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The best farming games are here to help you realize all your agricultural dreams. With the chance to build up your ideal farm, you can grow and look after crops, care for cows, chickens, and even in some cases, adorable little bunnies, and get to know the locales as you sell and maintain produce. Many of the best farming games offer experiences that are as relaxing as they are rewarding – there’s nothing quite as satisfying as seeing the fruits of your labor as your farm begins to thrive, after all.
Of course, there are also some fantastic farming games that are a little less traditional and offer something a little bit different. With so many adventures on offer that will make you want to sport overalls and get stuck into the world of agriculture, you might be wondering which ones to check out first. Read on below to find our pick of the best farming games you’ll undoubtedly grow on you.
10. Farmville 2: Country Escape
Developer: Zynga
Platform: iOS, Android
If you have fond memories of almost ruining your university education because of a Facebook game, then it’s probably time to revisit this time-hungry crop-filled behemoth. It’s been going strong since 2014 but that doesn’t mean Farmville 2 is any less deserving of a place on this list. More than 50 million downloaders on the Google Play Store alone can’t be wrong, can they? Just like the original, there’s something painfully compelling and now beautifully touchable about Country Escape and, if you’re happy to dip in and out of milk and crop production during the day, you shouldn’t be too hungry to put a hand in your pocket. Just watch out for your inventory space as that’s where Zynga might just push you over the edge. But you’re older and wiser now. Right?
9. Staxel
Developer: Plukit
Platform: PC
Minecraft has a lot to answer for but don’t judge Staxel too much on its blocky similarities to Mojang’s world beater. This is a gentle farming and village sim with a charming heart and there’s not an exploding green cactus monster in sight. Like a very square Animal Crossing, you’ll make friends with villagers and head out on bug-catching duties as well as building your farm and growing crops from giant pixelated seeds. It’s all delightfully sedate and quirky as you chat with the locals, wander around on miniature fetch quests and get yourself a pet. Like all farm sims, on paper it sounds a little dull but there’s a satisfying peace in the complete lack of combat and the focus on just making your blocky world as nice a place as possible to live. Thinking about it, there’s probably a lot that humanity could learn from Staxel.
8. Autonauts
Developer: Denki
Platform: PC
If the worst part of farming games for you is the ‘actually getting your hands dirty’ bit, then fret no more. Someone has made Autonauts specifically for you, you wonderful if strangely specific human being. It’s probably a giveaway in the title but this is all about mechanising things for peak productivity. Why chop down a tree yourself and turn it into planks when a shiny automaton with a light on its head can do it for you? Just like every other farm sim, you start off with nothing but, like a much more adorable Factorio or Satisfactory, you’ll quickly have scavenged enough goods to start your very own robot takeover. Given the irresistible way that the resource management constantly expands, there’s never a time where you’ll just sit back to watch it work, but Autonauts is constantly a satisfying churn without any of the painful digital splinters or muddy boots.
7. Farm Together
Developer: Milkstone Studios
Platforms: PS4, PS5 Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Nintendo Switch
Given how much time we lose to the best farming games, it’s probably slightly ironic just how well we manage our minutes and hours during the planting and picking process. Frankly it feels dangerous for everyone’s health to add Farm Together to this list straight after Stardew, but at least this brightly colored multiplayer agriculture ‘em up deletes your need for stamina or even sleep. This means that if you’re awake IRL, you can be picking corn or planning out duck pens for maximum egg yield. Like traditional mobile games, everything takes time but don’t let that fool you, there’s always something to do. Whether it’s heading to a friend or stranger’s farming metropolis to help out and earn yourself bonuses, or just pootling around in your customizable tractor, pet in tow, admiring how lovely the warm autumn light looks on your new house. Bed? Nah, just one more 17 minute season…
6. The Sims 4: Cottage Living
Developer: Maxis
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
The Sims 4: Cottage Living is one of the most recent expansions to hit the simming world, and it lets you live out your farming, cottagecore dreams. With a slice of village life, you can grow and harvest your own fresh ingredients and see your garden flourish to truly live off the land. With all manner of new items and clothing to really add to the lifestyle and aesthetic of life on your very own farm fantasy, you also get to do it in style. Not only that, but you can have your own cows and chickens to look after and bond with as well as llamas… Yes, that’s right. Llamas. Along with woodland animals, Cottage Living really does bring a whole helping of cuteness. The Sims 4 expansion is a fantastic option for any Sims fans with a green thumb who wants to experience a virtual life in the countryside.
5. Graveyard Keeper
Developer: Lazy Bear Games
Platform: PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android
If you’re more Wednesday Addams than the rest of this list, that’s ok, we understand you. And so does Graveyard Keeper. It understands that instead of handing over wholesome bottles of milk or duck egg mayonnaise to your townspeople, you want to deliver ‘mystery meat’ to the local tavern that may or may not have been on your mortuary table. There aren’t many medieval cemetery sims out there, but this is definitely our favourite as you accept corpses from a dutiful bell-ringing donkey, make friends with a bouncing skull, and fix up a cemetery. Unlocking new crafting methods is initially a little fiddly, but once you’ve got to grips with all the grim tasks necessary to fulfil your duties, the ‘sunshine’ and ‘happiness’ of all of the rest of the games on this list will become a distant memory.
4. My Time at Portia
Developer: Pathea
Platform: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Nintendo Switch
If Stardew’s top down nature has always left you feeling a little disconnected then fret not, My Time at Portia brings you fully into the wholesome farming and villag-ey action in beautiful 3D. As you might expect, moving into a rickety old shack is a little sad at first but head into the town of Portia and suddenly you’ll have all kinds of new friends and probably a strange obsession with playing a game called Cross Five with a chap called Isaac. Again, more than just a farming game but with plenty of growing and watering, My Time At Portia initially feels intimidating as you get to grips with its sprawling resource options but it doesn’t stay that way for long. Desperate rock smashing and tree chopping quickly transforms into elegant workshop creations and a cosy sense of farming pride.
3. Slime Rancher
Developer: Monomi Park
Platform: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Sometimes cows and sheep just don’t cut it. You need springy, smiling blobs that can be sucked and fired from a custom piece of technology known as a Vacpack. Welcome to life on the Far, Far Range, where you’re going to become obsessed with feeding different colours of squishy creatures their favourite foods and selling their faeces on the ever-changing *ahem* Plort Market. There’s something unquantifiably glorious about Slime Rancher. Whether you’re adventuring out into the world to find new types of slimes to ensnare, or just making sure that no rogue creatures have escaped their enclosures and are eating poo, this is the kind of dangerously happy world that it’s easy to lose hours in. Just prepare for the guilt if you’ve not fed anyone in a while and your Tabby Slimes little hungry faces make you die a little inside.
2. Farming Simulator 22
Developer: Giants Software
Platform(s): PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
We say that all of the games on this list are about farming but let’s face it, that’s not really the case. They’re about pressing A to crop, B to milk, or smudging your finger across a screen to make all your animals magically happy. Sure it’s in the title but Farming Simulator 22 is actually about farming. It’s about fixing the right bits to the back of your tractor, lowering them perfectly to the ground with a satisfying clonk, and feeling a slow, trickling sense of true achievement as you painstakingly manage to cultivate one tiny strip of acres of land. If the various attachments on your vacuum cleaner of choice get you excited – easy… – then you’re going to love this. As the latest entry in the series, Farming Simulator 22 brings in new maps, crops, machinery, and so much more.
1. Stardew Valley
Developer: ConcernedApe
Platform(s): PS4, PS5 Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android
Being fully transparent, you’ve arrived at this list for 10 of the best farming games to play right now, but you might as well stop after this first entry. Here, in the sweet embrace of Stardew Valley, available on a now dangerous number of platforms, you will lose hundreds of hours painstakingly fixing up your grandfather’s old farm, naming your animals, selling your wares, mining, collecting, flirting… You get the idea. It’s all here in colorful top-down form. With a host of delightful updates since it first launched, there have been plenty of new additions to keep the pixelated farming sim feeling fresh and keep you coming back for more.
If you’re looking for more farming goodness, check out these 10 games like Stardew Valley.
