The 20 Best Farming Games

Animal Crossing: New Horizons was incredibly popular upon release, but it took until the end of 2021 for the game to get an update that meant anyone could consider part of it a farming sim. Amongst the numerous other things you can do in the game, you can now plant crops and tend to them correctly so that they flourish and can be cooked later on. Everything about this game will feed your addictive personality and quickly convince you of its placing here among the very best farming games ever made.

Autonauts stands out amongst the pack by being a farming game in a sci-fi setting. The concept is that you travel to various planets that are uninhabited and you must change this by laying the foundations and eventually having things be automated. Robots helping you out with your farming isn’t usually a part of farming sims but this is a unique and welcome twist on the formula that makes it eligible for this list of the best farming games.

Developed by Indonesian studio Stairway Games, Coral Island puts you on an island that hasn’t been maintained well, with garbage by the ocean and the crops needing to be taken care of. This is of course your role. In addition to farming and ranching, you can also go fishing and diving. You can even befriend and get into a romantic relationship with some of the townsfolk.

Dinkum is a farming game with a little bit of an edge. On a map inspired by the outback, players can farm crops, care for animals, and help the local area thrive by making it attractive for businesses, but they must also defend themselves from deadly animals and hunt other animals to be able to survive. All of these aspects make for a game that’s quite well-rounded and feels a little like an RPG.

If you’re looking for a farming sim that you can enjoy with some friends, Farm Together has multiplayer capabilities and is a great option for it. The game uses a real-time system so that even when you’re offline, time progresses in-game. You can set permission settings so that your friends can come in and tend to your crops while you’re away, making it a bit of a group project. The game also boasts some solid customization settings, including changing your own clothes, your pet, or your house.

As many farming games do, Farmer’s Dynasty kicks off with you inheriting a farm from your grandparents after living in the city for years. This is a game with a storyline that naturally puts an emphasis on relationships and missions as well as farming. In the open world, you’re free to interact with fellow farmers and can even choose to settle down and start a family if you desire.

Released in the spring, the latest installment in the Farming Simulator series is the first in years to be available for handheld devices like the Nintendo Switch. That means it takes somewhat of a hit on graphics compared to its predecessor, but overall it makes improvements that make it genuinely worth getting over Farming Simulator 22. It’s quite beginner-friendly and there are more than a dozen new vehicle brands on offer here too.

Garden Paws is unique in that all of the characters, including you, are animals. That doesn’t take away the story that you inherit a plot of land from your grandparents, but it does make the game unique the rest of the way. You’ll have to make your own house, run your own shop, and be in charge of making sure things are running smoothly across the town. There are also dungeons to clear in the game. All of this can be done with friends or solo.

Originally released right before the turn of the new millennium, Harvest Moon 64 is a classic in the farming sim genre. The game sees you having to restore a farm that was left to you by, you guessed it, your grandfather. Despite being released more than two decades ago, the game lets you take on a bunch of side quests and enter a romantic relationship too.

The first thing you’ll notice after loading up Kynseed is how cool its art style is. The game combines all the elements you love from farming games with some magical RPG elements which isn’t a surprise because the game was made by some of the team that worked on the Fable series. The gameplay features are pretty by the book, but those extra elements help make it stand out.

Littlewood has a unique premise in that it’s set after the events of a massive boss battle that has caused some destruction to a town called "Solemn." You’re now in charge of rebuilding the town and in doing that, have the freedom to redo a lot of it. Completing tasks for the people in the town helps you learn about their past a little bit. The art style for this game is also pretty colorful and simple.

Sure, mining and crafting is naturally a big part of Minecraft, but anyone who’s dived into the game and its various modes knows there’s a lot more to do than that. Farming is a big part of the game and can help you gather otherwise hard-to-get resources. Some of the farms you can work on are a sugar farm, an "Enderman" farm, a wool farm, a lava farm, and so much more.

Developed by Pathea Games and published by Team17, My Time At Portia is a game that combines aspects of RPGs and sims. In this one, you’re not just restoring land left to you by a family member, but doing that in a post-apocalyptic world too. But the world isn’t as dark and gloomy as your average post-apocalyptic one either. On top of farming, the game lets you explore mines, play minigames, and more.

If you’re looking for a farming game as a fan of hack and slashers, look no further than Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin. It may seem like a strange mix of genres, but the game actually pulls it off very well. You’ll farm different kinds of rice and the way they’re doing will actually change the way that your character performs in fights, which are stakes you don’t usually have in farming simulators.

Slime Rancher sees you moving to a different planet called the "Far Far Range" to become the equivalent of a farmer there. What this game mainly consists of is searching for these aliens called Slimes and breeding and feeding them so that they produce "plorts," which can be sold for money and reinvested into the land. It’s not all easy though as the new planet does house the more threatening "Tarr Slimes."

Many consider Stardew Valley to be the pinnacle of farming sims, at least for this current generation. Developed, designed, and published by ConcernedApe, the game is non-linear and allows you to do pretty much everything you’d ever want to in a sim game, including but not limited to socializing with townsfolk, fishing, cooking, getting married, and having children. The game does these generic conventions incredibly well. There are also mods so that you can enhance the game as you please too.

If you squint, Staxel looks a little like a Minecraft clone and while it does use the same voxel style, the focus is indeed on farming here. The game has a relaxing feel and is best enjoyed at the end of a long day with some friends.

Pioneers of Olive Town is one of the newer games in the STORY OF SEASONS series. The game lets you farm and do all the life sim things you can think of, with over 200 unique events that come from interacting with the townsfolk. If you’re a long-time fan of the series, you might be interested in the expansion pass (which does cost extra money, of course), but introduces characters from previous installments of the series.

Sun Haven takes place in a medieval land where fantasy is real and magic is fairly common, even dark magic. When you’re not farming, you’re forging armor or furniture, learning magic, raising livestock, defeating bosses, getting married or just exploring. 

Last but most certainly not least, developed by Re-Logic, Terraria is an action-adventure sandbox that first came out in 2011 and has since been ported to various platforms. The game gives players a lot of freedom, putting them in a rich, procedurally generated 2D world. Exploring, crafting, building, combat, and survival are all names of the game here. Starting with basic tools and growing across the hours of playtime is a rewarding experience.