17 Best Farming Games To Play For Hours, Ranked - The first knowledge sharing application in Vietnam

Farming games have become surprisingly addictive over the years, and there is a wide range of farming-sim titles out there. Here are some of the best.

There are video games of just about every genre that a person could imagine. From massive battle royale-style games to role-playing games or adventure games and even life simulation games. Life simulation games can take many forms but one of the really popular sub-genres is farming-sims.

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Whether it’s a game entirely focused on running a farm or it has a little more to it, they can be a ton of fun! There are so many of them that it can be hard to pick the best one. Keep reading to see the top farming games, ranked from the worst to the best.

Updated on January 5th, 2022 by Geoffrey Martin: The farming genre continues to thrive with seemingly new releases each and every month from both the AAA and indie scene. It’s so easy to enjoy a farming game given that they can often be quite relaxing. While there are definitely more realistic farming games that require a lot more from the player, it’s often the ones based in fantasy that spark the most interest from players.

Rune Factory 4 Special

Holding the Chemistry Set in Rune Factory 4 Special

Rune Factory 4 Special is an incredibly wholesome and enjoyable fantasy-based farming game where farming is actually only a small piece of the gameplay pie. While you are given a nice plot of land to call your own where you can tend to crops and raise livestock, the game also lets you enjoy many other activities in this sublime fantasy world.

Aside from the enjoyable farming, you can also take part in relationships and town events, you can head into a multitude of fun dungeon-crawling action RPG scenarios to become strong, and you can even cook and take on quests. Plus, every action in Rune Factory 4 Special leads to you gaining experience and thus becoming more efficient in that task. If you want a farming life-sim game to sink hours upon hours into then Rune Factory 4 Special might just be for you.

Rune Factory 4 Special is available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC.

Grow: Song Of The Evertree

Grow: Song of the Evertree is one of the newest entries in this entire list, having only been released in December 2021. Grow: Song of the Evertree, much like its predecessor, Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles, is all about freeform exploration, enjoying a beautiful narrative, and taking in the gorgeous sights and sounds of the lush and vibrant fantasy world.

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You play as one of the last Everheart Alchemists. Your fully customizable character enjoys a wide range of farming activities while helping to restore the titular Evertree. By planting a special biome seed, you can literally regrow land in which you farm and make it fertile all over again. If that wasn’t enough, you also get to build brand new villages in hopes of bringing new townsfolk to the Evertree region.

Grow: Song of the Evertree is available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC.

Farmer’s Dynasty

Farmer’s Dynasty is a farming-sim/RPG hybrid where the protagonist returns to their old family farm after living in the city for many years. The storyline isn’t particularly strong and you’ll find yourself largely constructing the farm before actually getting to the fun “farming” part of life, but the game still has a lot to offer.

As well as building your farm and cultivating crops, you can undertake different quests, build on your relationships with others, and even choose to settle down and raise a family if you want to.

Famer’s Dynasty is available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Garden Paws

Garden Paws follows the somewhat common farming storyline where you inherit your grandparent’s old farm. However, this game has a more unique spin for its story as you get to play as an adorable animal character, and the other people in town are all animals too.

Not only can players farm, craft, and discover lots of new places, like many other farming games, but there are plenty of other features that make it feel even more immersive. You’re tasked with making your own house and making sure that new structures are set up in town, and you also can run your own shop. Plus, there’s also a multiplayer feature so you can share this super sweet experience with your friends.

Garden Paws is available on PC and Mac.

Staxel

Staxel is a PC game that may look like it borrows a great deal from Minecraft with its voxel style but it is a worthy contender in its own right that offers a larger focus on farming and offers more of a standard farming-sim experience.

In Staxel, players get to build and maintain a farm, raise animals, cultivate crops, fish, and more. Additionally, you can befriend the local villagers and complete various quests to help them out.

Staxel is available on PC.

Slime Rancher

Slime Rancher is a really quirky, unique game that is set on a faraway planet where the player controls Beatrix LaBeau, a rancher who just moved to this planet to start a new life on the ranch.

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Players catch, breed, and care for different species of creatures known as Slimes, while also growing crops, expanding the ranch, and earning money by selling Plorts (essentially Slime poop) that they harvest from their Slimes. There are also hidden mysteries to be discovered and the threat of Tarr Slimes to contend with.

Slimer Rancher is available on PC, Mac, PS4, and Xbox One.

Farming Simulator

Farming Simulator is a series of games that are, as the name suggests, totally based on farming. These games have been released almost yearly since Farming Simulator 2008 and take a more realistic approach to farming-sims.

In these games, players run their farms, grow crops, raise animals, and then sell the products they harvest from their farm for a profit. For people that want a serious farming experience, this series is perfect.

Farming Simulator 19 is available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Farming Simulator 20 is available for Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.

Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles

Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is technically an open-world adventure game, however, it features some rather awesome farming-sim elements. Players can build various farms across different biomes, take on different crafting specialties, fish, and more.

The game has a lot to offer, but it allows you to do so at your own pace. In addition to the usual farming elements, you can explore the world and track down sprites, befriend other characters, and complete quests.

Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, PS5, and Nintendo Switch.

Story Of Seasons: Friends Of Mineral Town

Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town is a 3D remake of the original 2003 Gameboy title in the Harvest Moon series (which later rebranded to Story of Seasons). Since it’s a remake, many fans were excited to see how things might have changed or stayed the same in this new version.

The core of the game hasn’t changed much, as the goal is still to run your farm, make friends, discover new items and areas, and maybe start a family if you want to. While there weren’t a whole lot of changes, some fans were disappointed while others appreciated what was added or taken out from the original game. If you’re a big fan of the Harvest Moon franchise and you want to make sure that any problems were fixed or your favorite parts are still included, it might be a good idea to check some reviews before buying the game.

Story Of Seasons: Friends Of Mineral Town 3D remake is available for PC and Nintendo Switch.

Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin

On the surface, Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin might seem like it’s primarily a side-scroller fighting game. However, given that you play as a harvest goddess named Sakuna, it makes sense that farming would be a big part of the story too. The game is essentially split into two different genres — hack and slash levels and farming-sim. That’s part of what makes this game so unique and exciting to play.

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Farming in this game can seem a lot more complicated than other farming games that appear on this list. You have to pay close attention to things like how much you water the rice, what kinds of things you put in the fertilizer, and other more realistic aspects. This results in different kinds of rice growing on your farm, and each kind of rice actually changes the way that Sakuna fights after she eats it.

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is available on PC, PS4, and Nintendo Switch.

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town

Pioneers of Olive Town is the latest in the Story of Seasons series, offering the same fan-loved features as its predecessors. Players inherit their grandfather’s old farm and can fix it up, expanding the farm size, growing crops, raising animals, and more. Players are also able to begin romantic relationships with characters and even start their own families.

You can also purchase the Expansion Pass for the game, which has regular updates that add new content, including additional marriage candidates and characters that featured in previous Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons titles.

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is available for Nintendo Switch.

Farm Together

Farm Together is a brilliant farming sim that can be played solo or with friends. While the gameplay mechanics get pretty in-depth when it comes to this title, it still manages to have a more relaxed style. The game uses a real-time system, so it continues even when you’re not playing.

There is a wealth of features available, as well as growing and tending to your crops, you can take care of animals, expand your farm, unlock new buildings and furnishings, and more.

Farm Together is available on PC, Mac, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Littlewood

Littlewood is a relaxing, expansive, and colorful RPG made by Sean Young, who you may know as the artist for the Kindergarten game series. The premise of the game starts with a scenario that many players might not have thought about before: after an RPG hero saves the day, what happens to areas that were impacted by the villain’s attacks?

With this setup, players become that hero, but they now can help to rebuild the town of Solemn. So much of this game is open to the freedom to change the landscape and explore with ease. You’ll meet lovable characters who will ask for your help, and you get to farm, craft, and overall just have a great time improving life in Solemn.

Littlewood is available on PC, Mac, and Nintendo Switch.

Terraria

Terraria is a building game that was originally released in 2011 for PC but has since been ported to other formats too. This game has a super open-world setting, allowing the player to do basically anything they want, much like Minecraft.

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Whether it’s staying at home to garden and grow a variety of crops or going out into the world to explore and gather materials, it’s all up to the player and their own creativity.

Terraria is available on PC, Mac, Xbox 360, PS3, PS Vita, PS4, Xbox One, 3DS, Wii U, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.

Minecraft

Minecraft has become one of the biggest games out there, which is no surprise due to the sheer size and unlimited fun of its open-world sandbox. Minecraft continues to receive regular updates, adding new features, creatures, and more.

While most people associate Minecrafting with building, farming is also a large part of it too and you can easily while away the hours building and cultivating a range of different farms.

Minecraft is available on PC, Mac, Xbox 360, PS3, PS Vita, PS4, Xbox One, New Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.

My Time at Portia

My Time at Portia was originally released in 2019 and has become a pretty popular indie simulation game since, with a sequel already in the works. In this game, the player inhabits Pa’s old workshop and is tasked with restoring it back to its former glory by growing crops, helping the people in town, and raising animals.

Alongside farming, the game also allows the player to explore the mines, take part in festivals in the town of Portia, go fishing, and play fun mini-games, and cultivate romantic relationships with some of the local townspeople.

My Time at Portia is available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.

Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley is an indie game that has been released on multiple different platforms. This game is similar to other popular farming-sim series, such as Harvest Moon, in that it doesn’t just have a heavy emphasis on farming, it also puts a lot of focus on befriending and building relationships with people in the nearby town.

In this game, the player is tasked with taking over their late grandfather’s farm. There, they have crops and animals while helping to restore the nearby town through doing quests and completing various objectives.

Stardew Valley is available on PC, Mac, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS Vita, iOS, and Android.

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