12 Best Games Like Harvest Moon That You Should Know Update 04/2024

Games Like Harvest Moon

When searching for games like Harvest Moon, you’ve probably exhausted all of your crops, wooing people, and tending to livestock, but there are plenty other comparable games to keep you occupied.

You can find the best games like Harvest Moon here, whether you’re seeking for a spiritual sequel to the original or something a little more unique to satisfy your cravings. It is our goal to make sure that you don’t waste your time and money on games that you can’t play.

Here are some of the best Harvest Moon-like games we’ve come across.

1. Graveyard Keeper

Graveyard Keeper

When it comes to management sims, Graveyard Keeper is an excellent choice for those who prefer their games with a grim twist. With its pixelated 16-bit graphics, Graveyard Keeper bears some resemblance to Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley, but it stands out for its innovative twist on the simulator genre, which requires players to preserve a decaying medieval burial place. Digging up graves and taking part in witch burnings take precedence over running a farm and finding a spouse. Have you had enough of the cheesy nonsense? You should play Graveyard Keeper.

2. Travellers Rest

To get a sense of what Travellers Rest is like, imagine taking the Harvest Moon games and putting the player in charge of a medieval-era tavern full of thirsty customers. Along with brewing and cooking, you’ll also be able to decorate your tavern and farm, interact with the locals, and progress your character’s skills. Even though it’s set to be released in Steam Early Access over the next few days, for now you can download the free demo.

3. Valheim

Valheim

Let’s get this party started. Although Valheim is a survival game, it shares enough similarities with Harvest Moon to warrant inclusion on this list of games.

To avoid starvation in Valheim, for example, farming is a vital part of long-term survival. Since you must make a tool and cultivate land before planting seeds and guarding your crops from animals in this game, farming is more difficult than in Harvest Moon. However, if you’re a fan of farming in Harvest Moon, then Valheim is a good place to start. Fans of Harvest Moon who want to take care of livestock may love the game’s animal taming and management features.

4. Staxel

Staxel appears to be a Minecraft farming mod at first appearance. A voxel-based editing tool lets you construct and modify your farm in real time, regardless of how it looks. Staxel, on the other hand, distinguishes itself from Minecraft’s survival mode by focusing only on farming and role-playing. It’s possible to relax while rebuilding an ancient farm to prosperity by socializing with new neighbors, undertaking quests, and fishing, among other activities. You can also become neighbors with real-life pals online in Staxel, much as in the finest agricultural games.

5. The Sims 4

The Sims 4

When discussing life-simulation games, it would be blasphemous not to mention The Sims. Fortunately, The Sims 4 is a faithful progression of the framework laid down by the nearly 20-year-old first game, which is guaranteed to please lovers of the genre and novices in quest of a fresh, less chaotic environment.

Everything is possible in this universe, according to The Sims 4. You can become an astronaut, a gang leader, or a conservationist, all of which require you to go into space. Your house will be built, you’ll discover a partner, and you’ll have children. Same-sex couples are permitted to adopt and even give birth to a kid of their own. I know that I can’t possibly cover everything there is to know about The Sims 4, but if you’re looking for the ultimate life simulator, you can’t go wrong with The Sims 4.

6. Garden Paws

Garden Paws is a beautiful life sim that borrows heavily from Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon, but it also adds its own unique touch with animal taming, shopkeeping, a surprisingly extensive crafting system, and seamless Twitch streaming connection. In order to deliver the most calming, dreamlike experience possible, the visuals and sound have been fine-tuned. There are a lot of quests that take a lot of time and effort to complete, which makes it even better for wasting time in the grey real world while playing Garden Paws.

7. Farming Simulator 19

Farming Simulator 19

Harvest Moon fans who don’t care about the town or the romance can find a suitable replacement in Farming Sim 19, which focuses solely on managing a farm. When it comes to video game farming, you won’t find a turtle mayor or leaves that convert into living room furniture here.

However, Farming Simulator 19 is as helpful as any other game for people seeking a sense of serenity. A wide variety of farm animals, including realistic-looking ones, may be cared for in Farming Simulator 19’s enormous open-world surroundings. You can also ride your horses over the vast landscapes. Farming Simulator 19 is a great way to relax after a hard day of work if you’re not a fan of romance, magic, and talking cows.

8. Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles

Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles, one of the list’s more graphically stunning entries, is as sweet, carefree, and innocent as its title suggests. The enormous, sweeping landscapes glisten against light sources in a way reminiscent to Breath of the Wild as the weather shifts from brilliant sunshine to blazing orange twilight and starlit night.

Everything you see here is a visual treat, and it’s a good thing because there’s a lot of exploration to be done here. Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles, like most of the games on this list, does not feature any combat or killing. There’s some tension here because your primary objective is to clear the unknown island where you’re stranded of the “murk,” a multicolored cloud that’s causing anxiety amongst everyone. You’re on a tropical island where the only purpose is to relax and make everyone else relax as well. There’s no pressure to hurry through the game, so take your time and enjoy the sights and sounds around you.

9. My Time at Portia

My Time at Portia

If you like your farming simulations with a little RPG and crafting thrown in, look no further. If you are a fan of science fiction, My Time at Portia should not be overlooked. All the things you can do in any other life-sim/farming game are here, including fighting monsters, exploring, building things and mining for materials. As if that wasn’t enough, Portia allows you to have children through either pregnancy or adoption.

Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon are genre standards, but My Time at Portia adds new mechanics from other popular genres, such as exploration, dungeon-crawling and crafting, to the mix. The finest thing is that it incorporates each component into the experience with a sense of personality that penetrates the entire journey.

10. Stardew Valley

Just like the 16-bit period Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley is today’s leading agricultural sim phenomenon, capturing the visual and spiritual essence of the game. However, modding aside, Stardew Valley is a wonderful respite from the daily grind of life and gaming.

This is a far cry from Harvest Moon’s beginning, where you begin with a modest plot of land inherited from your late grandfather that you would gradually develop into a lush, rich farm. Harvest Moon’s romance system is improved in Stardew Valley, which introduces the first same-sex marriage in the genre. As a fan of Harvest Moon who wants a comparable experience in a more expensive package, Stardew Valley is the game for you.

11. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Animal Crossing New Horizons

Please feel free to save this list for later and play any of the mainline Animal Crossing games if you’re seeking for a game like Harvest Moon but haven’t played Animal Crossing yet. Fans old and new are being drawn in by Animal Crossing: New Horizons because of the game’s colorful, expressive palette of life-sim characteristics and customizability options.

No matter how large-scale New Horizons is, its essential idea hasn’t changed in the past two decades. Fish for rare and expensive catch, upgrade and decorate your home island and your warm nook, and celebrate holidays in an enchanting small world full of adorable and frequently humorous characters. In a way, Animal Crossing is complementary to Harvest Moon, yet it stands on its own as a distinct experience from anything else on the market.

12. Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town

Friends of Mineral Town is the newest addition to the Story of Seasons series, which has been renamed Harvest Moon and is currently available on Nintendo Switch as Story of Seasons. When Harvest Moon: Story of Seasons was initially released on the 3DS in 2014, the 3D formula presented in Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland was successfully updated. Critics and players alike have praised Harvest Moon: New Horizons, making it the ideal game to play if you just want more Harvest Moon.

See our list of the greatest farming games if you’d want to go on another farming journey.

With an English degree from Arizona State University under my belt, I began freelancing for publications like as SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG while also working in the field of content management. Now that I’m a Staff Writer for GamesRadar, I’m responsible for managing the site’s west coast executive branch, which is just my apartment, and blogging about whatever horror game I’m too terrified to complete.