6 Best Indie Farming Sims

Highlights

• Standout indie farm sims focus on charming graphics, fun gameplay, and simplicity over grand features.
• Bit Orchard
  offers a unique minimalist approach with simple black, white, and red graphics for an adorable game.
• Moonstone Island
  merges fantasy elements like alchemy and spirits with farming, offering exploration on 100 islands.

Ever since Stardew Valley took off, very few indie farm sims have made as much of an impact on the gaming industry as it has. While that’s understandable given how absolutely adorable and fun the game is, it still overshadows several indie titles that are on par with it, if not better.

A good indie farming game doesn’t need to have a multitude of unnecessarily grand features to be considered one of the best — in fact, less can be more when it comes to a standout title. What truly matters is that it should present charmingly endearing graphics, a fun yet challenging premise, and absolutely gripping gameplay designed to make players lose track of time.

6 World’s Dawn

Inspired By Harvest Moon, A Farm Sim In True Essence

• Released: 2016-01-26
• Developer(s): Wayward Prophet

World’s Dawn is an utterly charming game featuring tiny, adorable characters and gameplay totally inspired by Harvest Moon — a sure sign of quality. It doesn’t exactly bring new elements to the table, but it’s precisely the familiarity of it that makes it so comfortable to play.

Since it’s a farm sim, it’s bound to feature basic farming mechanics like planting and harvesting. Additionally, it has a dynamic weather system that changes consistently with the changing of the seasons, keeping everything on a cohesive theme. Players can fish, cook, explore, mine, forage, build, and even customize their bases. The game features a number of mini-games and adorable NPCs that keep the entire experience exciting.

5 Bit Orchard

Minimalist Graphics With A Black And White Color Palette

• Released: 2021-05-19
• Developer(s): 2Boone Games

Here’s the thing — farm sims are famous for their ‘whimsical’ vibes and colorful graphics, so it’s only natural for them to feature bright and eye-catching visuals that will capture players’ interest immediately. This particular aspect of indie farm sims is where Bit Orchard veers off in a different direction.

Inspired by the original Game Boy, Bit Orchard is a pixel-art game that keeps things as simple as possible. Instead of going for bold themes and flashy lighting, it features a minimalist design with a basic color theme consisting of black, white, and red (for the apples, of course). The premise of the entire game is to complete mini-objectives in order to turn a run-down patch of land into a thriving apple orchard — it’s absolutely adorable!

4 Stillness Of The Wind

Soft And Nostalgic Graphics Reminiscent Of Journey

• Released: 2019-02-07
• Developer(s): Memory of God, Lambic Studios

Indie devs push their creativity to new heights, sometimes more so than mainstream developers, when it comes to innovative game ideas. Stillness of the Wind is a prime example of indie devs going all out with their game’s vision.

The art style of Stillness of the Wind is reminiscent of Journey, and evokes the same “distantly nostalgic” vibes that come off as mysterious and deep in both games. Despite a major adventure element, Stillness of the Wind tries to keep its core gameplay revolving around the concept of ‘slow life.’ Talma’s (the protagonist) entire life purpose is to tend to an isolated patch of land and transform it into a fully functioning farm. She has to grow crops, take care of her cattle, collect eggs, and protect her land from wild animals, all while occasionally interacting with the only other human in this desolate area — a traveling merchant.

3 Kynseed

90s Esthetics In A Modern Indie Farm Sim

• Released: 2022-12-06
• Developer(s): PixelCount Studios

Kynseed is a perfect game for players who are huge fans of the early- and late-90s gaming esthetics. The grungey, 2D visuals of the 90s, defined by games like Ecco the Dolphin and Zombies Ate My Neighbors, make up the inspiration of this game, ultimately giving Kynseed a very vintage look.

Unlike some other farm sims, Kynseed‘s extensive lore and combat sequences make it play like an RPG more than a farm sim. It has a number of dark fantasy elements that really elevate its ambiance in terms of intensity and stakes. Certain features, like the ability to transfer a player’s character stats to their in-game heirs and future generations, are highly innovative and fun to experiment with, making the gameplay more dynamic than an average farm sim.

2 Cornucopia

Unique NPC Mechanics And An Extensive Upgrading System

• Released: 2023-07-31
• Developer(s): Subconscious Games

The features Cornucopia offers to its players are nothing short of extraordinary despite still being in Early Access. It’s an adorable 2.5D pixel-art farm sim that stands out from other similar games because of its relatively complex mechanics. While the main core element of the game is farming, certain aspects make its gameplay fresher.

Cornucopia offers a number of crops and soil types to choose from, each with its own traits and requirements to grow properly. The pet companions in the game are meant to act as fully-controllable and upgradable NPCs that help the player with their farm work and combat. Players can customize and level up their pets, and bring them on different quests and objectives. Players also get to add skills and buffs to their characters to improve their farming potential.

1 Moonstone Island

Fantasy-Themed Farm Sim Set On An Island In The Sky

• Released: 2023-08-20
• Developer(s): Studio Supersoft

Moonstone Island is an open-world fantasy farm sim that offers an extensive world, with 100 different islands for the players to explore. Because the game is set in a fantasy world, it focuses heavily on the typical supernatural elements like alchemy, potions, and taming spirits players expect from the genre. Although it does have a central farming theme, a larger part of the game revolves around exploring and leveling up as a potential alchemy student.

Even the farming mechanics in the game mostly revolve around growing plants and crops in order to brew potions and tame spirits. Players can create, build, and customize their homes according to their preferences, and can interact with a number of NPC characters. Exploring and traveling to other islands is done through brooms, balloons, or gliders, and most biomes have extensive dungeon to explore for loot and combat objectives.