable, behind a few updates) / PC
- indie title where you play as a chibi animal and do lots and lots of quests to progressively unlock more crafting stations, areas, animals, mounts, and even another island in later years.
- has huge decorating aspects and good UI/controls for it, but these can be ignored if the shop/crafting mechanic interests you more. can place anything just about anywhere

Sun Haven - PC
- i bought into this during early access and they changed so much of the game i ended up not liking it anymore. i also had a lot more crashes, and have heard some negative things about some devs not being credited/paid. i haven't played any recent updates so YMMV

Paleo Pines - SWITCH/PC
- collect dinosaurs through a taming minigame to bring back to your ranch. dinos have powers that can be used to clear areas of debris or help you farm. absolutely no crafting mechanic, though, don't be fooled. if you like crafting this is not it.
- 99% of this game is going "awwww cute dino" and unlocking more areas to find more dinos. it's very shallow but cute.

The Good Life - SWITCH/PC
- turn into a cat or dog to explore a small english town and take pictures of things to post online or turn in to quests. big map to explore. lots of quests. exploring as an animal is fun.
- photography/life sim. very very mild farming mechanics. stuff is locked behind questlines and there's some frustrating tedium in achievements/minigames.

APICO - PC (idk if it's on switch)
- collect fantasy bee species, breed them, and produce honey. decorative aspects but they are minor. fun in a repetitive way. some exploration aspects (there's multiple islands, which have diff bees).
- some bees have incredibly specific criteria to obtain, which can be frustrating.

Cattails & Cattails: Wildwood Story (SWITCH/PC)
- warrior cats the game
- play as a cat. in the first game, you join an existing colony (eventually you can make your own) and spend time gathering food to eat and turning in items to the main "temple" like stardew valley's community center.
- in the second game, you create your own colony from the start and turn in items to get more residents, which unlock buildings and tasks. second game is much much better than the first.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 (SWITCH/PC)
- minecraft but with VASTLY more direction and quests. you build up specific towns by fulfilling their building/area requests. block builder like MC. more in-depth combat and story by leagues.
- some colony sim mechanics. residents from the disparate islands will come live on your main island, which you can build up. you can make things like restaurants, war rooms, bathrooms, etc, and your residents will actually use them. has livestock care as well.
- the first game is objectively worse, only buy it if you really liked 2.

Rain World - SWITCH/PC
- this is not a farming nor a crafting game. this is a difficult survival platformer. this is also incredibly open-ended. there's not much of a gathering aspect either, there's very little stockpiling.

Slime Rancher - SWITCH/PC
- only played 1 so far, but having a lot of fun with it.
- collect slimes, place them in corrals on ranch. keep them fed so that they behave and you can sell their byproducts. unlock upgrades and explore further in the open world.
- you can combine most slimes into visually unique "largos" which produce both slimes' byproducts. this is the backbone of the economy. largos that try to combine with a third slime type turn into "tarr" which mulitply/can wreck your ranch.
- very open world, not a whole ton of direction. rewards exploration heavily, though.
only just saw it in your played list LOL

Witchspring R (PC)
- play as a young witch. rpg turnbased combat, go around collecting stuff to rarely make potions. lots of exploration and some pet taming. detailed story and the combat is pretty fun.

Bugsnax (SWITCH/PC)
- creature collector where collecting the creatures is like mini-puzzles. creatures are consumed after capture, you can't keep them. :(
- technically a horror game under a veneer of cutesy. lots of characters and story.
- could not get it to work with my controller so i gave up.

Caves of Qud (PC)
- hard to explain uh... it's a roguelike survival-y kind of game with a fascinating world. it has strict death penalties but they can be turned off. controls take some getting used to.
- you're basically just dropped in and told, "survive". very immersive sim, rewards stupid stuff. i got a spell that let me teleport around and because i couldn't complete the first quest i just teleported around the huge map instead.
- map is enormous and has many many cave layers.

Cult of the Lamb (SWITCH/PC)
- complete roguelike minidungeons, return to your colony-sim like cult to take care of them. make food, assign jobs, and get resources from them to spend in building up the cult or empowering yourself in the dungeons.
- no real survival elements but there is, i think, an optional gamemode somewhere to make it so that you have to eat. your cultists definitely have to eat, though, they'll starve and die.
- surprisingly in-depth cult mechanics and very fun rituals to unlock. stuff like resurrecting the dead, or allowing your cult to eat follower flesh without penalty.

Blue Oak Bridge (PC)
- farming sim with gorgeous pretty graphics. controls were messy. has pets and animals.
- had instability issues on my older computer, so refunded it. haven't tried it on my proper pc. looking at it now it has pretty negative reviews about the controls/bugs still unfortunately

Dread Delusion (PC)
- exploration in a unique and dark world. huge morrowind vibes.
- quests give direction. world is small so it's not hard to stumble over interesting things. crafting mechanics are very small, and there's little survival elements. no building elements.
- still a very fun world to explore with interesting conflicts and aesthetics.

Gedonia (PC)
- oft described as "single player WOW"
- open world, quests give direction. you get a mount and are set loose. lots of fun stuff to do and see. made by one person i think?
- translation/text has some issues. character stat customization is very strict; you are forced to commit to a certain build and you will never get enough stat points to branch out. fun customization visually though.

Alek the Lost Kingdom (PC)
- colony sim-y survival where you go around obtaining resources as a player and put them in your "general store" and build buildings for your populace and stuff.
- combat is bad, and the game LOVES throwing huge hoards of enemies at you that trash your entire city. it was enjoyable until then, which i found frustrating enough to quit.

Hokko Life (PC)
- animal crossing tries to meet stardew valley. gather materials to craft stuff to build up a town. the characters are a little more distinct in hokko life than in animal crossing, it's less just "freebuild".
- supposedly there's a fascinating furniture creation/decoration mechanic but i never reached it, as -
- ui/dialogue was terrible. i gave up very quickly. experienced bugs literally right away. most of the dialogue was slow, one-word responses and bogged the entire game down.

Stuff I've bought but haven't played enough yet:
Outpath - literally have not tried at all yet but i'm very excited to.
Wildmender - has some jank but the freedom of placement of plants is fun. Crafting doesn't seem to be very important
Cuisineer - go into roguelike dungeons, come back out with supplies to cook and sell in your restaurant. i've not really touched it though
Moonstone Island - really struggled getting my controller to work, but finally got it figured out a bit ago. has monster taming aspects and meager crafting.
Pumpkin Days - could not get it to run.
Alchemy Story - seemed cute and fun but instability/lots of crashing made me refund it.
Ranch of Rivershine - felt very expensive for what it was when i bought it during early access. limited horse coats/types and no controller support.

there is more but this is already too long. if you have a specific game title feel free to ask me if i've played it and i'll give my opinion.