Farming/life sims you're most looking forward to

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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We've had a massive influx, and the Farming Games stickied thread is overflowering with names. Steam is PACKED with existing and upcoming games, and now even consoles have a load of farming/life-sims headed their way. Many are low-budget indies, some of which look very creative...but we're even starting to get big budget stuff and games by bigger, professional dev teams, which...may be good, or not. It's actually really hard to keep track, now, even with a list. I'm sure I've missed noticing some. Which farming/life-sims are you looking forward to the MOST? You don't have to limit yourself to games upcoming in 2022.

I'm betting Coral Island is going to score high, as for some reason, it's caught the attention of the masses more than anything else, though I personally don't have it at the top of my list...it's hanging more around the middle, as I've been a bit disappointed by a few things about it.

Personally, Sun Haven is very high on my list due to having so many fantasy characters and a fantasy setting and a gorgeous jewel-toned palette. Sunny Side is well up there, too, as they're putting insane levels of detail into every feature and it's interesting that they're going really deep on characters and events...I'm interested to see if a whopping 24 candidates, each with their own set orientation so that they have strong backstories specific to them alone, will work out, as well as the more-realistic farming. Kynseed looks really unique in gameplay with the generation mechanics and other things (though their specific type of pixel art is very fussy and eye-stressy for me), and I definitely want My Time at Sandrock, though I didn't back it and will be waiting for full release (and it's not really a farming sim, imo, any more than Portia was...it has a little farming in it, but it's all about being the best crafter/builder, NOT a farmer. Not sure if Sandrock puts any more of an emphasis on it than Portia, but I figure probably not, as it's just not their brand. Though what they have is good and makes it distinct from the flood...they're probably doing well to stick with it.)

So...I think those four get my top spots. They're each very unique within the genre, putting their own spin on it, but seem to have enough that is familiar to make them inviting. (I love the genre, so I don't want it completely reinvented.) Honorable mentions go to:
  • No Place Like Home
  • Immortal Life
  • One Lonely Outpost
    and maybe...
  • Witchbrook
  • Coral Island
  • Farm Folks
  • Song of the Prairie
  • Lightyear Frontier
  • Voltaire: The Vegan Vampire
I'm following another 10+ games in addition to those, but none of them have the distinct hook that makes them stand out from the crowd that these others seem to have. They blend into generic farming sims a bit more. (Not that that's bad, if they do it well.)

What games in the Fogu-favourite genre are you guys most looking forward to? I'm wondering if I've missed any especially notable games in the flood.
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greensara
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I had actually forgotten which one Coral Island was until I looked it up again, lol. It's the one with the "Lilo and Stitch" looking people. It looks okay but apparently wasn't very memorable to me. :lol:

Ones that are not out yet that I am looking forward to playing or finding out more about are (in no particular order):

My Time at Sandrock

Snacko

The Cattails sequel

Sunnyside

Fae Farm

I am sure there are more I am forgetting. There are a bunch that are out too that I haven't gotten to.
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Kikki
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I continually forget about Snacko. But then, even when I'm looking at it, I can't make up my mind if I'm interested or not. I also am not sure yet about Fae Farm...its biggest draw by the way they've presented it seems to be that it's a multiplayer game, which isn't a plus for me. The colour palette is really nice, though...rich and mixed, not pastel or dark. It's strange to me that it doesn't appear to have any story info available. I thought I'd be able to find the plot framework for it but I can't figure out what it is. Particularly with it being called an RPG. I did see you 'restore the world', but...from what? Pollution? Climate? Human influence? War? Bad fairies? I can't figure out who the primary market for it is. It's cute enough to keep an eye on but I hope they'll give more info out pre-release.

Well...with the amount of games headed our way, I hope even we jaded old digital-farming pros will find a few standouts that do a really good job and add their own flavour rather than just providing the genre with some featureless filler. I'm pretty happy with how many unique twists I've been seeing in some of the upcoming stuff.
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greensara
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Honestly I can't remember what the actual plot was marketed as in the Direct. I just remember liking the art, the concept of farming fairies, and the possibility of playing with my girls if it's decent, since they love fairies. At this point it's more of one I want to hear more about.
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Mikodesu
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Right now My Time at Sandrock is by far the one I'm most looking forward to. It's still a unique twist on the Bokumono formula, and Sandrock looks like a huge jump from Portia. Roughly the same, just...Sandrock is comparatively REALLY polished.

Aside from that there's not much. My farm sim snobbery has me all but insist that they do something different mechanically, and not many have. I'm willing to forgive a lot in terms of graphical fidelity and some on glitches for creativity. But on the other hand, if there's no creativity I want to see a LOT from graphics, and...nothing's really doing it for me. My only real runners up are Harvestella and the A Wonderful Life remake, tbh. Not 100% sold on either, but I am probably going to pick one and preorder it sooner rather than later--I really need something to look forward to right now. If Sandrock is going to come out of early access soon...I'd like to know. :lol:
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I'm not sure if I'm interested in a bunch of indie farming games. I'm mostly interested in the Bokumono/Rune Factory titles, but I'll list all the ones I think are interesting.

I'm most looking forward to:

Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom (November 2, 2022 in North America)
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life (Summer 2023)
Rune Factory 3 Special (2023)
Hokko Life (September 27, 2022)

I'm interested in:

Faefarm (2023)
Pixelshire (2023)
Witchbrook
Snacko
Paleo Pines
Everafter Falls
Picontier
Kokopa's Atlas
Roots of Pacha
Wholesome - Out and About

Special Mention:

Peachleaf Valley: Seeds of Love - a farming inspire Otome (It's actually a a visual novel/otome game, but it's heavily inspired by the farming sim genre that we know and love)
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Kikki
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Me too, greensara. Gotta hear more about Fae Farm before I'll know if it's for me or not...cuz right now I can't tell who it's for, with the amount of info we have.

That's a good point, Mikodesu. A lot of us are farming game snobs at this point, due mostly, I think, to how experienced we are within the genre. Right now's not good, but I'll come back later and explain what's unique about my top choices (in my view, that is), since other than the second set of honorable mentions (which may or may not have anything special about them) the games I chose all have something unique that made them stand out from the crowd, for me, either in story, art, or mechanics.

Extra points for saying exactly why your top games ARE your top games, then. (Mind you, probably not all of us want unique. Coral Island is popular, I think, because it looks like it's doing all the things farming sims have always done, but doing all of them well. Nothing all that unique, but perhaps really good at the formula we're used to, while so many others have strayed from that.)
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Of those listed Immortal Life is actually on my STEAM wish list. The game setting in feudal China just really interest me as I don't know of many games set in that era. Adding in the mix of spirits/gods makes it a bit different also. Love the art style of the characters as well.

Coral Island was on my list but I took it off.
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infel
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I backed Coral Island when it was a KS. I'm excited to play it. It looks like a nice game. Hokko life looks okay, and I may try it, but it depends on how it runs on the Switch. And finally, Sandrock is something I'm also interested in, but likely will wait on it given the premise of it. In fact, I still have to play My Time at Portia honestly. Still, it's good so many different farming games are coming out. Maybe soon I can look more into the others people have mentioned.
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There are so many coming up that it's hard to remember what's what, but I went digging through my Steam wishlist to find the ones that stand out the most to me.

Top of the list is PuffPals: Island Skies, which is the first game I've ever backed on Kickstarter. I love the artstyle and the house customization in particular stood out to me. Next are a few prehistoric-themed life sims, which is something I feel the genre has been missing for a while. Paleo Pines is about having a ranch and befriending townsfolk and really cute dinosaurs that you can ride to explore the world, Roots of Pacha revolves around a Stone Age village and domesticating crops, and Amber Isle seems to be more in the Animal Crossing vein of life sim with a prehistoric twist. All three seem interesting in different ways and they appeal to the dinosaur-lover in me.

A few others I'm interested in (in no particular order):
  • Immortal Life - beautiful artstyle and interesting setting
  • Lightyear Frontier - farming in mechs, seems quite unique and also reminds me of Innocent Life a bit
  • A New Leaf: Memories - love the artstyle, it reminds me of Bokumono in a way
  • Everdream Valley - really cute, love the nostalgic summer vacation vibe
  • My Time At Sandrock - I haven't finished Portia but I really like it, so this is a probable purchase down the road
  • Kynseed - followed this forever ago, the generational premise seems interesting
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For me it's Fields of Mistria and Yokai Inn:

https://www.fieldsofmistria.com/

https://yokaiinn.webflow.io/

I've been following them both very closely since their inception. With FoM it ticks a lot of my boxes in what I enjoy about of the genre. The Pixel art is gorgeous, the art style itself is super nostaglic, and the gameplay looks really relaxing (there's also actual grown men as bachelors, which is a fantastic plus).

With YI, I'm really rooting for it after the whole drama surrounding it that it in no way deserved. I still cannot believe JMW sicced their fans on a small creator because they felt their own 'game' was being copied when the only similarity was the isometric view and color tones. Shibapixels has since completely revamped the game and JMW is doing « Snuggly Bunny » all selling NFTs of their 'game' assets (spoiler, their is no game, they're just a pixel artist) so I know who's actually worth my time. The game itself looks very cozy and I always like seeing more of it.
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It's so weird to me that I have to pick and choose farming/life sim games now. It's good, because now I can find games more suited to my taste, but it feels weird that I'm passing because there are so many. I want to play so many of them, but not enough time...

I backed Coral Island on Kickstarter too, I'm pretty excited about that one. I won't play it until the 1.0 version, so I've got plenty of time to wait, though. I'm intrigued by its underwater area, and I'm kinda excited about the amount of characters too. Some are older, divorced, etc, and I'm excited to see how the character stories develop. So far, they seem pretty interesting.

I badly broke my own rules and have a few other life sims backed on Kickstarter too - Roots of Pacha, The Gods Fabled: Soil Frontier, and Everafter Falls. Roots of Pacha seems like a likely early 2023 release (I'm a little surprised it got pushed back, the updates have been pretty polished), so I'll be playing that one early next year. The Gods Fabled has some farming mechanics I'd like to try, though I will freely admit that was a bit of a splurge.

More immediately, I'm really really looking forward to the new Doraemon SoS game. Loved the storylines in the original, and I'm really hoping the plot works the same way in this one. It sounds like the farming will be more detailed (...so many gadgets...), so I may sink a lot of time into this one.

Eventually, probably My Time at Sandrock, with my fingers crossed that it will be less jank than Portia. Portia is so good, there's so much stuff to do and so many little details in the plot, quests, characters etc. I'm excited to see a version with the bugs ironed out, but I'm also worried that they won't be. ^_^; This one will be a long way off for a Switch port, though.
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These two are the only farming games I'm looking forward to:

- Coral Island
- Story of Seasons A Wonderful Life

I'm interested in

- Rune Factory 6

Mostly next year, I will be busy with Fire Emblem Engage, Hogwarts Legacy, Cyberpunk 2077 DLC and Baldur's Gate 3. It will be a nice year for me as a whole.
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Bluie wrote: Sep 29, 2022 5:28 am For me it's Fields of Mistria and Yokai Inn:

https://www.fieldsofmistria.com/

https://yokaiinn.webflow.io/

I've been following them both very closely since their inception. With FoM it ticks a lot of my boxes in what I enjoy about of the genre. The Pixel art is gorgeous, the art style itself is super nostaglic, and the gameplay looks really relaxing (there's also actual grown men as bachelors, which is a fantastic plus).

With YI, I'm really rooting for it after the whole drama surrounding it that it in no way deserved. I still cannot believe JMW sicced their fans on a small creator because they felt their own 'game' was being copied when the only similarity was the isometric view and color tones. Shibapixels has since completely revamped the game and JMW is doing « Snuggly Bunny » all selling NFTs of their 'game' assets (spoiler, their is no game, they're just a pixel artist) so I know who's actually worth my time. The game itself looks very cozy and I always like seeing more of it.
I forgot about Yokai Inn!! I'm also looking forward to that!! :)
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Kikki
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I've put it off for a bit, as I knew it was going to take me a long time to compile this, but I said I'd come back and say what I feel is unique about each title I'm looking forward to, as we've had a flood of farming games and life sims and not all of them are all that special. Some are outright garbage, as far as I can tell...those are the ones I suspect are companies just trying to catch that cash cow. (In general, I don't agree with the 'greedy devs' theory of companies jumping on the bandwagon just for the money...even a low-quality game takes time and money to put together. I believe the *majority* of games coming out are a labour of love. Unskilled love, sometimes, yeah, but still: passionate lovers of the genre. It's simply that we're enough years past Stardew now for people who got excited by its success and hoped to grab onto the trend to have brought their own games to fruition, now, so we went from a very thin trickle to an outpouring in a way that appears to be 'all at once', even though it's actually been in the works for 6 years.)

Anyway, here's why each of the games I'm keeping a sharp eye on caught my attention:
  • Sun Haven ~ Sun Haven is fully entrenched in a fantasy world, and not only are many of the candidate characters non-human (demons, weres, elves, etc), YOU, the player, can also choose to be a magical being rather than a human. And the colours are goooooorgeous. I can't get enough of those jewel tones! It is pixel art, but a type that bothers me less than some.
  • Sunny Side ~ They're going very realistic with this, and I'm curious how that's going to work out. From watering with a HOSE (not a watering can!) to every candidate having their own set orientation, to partnering with a real-world professional gardener as a consultant to keep the realism high. It could make the game horribly tedious, yep. But it could make it fantastic, and I want to know how it goes. The art style is pretty nice, too...not realistic, but not full anime, either, and blissfully NOT one of the millions of pixel art games.
  • Kynseed ~ I hate the style, tbh, in a way. Too grainy! But it also looks strangely like actual art, and I find it intriguing. I also like the fantasy setting and that you fully pass your game on to your game children...I don't know if just once, or if you can do it through many generations. But it could mean very long single gameplay and high replayability, both.
  • My Time at Sandrock ~ Portia was very good...Sandrock may well be great. You're a builder/crafter rather than a farmer, but it works. I like the mining in this, as I haven't in any Bokumono game, and the art is unique and pretty. No pixels!
  • No Place Like Home ~ This has farming, but you're primarily a...cleaner, I guess. A world-salvager. Cleaning up and beautifying a polluted world is very much my thing. Art is very nice here, too...not anime, but leaning slightly into the cartoony while mainining a touch of realism (no bobble-head cows, for example, and characters with realistic proportions, etc.)
  • Immortal Life ~ Chinese 'cultivation' themes, I assume this is a Xuanhuan story (though I don't know enough to be sure it's not Xianxia)...shonen manga is overrun with it, but it's pretty unique within the digital farming sim world! The art is lovely, and in a cozily familiar way (like the 3DS games, imo, just higher quality.) Love the hand-drawn character portraits.
  • One Lonely Outpost ~ You get to make your own entire community from scratch, which really appeals to me...kind of like ANB. You terraform and make a hostile extraterrestrial environment suitable for humans, and grow cool alien crops. I'll try it!
  • Witchbrook ~ Everyone knows this one because it's by the team that first published Stardew. But forgetting that, even though it's pixel art, it's pretty smooth, and bursting with character, and lovely rich warm colours (that are NOT excessively lime or orange!) I like the Hogwarts feel it has going on...the whole witch-academy thing. I"m not sure this is a farming sim, though. I think it's not? But I really like the screenshots so far, so am keeping an eye on it.
  • Lightyear Frontier ~ Farming in mechs! I don't know what I think of that, but I'd be game to try. Gorgeous colours, very nice graphics, open world. Not sure if this has a lot of social elements, though.
  • Voltaire: The Vegan Vampire ~ This one is really unique, imo, being a farming sim rogue-lite. You're going vegan to spite your vampire papa and he sics his minions of the night on you to try to force you to behave and get back to biting some necks! I can't resist the absurdity...must try it.
I took Coral Island, Farm Folks and Song of the Prairie off my list here because all of them are the same in that each of them looks like they're doing everything well, but don't have any specific unique trait that makes them feel different. THeir bachelor candidates are huge disappointments for me so far. Not sure about Song of the Prairie but the first two have given all the ones revealed facial hair or scruff, and we hates it forever. Coral Island's bachelors are especially disappointing for me...not just facial hair everywhere, but also all brown-haired and brown-eyed and thick-faced, like Disney princes/heroes, who've always been oafishly unattractive to me. :(

That took so long!
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