The 10 Best Games Like Harvest Moon

What are the best games like Harvest Moon?

Harvest Moon made a name for itself as one of the best farming simulator RPGs in the world, but it isn’t the only one.

Although it may be one of the most popular today, we’ve rounded up some similar games you can try out.

So, keep reading to learn more about the games like Harvest Moon you definitely need to check out!

The 10 Best Games Like Harvest Moon

To create this list, we looked at numerous games and examined how closely they mirrored the gameplay elements in Harvest Moon.

This has allowed us to find games that, while unique, will feel familiar to fans of the series while offering a new experience.

Get ready to sharpen up your farming skills with our list of the 10 best games like Harvest Moon:

10. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Along with being one of the best sandbox games, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is also incredibly similar to Harvest Moon.

This social simulation game features tons of customization options that allow players to create their own thriving communities.

Played in real-time, with weather that adjusts depending on hemisphere location, New Horizons is simplistic but addicting.

It places players on a deserted island with anthropomorphic neighbors and the goal of building it up.

All of the gameplay is non-linear and can be done at the player’s leisure, and it even supports local and online co-op play.

Best of all, it receives frequent updates that add new seasonal items and events that keep it fresh throughout the year.

While it first became wildly popular due to the pandemic, years later, it remains one of the most played games in the world.

If you’ve somehow managed to miss out on New Horizons so far, you seriously need to give it a try if you love Harvest Moon!

9. Ooblets

Ooblets is a very unique game that combines the farming gameplay elements of Harvest Moon with the creature-capturing fun of Pokémon.

This game places players in the quaint town of Oob, where they are given a basic farm to start off with.

Players can then buy seeds for planting and furniture for decorating while completing quests to unlock new amenities.

However, there are also tiny creatures called Ooblets, which players can befriend and use in dance battles against NPC Ooblets.

Available on the Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PC, this game is another that gets frequent seasonal updates.

There are also daily challenges that players can take part in, ensuring that there is always something new to do.

You can even start your own shop in this game and explore unique regions to unlock some surprising secrets!

Overall, Ooblets is a weird, wacky, and absolutely adorable game that is filled with things for Harvest Moon fans to love!

8. Yonder: Cloud Catcher Chronicles

This adventure game started off as one of the best PS4 RPG games and has since been ported to the PS5 and Xbox Series X and S in 2021.

Played through a third-person perspective, Yonder features eight unique biomes for players to explore.

Starting off, players find themselves shipwrecked on a magical island where dark fog is polluting the environment.

It is up to players to find a way to restore the island by working with the locals, crafting, and creating a thriving farm.

Yonder: Cloud Catcher Chronicles takes aspects from not only Harvest Moon but from Zelda and Skyrim.

Its art style, in particular, is very reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda, while the exploration and questing are similar to the Elder Scrolls.

However, it is the farming mechanics in this game that make it a must-play for fans of Harvest Moon!

In Yonder, you don’t just get to make a single farm, but one in each of the eight biomes you can visit.

For fans of the Harvest Moon series, this is an absolute must-play, and its dynamic world constantly has something new to experience!

7. My Time At Portia

My Time At Portia is often considered one of the best games like Stardew Valley, but it is also extremely similar to Harvest Moon!  

Set at a time after the destruction of civilization when humans are starting to emerge from the underground, this game is very unique.

Players take on the role of a famous builder’s child who is tasked with surpassing his father and expanding the city of Portia.

Throughout the game, players will have to gather resources and learn to combine them to create different items.

As things progress, new tools will allow players to collect things quicker and access high-tier resources.

However, there is also an emphasis on exploration, with several dungeons dotted across the map filled with enemies.

You can also start running your own farm, growing crops, and raising livestock by converting the land surrounding your workshop.

This game really has a little something for everyone, but fans of Harvest Moon will particularly enjoy how familiar its mechanics feel.

6. Staxel

Staxel looks like one of the best Minecraft mods to download, but instead is a full-fledged game with its own unique mechanics.  

While the graphics and art style are similar to Minecraft, Staxel tasks players with restoring a farm instead of surviving.

As a newcomer to the village, players start off with a busted-up farm with the goal of turning it into something spectacular.

You can plant crops, raise animals, and clear the wilderness to expand your farm to open up more possibilities.

There are also many other villagers that you can interact and build relationships with to help the village flourish.

Staxel also has a multiplayer mode, so you can team up with your friends and have them help you build up your farm and vice versa.

Additionally, because the world is a huge sandbox, you can alter it any way you like to create a world that is uniquely your own!

The perfect fusion of Harvest Moon and Minecraft Staxel is incredibly fun and wholly addicting!

5. Forager

Forager is an open-world adventure game that revolves around collecting resources, crafting, and solving puzzles.

In this game, players can take part in a variety of tasks, including cooking, farming, manufacturing, hunting, fishing, mining, and more.

All of this allows the player to purchase more land and expand their bases, obtain new resources, and explore new areas.

Played from a top-down perspective, Forager looks like one of the best retro games of all time, and it’s incredibly charming.

Despite being a simple game, Forager keeps players engaged with numerous puzzles, a leveling system, and even raid dungeons.

This game gives players the freedom to be farmers, merchants, adventurers, builders, or a combination of the four.

While a multiplayer mode was canceled, as a single-player game, Forager has more than enough content to keep you engaged.

If you want a game similar to Harvest Moon and love retro graphics, this is one title you shouldn’t pass up!

4. Summer In Mara

Summer in Mara is a visually stunning game, and it tasks players with taking care of their own island while also exploring the surrounding world.

Taking control of a Koa, an adventurous girl, players can harvest crops, build structures, or sail to over 20 neighboring islands to explore.

There are over 300 quests to complete that impact the world and 25 unique characters to meet and build relationships with.

At your farm, you can plant a variety of crops or raise animals like pigs and chickens while also building your home.

However, things aren’t all sunshine and rainbows, since an evil corporation is out to conquer the island and exploit the sea around it!

It will be up to players to help keep the island safe from this threat while having a ton of fun building your own farm!

This game is incredibly relaxing to play, but it also has plenty of exciting events to pursue and tons of secrets to unlock.

For fans of the Harvest Moon series, there are tons to love about Summer in Mara, and you definitely shouldn’t pass it by!

3. Story of Seasons

Story of Seasons was formerly called Harvest Moon, and the series was acquired by Marvelous in 2003.

However, when Marvelous decided to stop licensing the series to Natsume, their English distributor, they decided to make their own series.

While Natsume is responsible for the Harvest Moon series we now know and love, Marvelous re-released their series as Story of Seasons.

In this game, the overarching story revolves around players taking over a rundown farm and building it back up to its former glory.

Players can grow crops, create a ranch for livestock, and even keep pets, including pigs, cats, turtles, and even pandas!

Story of Seasons also boasts annual festivals that players can attend, as well as many NPCs that you can form relationships with.

By advancing the story, players can also gain special abilities, such as weather cards, which can change the next day’s weather.

Although it doesn’t have a multiplayer mode, the story is more than enough to keep you occupied for hours on end.

Easily one of the best real-life simulation games, Story of Seasons is a must-play for fans of Harvest Moon!

2. Graveyard Keeper

This management simulation game kicks off when the player character is hit by a car and wakes up in a brand new world.

In this new world, the player is given responsibility for a small plot of land, including its graveyard.

Players must fix up the plot and graveyard, though the main goal is to open a portal and get back to their original world.

To do this, players need to work with NPCs, improving relationships with them by completing various quests.

Along with tending to the graveyard, there are also farming, smithing, combat, and dungeon-crawling elements.

If you complete the base game, there are four additional DLCs to play through that add more content, lore, and building items.

Each of these DLCs also has hilarious names, such as Stranger Sins, Game of Crone, and Better Save Soul.

Graveyard Keeper is chock full of things to do and secrets to uncover, and once you start playing, you won’t want to stop!

1. Stardew Valley

Taking our number one spot is Stardew Valley, a game that almost everyone has heard of by now.

The premise of this game is that players inherit an old farm from their grandfather, which they must now take care of.

While there are some goals throughout the game to achieve, almost everything is completely up to you.

You can choose to focus on growing crops, or you can turn your farmland into a ranch for a bunch of animals.

Alternatively, you can choose to go fishing, pick up seashells, become a miner, or just wander around making friends!

There are over 30 NPC residents that you can get to know and 12 that you can potentially romance and start a family with.

Along with this, there is also exploration to be done and valuable treasures to hunt for deep underground.

Once you’ve started building up your character, there are hundreds of ways to decorate your home and farm, giving players a lot of freedom.

Easily one of the best relaxing games to play, Stardew Valley is a gorgeous game that greatly compliments Harvest Moon.

Summary

We hope you’ve enjoyed our list of the 10 best games like Harvest Moon, and learned about some you haven’t heard of. 

There is just something extremely entertaining about playing a farming game, and it’s easy to become extremely invested in what you create.

Although all of these games are amazing, we definitely recommend checking out Stardew Valley if you haven’t already.

Stardew Valley is incredibly similar to Harvest Moon, and it is the perfect game for fans of the series!

Here’s a quick recap of the 10 best games like Harvest Moon:

1. Stardew Valley
2. Graveyard Keeper
3. Story of Seasons
4. Summer In Mara
5. Forager
6. Staxel
7. My Time At Portia
8. Yonder: Cloud Catcher Chronicles
9. Ooblets
10. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

If you enjoyed this list, you might want to check out the following articles:

• The 10 Best Games Like Minecraft
• The 10 Best Games Like Stardew Valley
• The 10 Best Games Like Terraria
• The 10 Best Games Like Sims

Which of these games will you play first? Leave a comment below.