Are you eager to find games like Stardew Valley in 2024? The Nintendo Switch boasts a variety of games that fit the bill.
Stardew Valley’s engaging simulation RPG gameplay is made even better with its portability on the Nintendo Switch and mobile. It’s an ideal choice for de-stressing after a long day, and its calming farming simulator aspect leads players to search for games that offer a similar experience.
Below, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best games like Stardew Valley, and each of them can be played on the Nintendo Switch. While the titles below are a lot like the popular farming simulator, others offer slightly different mechanics but with a similar vibe overall.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing: New Horizons put smiles on lots of faces in 2020; with its saturated color palette and slower pacing, the game offers a wonderful feeling of escapism, is incredibly relaxing to play, and is thoroughly addictive, too. It’s still a big deal today in 2024, having recently received DLC entitled ‘Happy Home Paradise‘ at the tail end of 2021, where players can fix up vacation homes for many of the game’s cute and quirky characters.
Animal Crossing also attracted a lot of new players to the world of gaming, and while Animal Crossing isn’t a traditional farming simulator, the mechanics involved in the game are very similar to the likes of Stardew Valley.
Harvest Moon: One World
While it was overshadowed somewhat by the hype surrounding Animal Crossing New Horizons at release, Harvest Moon: One World offers a similar experience. In truth, Harvest Moon is a game that’s a lot more like Stardew Valley than Animal Crossing, so some players may prefer it.
The world may not be as fun to explore and interact with as some entries on this list, but farming simulator fans will find a lot to love in Harvest Moon: One World. Its predecessor, Harvest Moon: Light of Hope is also worth checking out.
Minecraft
Minecraft is more about building and crafting than farming, but the gameplay loops are similar. That being said, this blocky simulator also offers plenty of opportunities for farming if that’s more your style, with an unprecedented level of freedom on offer that fans of Stardew Valley will love.
Minecraft is one of those games that rewards exploration and creativity, so establishing a farm can be a great way to keep your resources plentiful. If you want to play Minecraft just to farm, you can, but it’s also worth checking out all the other things Mojang’s masterpiece has to offer.
My Time at Portia
If the graphical style of Stardew Valley isn’t your thing, and you crave something more akin to The Sims on Nintendo Switch, then My Time at Portia will be perfect for you. At its heart, the game is a farming simulator but rendered in glorious full 3D.
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Some of My Time at Portia’s features mirror some aspects of The Sims’ gameplay in terms of its social aspects, making walking around and chatting to people who reside in this town addictive and rewarding — which is also something that also helped Stardew Valley to become a huge success.
Yonder: The Cloudcatcher
Yonder is one of the most charming games on Nintendo Switch. At first glance, the game resembles Zelda Breath of the Wild more than Stardew Valley, and it also features similar gameplay.
However, Yonder doesn’t feature any combat — instead, this is a game all about exploring the world and cultivating your own little settlement within it. You’re also free to farm, cook, fish, and craft until your heart’s content.
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town
Story of Seasons has a lot in common with Stardew Valley, here, you also inherit a farm from your family and move there to tend to it. The game has a very similar vibe to Stardew Valley, but stylistically has more in common with the Pokemon games.
So, if you’re a fan of both Stardew Valley and Pokemon, then Story of the Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town will be the perfect hybrid.
Moonlighter
Moonlighter brilliantly blends a relaxing life simulator with a classic dungeon crawler: during the day you’re a shopkeeper, engaging with the townsfolk and generally living your life as you would in many other games in this genre.
However, when the sun goes down, you pick up your sword and go diving into some dungeons looking for loot. Day and night gameplay blend wonderfully into each other, with each benefiting the other in different and unique ways.
If you love Stawdew Valley, but think it could benefit from some old-school Final Fantasy elements, then this is the perfect game to try.
Now that you’ve seen the best games like Stardew Valley, you can check out the best co-op games like It Takes Two if you enjoy playing with friends or take a look at games like Animal Crossing if you like cozy games.