Masterpost of Farming Simulation Games that aren't HM/SoS/RF

All other video games not related to the main farming series - Pokemon, Stardew Valley, My Time at Portia, and other indie-developed games.
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Kikki
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Grow (Song of the Evertree) was a fun and interesting game, but it didn't feel like a farming game to me at all. A little bit like a garden-tending game, where you're being someone else's gardener, since you don't actually have much choice in how anything turns out. The seed mechanic for growing branches was neat, it was nice to see things fill out and turn out in strange colour combos. It was definitely a major step up from Yonder, for me...if their next game is as much of an improvement over Grow as Grow was over Yonder, I'm going to love it.

I've also played Garden Paws (on Switch, though it's on PC and possibly other places, too) but not enough to say how good it is. It has nice graphics and a large world. Unfortunately ALL the characters are animals, and that is a severe turn-off for me. I have no interest in pretending to live a cat, dog or bunny's life. (Nor a dragon or unicorn or any other animal.) That makes it nigh-on impossible for me to get into the game. I'll have to have another go some time, though, as I had a game-breaking bug that did eventually get patched, but I never went back after that. I"m not comfortable giving it any bigger review, having only played a few hours until I hit that bug in the main story questline, and it's a game you're liable to sink 100+ hours into. If you like the idea of playing as a chibi animal, and you like exploration and shop-tending with the things you gather and/or grow or craft yourself, you'd probably love Garden Paws.
Velvet
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Kikki wrote: Aug 18, 2022 6:41 am There's very little of people actually talking about PLAYING these games :(
It would help if you listed the games that you've already played!

I haven't played a lot of these games, either, for the same reason as you: it's hard to judge them from the reviews.

But in case you haven't played some of these:

Out of major games My Time at Portia should definitely be played, along with Stardew Valley, of course.

Out of minor games (with farming only a side thing) I can point out The Graveyard Keeper as a definite masterpiece. Don't Starve is also a masterpiece, but of its own genre, as it has a very different gameplay from farming games: it's a survival game with a big following. Oxygen Not Included is also a masterpiece, but again of its own genre. I still recommend them.

Among small games, Lemon Cake is a very nice gem if you like cooking and money-making games a lot more than gardening, I loved it because I'm a fan of tycoons and other games like that. You're managing a bakery and sell your cooking. Alchemy Story I played a little and lost interest, maybe because only your character is a human, all the rest are animals, which was a turn-off. The rest of the game seemed ok, though, but I can't judge after playing only a little. Plants vs Zombies is a cult game, but it's tower-defense and it plays nothing like farming games.

There's a separate category of farming games I know of, afaik it's dubbed time-management. Like Alice Greenfingers on the list. I know dozens of games like it and I've enjoyed playing them, they're all time-management games with levels, though. I can list all those I know, but I'm not sure it's warranted? Although they DO have more to do with farming than many other games on the list, like Lemon Cake or Don't Starve, let alone Plants vs Zombies :) So maybe I should write up a list, but I feel like such games need to be included as a separate category in that case, their gameplay is very distinct. To sample it, I'll point out a couple of playlists from a Youtuber I used to watch:
Spoiler:

Unfortunately she doesn't show intro and tutorials and doesn't comment, so it may be a little difficult to appreciate. But at least you can get an idea.
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Kikki
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Thanks, I appreciate the feedback. :) But it's not about the games I've played. I'd just like to see people talking more about their non Bokumono and non-Stardew farming game adventures in general, for *everyone's* sake, not mine specifically. I don't mean to say 'hey guys, give ME feedback!' I want it for everybody, as a general thing. This thread is so useful, but I was feeling like I wasn't seeing any discussion generated by it...meaning: nobody talking about the games listed here except the ones most of us have played (MTaP, for example, is one that almost everybody here has played, it seems. I was a backer for MTaP, personally, and it was a great game, though a not such a great console-backer experience. Not a fan of Stardew, though, tbh. It's okay but I never grew fond of it as I didn't like the characters or the graphics, and I played on Switch where I couldn't mod anything more to my liking. I did complete the story, though...finished the community centre. I liked the community centre schtick.)

I hope to try Sun Haven and Kynseed on Steam Deck soonish, but...I'd really rather wait for full release. If you play in early access, you can never actually complete the game, and that really bothers me since I keep track of my backlog.

I'll be trying Potion Permit later in September. Not sure if it has farming.

Strange Horticulture is really fun and interesting, but it's not a farming game, though it is partly a gardening game, since you tend your flowers a little bit (though just by watering them,a nd it doesn't actually matter if you ever do.) It's more of a...mystery/puzzle game with a witchy naturalist feeling.

EDIT: Oh, I may as well ask a question, then, since a few people have played Graveyard Keeper. How disgusting is it? Steam hid it from me due to the violence and gore category (you have to check off a box to allow certain categories to show up for you, and I didn't check that one, cuz...ew.) I really don't want to make corpse sausages and sell them to villagers, y'know?
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I see what you mean. I'd definitely want to see more game impressions and discussions, as well.

I'm also not a huge fan of Stardew. My thoughts are pretty much just like yours, I like the community center thing, but didn't really like the characters very much. Although fortunately I played on PC, so I've found a mod that changes their graphics eventually. That mod helped a lot! But the fact that such a thing even exists is very telling, a lot of people were put off by character graphics.
Kikki wrote: Aug 31, 2022 2:20 am I hope to try Sun Haven and Kynseed on Steam Deck soonish, but...I'd really rather wait for full release.
I've been waiting for Kynseed for years now to release and didn't want to try it beforehand, I prefer full games. But the last I've heard, it's abandoned? I just might buy it as is, because the developer made really great games before, which is why I was interested in Kynseed to start with.
Kikki wrote: Aug 31, 2022 2:20 am Oh, I may as well ask a question, then, since a few people have played Graveyard Keeper. How disgusting is it? Steam hid it from me due to the violence and gore category (you have to check off a box to allow certain categories to show up for you, and I didn't check that one, cuz...ew.) I really don't want to make corpse sausages and sell them to villagers, y'know?
I didn't find it disgusting. You can extract meat out of corpses, I rarely did it though, as the game penalizes you for it: you can't get a proper burial if you mangle the corpse. That's the only thing I remember that could come off vaguely disgusting. The game plays a lot like My Time at Portia. It's about building and alchemy to enhance your church and to create better sermons, as well as to enhance the graveyard and to give better burials.
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Velvet wrote: Sep 01, 2022 4:24 pmI've been waiting for Kynseed for years now to release and didn't want to try it beforehand, I prefer full games. But the last I've heard, it's abandoned? I just might buy it as is, because the developer made really great games before, which is why I was interested in Kynseed to start with.
No worries! Kynseed is still actively being worked on. It's been regularly updated all along, and they post news updates every week, I believe it is. They can be seen actively on Steam itself (though for some reason they haven't posted about their updates in a while, though they do put news up still) and on their own site and on Twitter. Possibly other places, too, but those are the ones I know of. IT sounds like they're getting close to 1.0, but they were hoping to release it early this year, so I figure they'll be about a year past when they planned to get to 1.0...I don't think they're going to make it in 2022. (Though they might.) I already own it as a 'piggy-backer', but have avoided playing it for the not-liking-early-access reason.

~

That's good to know about Graveyard Keeper. I like to do things the best/most-efficient way, so if the game rewarded you for harvesting corpse bits, I'd feel like I had to, and I REALLY wouldn't want to. I'm thinking of it mostly for my youngest sister, though, and she's the kind of naughty snark-monster who likes to do bad stuff in games. She likes to tell Rover to get lost and mind his own business in Animal Crossing...stuff like that. I dunno why, I guess she's just interested in what'll come of the not-a-nice-guy route, when one is available.

Not me. I'm a goody-two-shoes down to my bones. I always want to be the good guy...the paladin, even. In fiction, anyway. Possibly IRL, too, not 100% sure on that one.

EDIT: According to the Kynseed devs, as of August 6th, they were still hoping they're gonna hit 1.0 within 2022. Also, dunno who else this may be relevant for, but they're running tests on the game for Steam Deck (it's already currently workable, though not ideal, it sounds like) and are working to have it verified.
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I found a game called Horse Tales: Emerald Valley Ranch, Bluie. It's not in early access, but it's going straight to full release on November 3 on Steam and November 1 on Switch. (I feel like those dates are amuck, but that's how they're listed on the respective sites!) It's a game about rebuilding an abandoned ranch, capturing wild horses, and breeding horses. There seems to be some exploration, too, and the world is fairly pretty.

I opened the tags, did a find-search, and didn't see it. Though I'm pretty sure I did that once and still managed to miss a game that was already listed. Hope that didn't happen this time.
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I'll add it. There's also another game in the 'upcoming' section of the eShop that I'm trying to figure out if it's shovelware or not. Life in Willowdale: Farm Adventures. It both looks legit, but also kinda not? The publisher does not give me a lot of confidence.
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Oh yeah, I saw that one! The character design is SO WEIRD. It's the...so ugly it's cute category, I think. They look...derpicus maximus, I think is the term I need. Seems it's going to PS4 and PS5 and Switch, too. Which means probably Xbox as well, though I didn't immediately come on a link for that. I'm slightly interested, though I want to see more.
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Wasn't sure if I should post this here, or in the news thread. But Everdream Valley now has a demo on Steam (I'm currently downloading it on Deck, since I asked the dev and they said it does work there.) I'm not happy with having to play as a child character, but the colours are so beautiful, I have to try it.

EDIT: It does work. The colours are GORGEOUS and in general it's a very pretty game. I really don't like playing as a little kid, though, and being able to choose gender doesn't impact that...I'm still running around as a child doing chores for their grandparents, which I don't want to be.

I've noticed a bunch of cutscenes/video portions don't work on Steam Deck, though. With many games, it seems. A TV-test-pattern appears for a second and then it skips over it.
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Currently updating the list. Will edit this post if there's something to report.

Edit: Added quite a few games that released quietly this year, but also have glowing reviews. Ranch Simulator, Core Keeper, Traveler's Rest, Another Farm Rougelike, Tuin, Garden of the Sea, and PomoFarm. Also, two games also released today; The Wandering Village and Ankora: Lost Days.

I've also added the new Disney game and Fae Farming that was shown off in the Direct yesterday. Happy Farming, y'all.
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We've got so many early access and upcoming farming games now, it's hard to keep track. I did come across one called Voltaire: The Vegan Vampire, though, which I'll put here because it's a unique twist. It's a farming game, but also a roguelite. You're the youngest (rebellious!) son of Dracula and set out to prove your old man's ways wrong by eshewing blood in favour of beets (apparently with the help of your uncles, Frank and Stein.) Your dad sends his minions to attack your farm at night to try to beat you into submission, so you can farm during the day (somehow!), but you spend your nights protecting that farm.

It actually sounds really interesting, especially since you can apparently fall off the blood wagon (I assume this means you might bite people sometimes) and then have to climb back on. Dunno if it's just supposed to be funny or cute, or if it represents a legitimate desire to convert meat-eaters to veganism, but either way, if the fighting doesn't look too stressful, I'd totally try this, it looks really unique.
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Bunhouse Trailer

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@Bluie

Coral Island Early Access will be released on the 11th of October 2022, not 22nd.
Velvet
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The list states that Pokemon games have a farming aspect, could someone pls elaborate? That's news to me. The ones I've played definitely didn't have anything like that.

Also, Chocobo Dungeon? I've played one of those, and I can't remember anything alike, either.
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Velvet wrote: Oct 15, 2022 7:11 pm The list states that Pokemon games have a farming aspect, could someone pls elaborate? That's news to me. The ones I've played definitely didn't have anything like that.
Some of the main series Pokémon games let you grow your own berries. You plant them along routes, water them, and they will grow after a certain amount of real-world time has passed. I’m assuming that’s why they’re on the list, since the list links to the Bulbapedia article on berries :)
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