If you're a fan of life simulation role-playing games, you'll find a lot to like in Harvest Moon. This series, created by Yasuhiro Wada and produced by Victor Interactive Software (purchased by Marvelous Entertainment in 2003), transports players into idyllic, rural settings, where they get a chance to live life as a farmer. Character, relationship, and resource management are critical to success in these games, as players have to balance various tasks such as crop cultivation, animal care, and social interactions with other characters in their village. Additionally, it's not just about farming and village life, as each game wraps these elements within charming narratives that provide context and motivation for the player's actions. Also, every Harvest Moon game has its unique style, charm, and features, which means there's always something new to explore with each installment.
Harvest Moon's unique blend of farming simulation, real-time strategy, and sandbox elements has inspired a number of similar games, some of which have even managed to craft their own unique identity while retaining the core mechanics cherished by fans of Harvest Moon. This certainly presents an abundance of excellent alternatives if you're seeking a game with similar gameplay but different themes or settings. Regardless of what these diverse games offer, they all share a common lineage that traces back to the original Harvest Moon. They all encourage players to create their own stories within the game world, whether it's by managing a farm, building a village, or exploring new lands and meeting new characters...
And now, without any further ado, let's explore the incredible world of games inspired by the legendary Harvest Moon.
25. Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley draws a lot of inspiration from Harvest Moon, and if you're a fan of the Harvest Moon series, you'll surely find yourself at home in the charming world of Stardew Valley. Both games revolve around the same core gameplay loop: farming, interacting with villagers, mining, fishing, livestock caring, festivals, and more. Each activity contributes to a wonderfully relaxing, yet highly addictive, rural life sandbox. Story-wise, it's also very similar. Stardew Valley starts you off with an inherited rundown farm, and it's your job to bring it back to life, very much like Harvest Moon.
Stardew Valley goes a step further, though, introducing new mechanics and expanding on the possibilities. You can literally shape the land as you please, courtesy of the more advanced farming systems, making each farm a unique work of art. The game also emphasizes exploration with a much larger world, packed with secrets to uncover and diverse areas to traverse. There's even a combat system, as you'll be delving deep into mysterious mines to gather rare ore. And if you're into customization, Stardew Valley offers an array of options to personalize your farmhouse, character, and even choose who you want to marry among the townsfolk.
Stardew Valley is available on multiple platforms including PC, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation Vita, iOS, and Android, typically priced around $15 USD.
24. Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing, much like Harvest Moon, is a life simulation game where you live in a rural village brimming with charming anthropomorphic animals. In both games, you navigate the exciting intricacies of rural life, enriching your environment, and developing relationships with the villagers. Animal Crossing also places a significant emphasis on community, similar to Harvest Moon; you engage in real-time events, such as holiday celebrations and seasonal activities, that are shared across your village. Also, like Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing has no definitive end; the game's charm lies in its open-ended nature, allowing you to play and progress at your own pace.
Similarly, both games come with a set of fun tasks that you can perform each day, giving you a sense of routine. In Animal Crossing, you can fish, catch bugs, collect fossils, plant trees, and have fun participating in local village events, similar to the farming, raising livestock, mining, and participating in festivals in Harvest Moon. Additionally, both games afford you with the flexibility to beautify your surroundings. In Animal Crossing, you can decorate the interiors of your home and develop the landscapes of your village, while in Harvest Moon, you can create an idyllic farm setting that doubles as home.
Animal Crossing is available on different Nintendo platforms, including the Nintendo Switch, 3DS, and the Wii, typically priced around $60 USD.
23. My Time At Portia
Harvest Moon fans tend to love My Time At Portia for many of the same reasons. It's deeply immersive as it allows you to explore the beautiful and lively world of Portia, and it possesses a great mix of elements including crafting, farming, and relationships, which should feel very familiar to any Harvest Moon veteran. As in Harvest Moon, you'll inherit a run-down workshop, and your task is to restore it as well as help in rebuilding the town. The game deeply emphasizes on exploring, resource gathering and quests completion, while rewarding you with the necessary items to progress. Just as in Harvest Moon, you'll interact with the locals, fulfill their requests, and can even indulge in romantic relationships.
The game not only shares a farming emphasis with Harvest Moon, but brings to table its unique mechanic of dungeon crawling and combat system, adding an extra layer of excitement. You'll grow crops, raise animals, and have a greenhouse in your backyard. However, you'll also face off against creatures in the ruins and mines around Portia. The creative and friendly community of Portia is diverse and vibrant, offering unforgettable festivals and fun-filled events that will provide players a deep sense of belonging, reminiscent of the compelling community dynamics of Harvest Moon. Each character has a unique storyline and the player's actions determine how these stories unfold, creating a personalized experience.
My Time At Portia is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, typically priced around $30 USD.
22. Farm Story
Just like Harvest Moon, Farm Story is an immersive and engaging farming simulation game that gives players the opportunity to build and manage their own vibrant agrarian communities. You're offered a blank canvas whereupon you can plant, nurture and harvest a rich array of crops, just like Harvest Moon. The game also has you raising a large variety of farm animals, from cows and pigs to chickens, again, quite akin to the gameplay mechanics present in Harvest Moon. Furthermore, it also encourages interaction with other players through a robust social feature, allowing you to visit friends' farms, trade items for mutual benefit, and even offer a helping hand, echoing the community interplay often encountered in Harvest Moon games.
One outstanding similarity between Farm Story and Harvest Moon is in their charm and their endearing approach to depicting rural life. Both the games put a spotlight on aesthetics, making use of bright, charming visuals to give players a real sense of joy and accomplishment as they watch their farms steadily grow and thrive. If you appreciated the delightful simplicity and fulfilling progression of Harvest Moon, you'd be instantly drawn to the appealing gameplay loop of tending to crops, looking after livestock, and making your farm the best it can be in Farm Story. Additionally, Farm Story ramps up the customization options, offering a greater range of decorations and personal touches that can help you make your farm and its surroundings truly one-of-a-kind.
Farm Story is available on iOS and Android platforms, typically priced for free with optional in-app purchases. If you're keen on recapturing the core joys of Harvest Moon, but with an added social dimension and expanded customization options, Farm Story could be the ideal next game for you.
21. Rune Factory
If you're a fan of Harvest Moon, then Rune Factory is going to be a treat for you. It's a spin-off from the main series with the same basic farming and life simulation mechanics but adds a unique fantasy twist. You still get to spend your days farming, building relationships, getting married, and raising a family. But on top of all that, you also get to explore dangerous dungeons, fight monsters, and even tame them to help on your farm. It's like Harvest Moon turned RPG, which makes for a deeper and more immersive experience.
What truly sets Rune Factory apart, however, is its wonderful blend of action and relaxing day-to-day activities. The storytelling is more involved with a lot of exciting adventures and characters to meet. The farming and crafting aspect is familiar to Harvest Moon, creating a real sense of progression as your homestead slowly expands and becomes more efficient. And as you delve deeper into the game, there's the element of combat and exploration that gives a sense of challenge and adventure. It's this amalgamation of peaceful farming and thrilling action that provides a refreshing contrast and keeps the gameplay dynamic.
Rune Factory 4 Special, the latest game in the series, is available on Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One, typically priced around $40 USD.
20. Staxel
Staxel, like Harvest Moon, is heavily centered on farming and village life, giving you a lush world to cultivate your own crops and raise livestock. The joy in Harvest Moon of seeing your hard work translate into a prospering farm is replicated in Staxel, from planting and tending your crops, nurturing them and finally reaping the rewards at harvest time. Just like Harvest Moon, you have to balance your time and energy between farming, socializing with villagers and exploring the enchanting world around you.
Additionally, the social aspects of both games are quite comparable. In Staxel, you can foster relationships with villagers, developing friendships or even romantic interests, and interact with a variety of unique and diverse characters on a daily basis. Just like Harvest Moon, Staxel also emphasizes the importance of community participation, with various festivals and events happening throughout the year that the player can take part in, reinforcing that sense of community you loved in Harvest Moon.
Staxel is available on PC via Steam and Humble Bundle, typically priced around $20 USD.
19. World's Dawn
If you're a fan of Harvest Moon, you'd probably appreciate World's Dawn for its many similarities. This charming farming and life simulation game takes inspiration from Harvest Moon in many ways. Both games involve life in a small town, where you cultivate plots of land, raise animals, mine resources, participate in community events and build relationships with fellow townsfolk. With its rich character development, immersive world-building and interesting storylines, World's Dawn will give you the same feeling of engagement that Harvest Moon generously offers.
The exploration and quest elements in World's Dawn will keep you hooked, just like what Harvest Moon does so well. Both games have a season-based system that drives the narrative, as well as a day-night cycle influencing the daily routines of NPCs. You'll also find the relationship-building aspect familiar, as you court and marry characters much like in Harvest Moon. There are also plenty of house and farm customization options in both games, giving you liberty to design your own space to suit your taste.
World's Dawn is available on Windows, macOS, and Linux, typically priced around $10 USD.
18. Story of Seasons
The first thing you should know is that Story of Seasons originally started as a part of the Harvest Moon series. The same underlying charm and gameplay mechanics that made Harvest Moon iconic are very much present in the Story of Seasons. It's an agricultural simulation role-playing game where you play as a farmer who is tasked with managing their farm, interacting with the local villagers, and even finding a potential spouse who you can settle down with. The game encourages you to diversify the products your farm creates, which deepens the resource management aspect of the game and adds an extra layer of gameplay beyond farming and socializing.
What sets Story of Seasons apart and makes it a worthy successor to the Harvest Moon franchise is the game's enhanced attention to detail and depth of gameplay. The farming mechanics have been expanded and refined, allowing for more precise planning and implementation. More crops, animals, and structures are available than ever before, and the option to ordain your farm with decorative pieces allows you greater creative control in designing your farm. Additionally, the character interactions in Story of Seasons are commendably enriched, featuring more engaging dialogue and an intricate system of relationships between the characters. This means that the social aspect of the game, crucial to the Harvest Moon experience, has been given a loving touch-up in Story of Seasons.
Story of Seasons is available on the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo 3DS, and PC, typically priced around $40 USD.
17. Slime Rancher
Oh, if you're a fan of Harvest Moon, you'll definitely enjoy Slime Rancher. The game shares many elements with Harvest Moon, such as the appealing concept of running your own space farm, breathtaking vistas and the never-ending cycle of cultivation, harvesting, and investing that has made Harvest Moon such a timeless hit. The fun doesn't stop there as Slime Rancher introduces a unique twist, swapping out cows and pigs for adorable little blobs of slime. They come in different types and have various attributes, somewhat similar to raising different types of livestock in Harvest Moon.
Slime Rancher also shares Harvest Moon's relaxing and addictive gameplay loop. You'll keep wanting to go back in game, and explore more as you make more discoveries, upgrade your farm, and figure out the habitats and feeding patterns for different slimes. Moreover, similar to the various events, festivals and missions in Harvest Moon, Slime Rancher provides its own share of quests, exploration opportunities, and environmental puzzles that bring a sense of adventure and achievement while still keeping the laid-back and peaceful farming atmosphere intact and interesting. Plus, the charming graphics, bright colors and cheerful soundtrack add to the overall enjoyable experience quite reminiscent of your Harvest Moon days.
Slime Rancher is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch, typically priced around $19.99 USD.
16. Fantasy Life
Fantasy Life has strong correlations with Harvest Moon especially in its slice-of-life gameplay, beautiful graphics, and interactive role-playing. Much like Harvest Moon, Fantasy Life also offers you a wide array of opportunities to craft your own story-through various jobs or "Lives" as they're called in the game. These jobs include being a carpenter, angler, blacksmith, soldier, and much more. In addition, the game integrates aspects of time management and resource gathering which are all too familiar if you're a fan of Harvest Moon. The cohesive relationships you build with townsfolk, charismatic celebrations, all make the game a captivating experience similar to Harvest Moon.
An aspect where Fantasy Life actually goes beyond Harvest Moon is in its approach to combat and exploration. Harvest Moon largely focuses on farming and creating relations within your local community whereas Fantasy Life employs these features in an expansive fantasy setting. This lends you an opportunity not only to farm or craft but also to fight monsters and embark on quests across different landscapes. You can engage in battles and journeys, unlike Harvest Moon. Yet, it remarkably preserves Harvest Moon's charm by presenting a laid-back and stimulating experience.
Fantasy Life is available on Nintendo 3DS, typically priced around $40 USD.
15. Viva Pinata
If you loved the open-ended, simulation aspects of Harvest Moon, then Viva Pinata is definitely worth a look. Much like Harvest Moon, Viva Pinata revolves around managing and developing a plot of land. However, instead of growing crops and raising livestock, you're responsible for creating and nurturing an ecosystem of living pinatas. The gameplay is not only calming and enjoyable but also requires strategic planning and decision making. Just like how you plan your crop cycle and animal care in Harvest Moon, in Viva Pinata you need to make the environment hospitable for different types of pinatas, deal with predators, and handle obligations to residents.
Another similarity is the social relationship aspect. Where Harvest Moon has you engaging with the locals, building relationships, and even romancing some of the characters, Viva Pinata translates this concept into optimizing pinata interactions. You'll find yourself forming strategies to attract certain varieties of pinatas and even breeding them. Each type has unique needs and behaviors, so you should accommodate these to create a harmonious ecosystem. This essence of strategy and interaction truly captures that same appeal you'd find in a game like Harvest Moon, making Viva Pinata a great title for fans of farm-life simulators.
Viva Pinata is available on Xbox 360 and Xbox One via backward compatibility, typically priced around $15 USD.
14. Castaway Paradise
Just like the beloved Harvest Moon series, Castaway Paradise offers a slew of farming and life simulation elements that'll pique your interest. An inherent charm of Harvest Moon has always been the ability to tend to your farm, and Castaway Paradise doubles down on this aspect. There's incredible satisfaction in nurturing and growing your own crops, seeing the fruit of your labor, and using the profits to further enhance your farm. Similar also, is the ability to fish, collect bugs, and decorate your own little piece of paradise just how you like it.
What sets Castaway Paradise apart though, is the immersive aspect of building a community on your own tropical island. It's that same intrinsic appeal of Harvest Moon - the relationship-building and the slow transformation of a ramshackle farm to a thriving, idyllic farmstead, except this time, it's on an island. You get to interact with the island's unique residents and help them with their troubles, develop the island and upgrade your home. Not to mention, there's an engrossing story element that unravels as you progress, giving the game a distinct flavor while carrying the same spirit as Harvest Moon.
Castaway Paradise is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS, Android and Steam, typically priced around $15 USD.
13. Moonlighter
Moonlighter, like Harvest Moon, is an adventurous and immersive game that allows for a similar level of interaction with your environment and NPCs. Both games allow for elements of crafting, resource management, and progress through days, seasons, and events, which give a sense of forward momentum and achievement. Both games also successfully blend stimulating exploration with the rewards and challenges of building and maintaining your own profitable business. In Moonlighter, instead of a peaceful farming life, you take on the role of a daring merchant who moonlights as an adventurer, exploring dangerous dungeons to acquire goods to sell in your shop.
Another shared trait between Harvest Moon and Moonlighter is the incredible depth and complexity of the world you're given to explore, paired with inviting, easy-to-grasp mechanics. Both games have a charming pixel art style and semi-open structure that encourages curiosity and exploration. Moonlighter adds a unique twist with its dungeon-crawling aspects and the risk-reward dynamics of deciding whether to press on for more loot or to return to safety. Much like in Harvest Moon, your decisions and actions directly impact your world and deepen your interest and connection with the game's story and characters.
Moonlighter is available on platforms including PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC, typically priced around $20 USD.
12. Farm Together
If you've enjoyed the laid-back, farming-centric gameplay of Harvest Moon, then you'll find Farm Together quite enjoyable. Like Harvest Moon, Farm Together gives you a vast, customizable farmstead to cultivate and manage at your leisure. Both games put you in the boots of a humble farmer, starting off with a tract of land that you must nurture into a bountiful farm. Notable in Farm Together is its persistent world — crops continue to grow even when you're not actively playing, reminiscent of Harvest Moon's day-night cycle and seasonal system.
A significant element both games share is their local and online multiplayer features. If you loved the sense of community in Harvest Moon, you'll appreciate Farm Together's cooperative farming, where you can invite friends to help tend to the farm. Both games also incorporate elements of simulation RPG— from the ability to beautify your surroundings to getting pets or livestock. Farm Together and Harvest Moon both allow for a gentle, relaxing, and social gaming experience.
Farm Together is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, typically priced around $20 USD.
11. Gleaner Heights
As a fellow Harvest Moon enthusiast, you're sure to love Gleaner Heights. One of the most noteworthy similarities is the classic farming simulation element, where you get to plant and cultivate crops, take care of livestock, and partake in seasonal activities. Like in Harvest Moon, the changing of the seasons plays a significant role. Not only do the crops and available activities change with the months, but the entire town transforms visually, offering a dynamic and immersive gameplay experience.
Another striking similarity is the rich social aspect of the game. Gleaner Heights features a vibrant town full of unique NPCs, each with their own personality traits, daily routines, and special events. You can forge relationships, attend town festivals, and even court and marry one of the bachelors or bachelorettes. Just like in Harvest Moon, the interactions with the townsfolk greatly enhance the role-playing aspect, making Gleaner Heights not just a farming sim, but a comprehensive experience of rural life with a fair amount of mystery thrown in.
Gleaner Heights is available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, typically priced around $9.99 USD.
10. Wild Season
From the perspective of a long-time fan of Harvest Moon, Wild Season should definitely catch your eye! This farming simulation game truly embodies the core mechanics of Harvest Moon, while also introducing a few unique twists of its own. Just like Harvest Moon, you'll be tasked with running your own farm, taking care of animals, planting and harvesting crops, and even building relationships with the townsfolk. The game even recreates that distinctive serene countryside atmosphere that we all loved in Harvest Moon.
But Wild Season is not just a clone. It aims to improve upon the Harvest Moon formula and adds a more in-depth story, characters, RPG elements, and even horse racing! Just like in Harvest Moon, the choices you make throughout the game will affect your character's life and relationships with the townsfolk. But here, the choice system is much more complex, and your decisions can lead to different narrative paths, offering more replayability. You also have the ability to customize your farm and house, which gives you more control over your virtual life than ever before!
Wild Season is available on Windows, Mac, and Linux, typically priced around $19.99 USD.
9. Farm for your Life
Farm For Your Life is majorly influenced by Harvest Moon in such a way that it maintains the lighthearted theme and fun gameplay that you love. Just like Harvest Moon, this game also invites you into the world of farming where you get to cultivate crops, care for livestock, fill orders for local businesses and provide fresh produce for the locals. It's all very reminiscent of the classic Harvest Moon gameplay, plus the graphics of both games are adorable in their own unique way.
Though the farming emulation attracts Harvest Moon fans, it's not all Farm For Your Life has to offer. It uniquely combines farming with tower defense elements, requiring you to protect your farm from a variety of threats. Nightfall brings zombies and you have to strategically place your defenses to protect your hard work, adding a stimulating twist to the familiar Harvest Moon setting. Additionally, it takes the communal aspect that you loved from Harvest Moon a bit further, allowing you to design and build your own town.
Farm For Your Life is available on platforms including, but not limited to, PC, Mac, and Linux, normally priced around $9.99 USD.
8. Shepherd's Crossing
Shepherd's Crossing is truly a gem for those of us who adore Harvest Moon, as both games share a delightful farming simulation cornerstone. You begin Shepherd's Crossing with a small estate and a mind brimming with farming aspirations. To progress, you will need to plant seeds, tend to your crops, collect the produce, and raise livestock, much like in Harvest Moon. In both games, these activities aren't just chores, they're the heart of gameplay itself. These games create a living and breathing farm life world that's calming, charming, and incredibly addictive.
Moreover, Shepherd's Crossing delivers beyond just the farming focus. It also caters to fans of the community-building aspect of Harvest Moon. Building relationships with villagers is a vital part of the game, and to do so you give gifts, participate in town events, and converse with your neighbors frequently. You'll find that the characters are endearing and multifaceted, just like those in Harvest Moon. Lastly, Shepherd's Crossing offers a unique strategic depth that’s different from Harvest Moon, introducing a barter system that adds an interesting economic dimension to the gameplay, where you trade goods instead of buying with money.
Shepherd's Crossing is available on PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS, typically priced around $20 USD.
7. Minecraft
In many ways, Minecraft is similar to Harvest Moon, especially if you're a fan of the latter's core elements like farming, crafting, and building. Just like in Harvest Moon, Minecraft lets you work around a sandbox-like world where you can farm crops and raise animals. Immersive farming in Minecraft has been innovated from basic wheat farming to more complex systems of vegetables, root crops, and tree farming. Not to mention, there's a full-circle day and night cycle which influences the player's activities, much like in Harvest Moon. You can further enhance your farming experience through the vast selection of farming mods available to create your own unique agricultural paradise.
Apart from farming the land, Minecraft takes crafting and building to the next level, allowing you to create just about anything you can imagine from the various resources you gather. Similar to how you decide where buildings and fields are located in Harvest Moon, Minecraft offers you the liberty to arrange, design, and decorate your homestead the way you like it, from basic living quarters to castle-like mansions. The only limit is your creativity. Also, just like in Harvest Moon, there's a strong sense of community with players around the globe, exchanging not only goods but also ideas on how to improve their gameplay experience which can be extremely rewarding.
Minecraft is available on almost every platform you can think of including PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Mobile devices, typically priced around $26.95 USD.
6. Terraria
While at first glance, Terraria may seem very different from Harvest Moon due to its distinct action-adventure and survival elements, there is a surprising amount of similarity under the surface. In both games, you start off with virtually nothing, and one of the core mechanics is gradually building up your world through gathering resources and crafting. Be it a farm or a fortress, the fruits of your labor stem from your commitment to progress, and every minute investment contributes to the tangible growth that echoes the feeling of satisfaction you get from seeing your crops sprout in Harvest Moon.
There's also a substantial social aspect to both games. In Harvest Moon, fostering relationships and building a community are vital points of the game. Similarly, in Terraria, as you progress and overcome challenges, you attract NPCs to your town, each with their own unique functions and adding depth to your game experience. The intricate dynamics of maintaining relationships that Harvest Moon players have come to love is mirrored in Terraria’s elaborate system of interacting with NPCs and creating an immersive ecosystem. Recipe discovery in Terraria also bears similarities to the crop and cooking combinations found in Harvest Moon, maintaining a sense of wonder and discovery.
Terraria is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PlayStation Vita, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Nintendo 3DS, typically priced around $10 USD.
5. Don't Starve
First off, just like Harvest Moon, Don't Starve is highly centered around resource management. Your main objective in both games is to survive by utilizing what's around you. You'll need to gather different materials, food and other resources, manage your energy and health, as well as watch out for different threats. The twist in Don't Starve, compared to Harvest Moon, is its magnificent, eerie art style and environment that sets a beautiful stage for this struggle for survival.
Building on this, another similarity between the two games is their crafting and farming systems. In Harvest Moon, you raise your crops, care for your livestock, and gradually progress your farming skills. Don't Starve takes this concept but layers it with complex crafting. You'll harvest an interesting diversity of resources, like twigs, rocks, etc., to create necessary survival tools. Over time, as you gain more knowledge and resources, you'll be able to craft more complex items like weapons, structures, and even magical artifacts.
Don't Starve is available on various platforms like PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch, typically priced around $15 USD.
4. Eco
There's a lot to love about Eco that may remind you of Harvest Moon. Just like Harvest Moon, Eco invites you to delve into a relaxing yet immersive environment where you get to tend crops, fish, mine, and craft your tools - all with your sustainability in mind. It's a game that encourages management and balancing responsibilities, and all of this is done with beautiful graphics that are sure to appeal to fans of visually pleasing rural settings. Your actions carry weight, and just like in Harvest Moon, decisions you make have repercussions, but this time on a global scale. You have to collaborate together with other players to build a civilization in an untouched wilderness, making decisions on infrastructure and laws, all while trying to avoid the impending meteor strike.
The core ideals of sustainable development within Eco might remind you of the farming life in Harvest Moon where you also have to balance growth and preservation. Harvest Moon was all about nurturing the farm by using resources wisely and at the same time, taking care of the village and its people, while Eco pushes this same ethos further by putting the entire world at the palm of your hand. So, if the concept of managing resources and making decisions that can impact the environment sound enticing to you, then Eco might be the perfect fit for you.
Eco is available on Windows and Mac OS platforms, typically priced around $30 USD.
3. Farmer's Dynasty
One of the best aspects of Harvest Moon is the opportunity to shape your destiny as a hardworking farmer, and Farmer's Dynasty builds off of this beautifully. Much like in Harvest Moon, you start with a dilapidated farm which you need to restore to its former glory. You get to make decisions about which animals to raise and which crops to plant, while also repairing buildings, managing your finances, trading goods, and engaging with your local community. It's an incredibly rewarding experience, and the mastery of each area generates the similar sense of satisfaction that Harvest Moon fans will find familiar.
However, Farmer's Dynasty is not a simple carbon copy of Harvest Moon, it adds some unique twists that improve upon the beloved classic. Not only do you have the opportunity to build relationships with the townsfolk (like in Harvest Moon), you can even eventually marry and have children, which opens up new gameplay strategies and challenges. Also, there's a social aspect incorporated into the game that has you helping villagers in different tasks leading to rewards and improving the relationship. This is an interesting evolution of the Harvest Moon formula, introducing more complexity and lifelike scenarios into your farming adventures. Trust me, if you were captivated by Harvest Moon's charm, you'll find Farmer's Dynasty equally enchanting.
Farmer's Dynasty is available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, typically priced around $20-30 USD.
2. Pure Farming 2018
If you're a fan of long-standing franchise Harvest Moon, you'll definitely appreciate the immersive experience offered by Pure Farming 2018. Just like Harvest Moon, Pure Farming 2018 offers a detailed and engrossing farm managing experience, allowing you to plant, harvest, and sell crops. You'll also tend to your animals and manage livestock, which adds a layer of realism akin to the Harvest Moon farming saga. On top of that, there are green energy installations that you can manage, mirroring the agricultural diversification often seen in contemporary farming and echoing the innovation and development aspects of Harvest Moon.
Pure Farming 2018's global setting also brings an exciting nuance to the genre; you're not only limited to running a farm in a rural village but can operate farms in Japan, Italy, and Colombia among other countries. This international scope means you'll be growing region-specific crops and managing diverse farming techniques and equipment native to those regions. This extensive gameplay is a strong parallel to the worldly adventures that Harvest Moon provides. Also, while Harvest Moon often focuses on the character's interpersonal relationships - a feature many fans love - Pure Farming 2018 solely revolves around the farming and managing aspects, making it a perfect fit for those who prefer to concentrate on the agricultural aspects of gameplay.
Pure Farming 2018 is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows, typically priced around $20 USD.
1. Graveyard Keeper
In much the same vein as Harvest Moon, Graveyard Keeper provides a unique simulation experience that combines the convenience of daily tasks with an engaging storyline. While Harvest Moon focuses more on farming, animal care and building relationships, Graveyard Keeper adds a darker twist by placing you in charge of a medieval cemetery. That being said, there's a familiar rhythm at the core of the game, where you're tending to your land, fishing, mining, crafting items, and interacting with the local town's people - just like in Harvest Moon. But in Graveyard Keeper, you'd also find yourself embalming bodies, arranging burials and managing other darker aspects, all while examining existential themes and exploring a rich main story.
Arguably, the biggest similarity to note would be the way Graveyard Keeper stirs an immersive atmosphere. The pixel art graphics and soothing background music reminds you of Harvest Moon, and while tasks can be complex and a tad more mature, being a graveyard keeper is as engaging as tending to a farm. You'll continually be strategizing how to remain efficient, deciding which areas to focus on to gain the most profit and reputation - strategies that Harvest Moon players would be very familiar with. Plus, Graveyard Keeper even has day-night cycles and varying weather, elements that also add to the overall strategic aspect of the game.
Graveyard Keeper is available on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and even on mobile platforms like Android and iOS. The game would typically be priced around $20 USD.
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