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Celebrate Harvest Moon’s Birthday with 5 Farming Sims You’ve Probably Never Played
3K View2022-06-17
Written by @Kef
Edited by @cheddar
Do you love Stardew Valley? Do you love games that focus on farming, managing your land, and building relationships with the townspeople? Do you live farming sims? If so, it’s time to pay respects to the o.g.
This month marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the North American release of Harvest Moon, which is considered by most to be the first full farming simulation game. Launching on the Super Nintendo in June 1997 (and the Super Famicom in Japan about a year earlier), Harvest Moon introduced gamers shocking idea that an entire game could be built just around mostly mundane, everyday tasks like taking care of chores, giving gifts to other villagers, and just generally being the best farmer you can. The game’s visuals may have slightly resembled Japanese RPGs like the Final Fantasy series, but the gameplay was entirely without combat, which was extremely rare at the time.
In the twenty-five years since that debut captivated tens of thousands of gamers, the Harvest Moon series would continue across multiple iterations and platforms, including the Game Boy and Nintendo 64 before the series’s name was taken over by Natsume, thanks to some licensing and copyright issues. Natsume has continued creating its own line of Harvest Moon titles since 2014, including last year’s Harvest Moon: One World, which launched on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. When the original Harvest Moon developers at Marvelous lost the rights to the title, they started over with a new farming sim series that has been equally successful: Story of Seasons. All said, there have been almost thirty Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons games released over the last twenty-five years, not to mention countless spin-offs.
But Harvest Moon really is just the start of the story when it comes to farming sims. Like any well-tended crop, this series has spread through the fertile soil of the video game industry to spawn dozens of imitators, fans, and spiritual successors. There has yet to be an official, Marvelous-developed Story of Seasons release for mobile platforms—although an officially licensed mobile game is currently in development—there have been tons of mobile titles taking clear inspiration from Harvest Moon and its legacy.
In this collection, we’ve gathered five of our favorite mobile farming sims that you can check out to get your Harvest Moon fix on the go. And the best part of all? You can download all of them directly from TapTap right now. Time to get farming!
• My Dear Farm
Developed by the masters of creating irresistibly cute games at HyperBeard, My Dear Farm is a satisfying, straightforward farming sim. It mostly focuses on prioritizing your crop variety so you can satisfy the different demands of a rotating cast of customers. However, My Dear Farm also tosses in some light character customization and farm decorating, so there’s a little more to keep you busy than just watering and harvesting vegetables.
TapTap’s own @Jay Hunter wrote up an excellent review of My Dear Farm earlier this week, so let me just quote from his conclusions here:
“I feel pretty delighted to have stumbled across My Dear Farm. It’s a very well-made game that features an easy, casual gameplay experience. The chill game mechanics are accompanied by relaxing audio and unbearably cute visual design. I didn’t encounter any other issues besides my insatiable urge to become the Leonardo da Vinci of garden decorating. And I think the greatest accomplishment My Dear Farm has achieved is how I can still enjoy gardening through the cold, cold winter by playing digitally inside the warmth of my home.”
Check out Jay’s full review by clicking here. And if you like what you’re seeing and want to give My Dear Farm a try for yourself, you can download the game here.
• Farm RPG
Want all the enjoyment and achievement of a great farming sim in the most stripped-down package possible? Farm RPG is just the game for you! This mostly text-based title from developer Magic & Wires proves that you don’t need fancy pixel graphics—or even any graphics at all, really, aside from icons—to have a good time farming.
By removing all the extraneous elements, like character creation and walking around and, uh, having environments at all, Farm RPG is able to focus in hard on the management mechanics that are often the hidden core of what makes these experiences so satisfying. Here, choosing what to grow, buy, or sell is as simple as entering numbers into a text box and clicking “GO.”
Don’t mistake the uncomplicated design for a lack of depth though. Farm RPG has a ton to do even beyond traditional farming, including fishing, crafting, and exploring. The “RPG” part of the title means there’s a focus on leveling up your skills individually and unlocking perks as you do so. And it’s even sort of secretly an MMO; you can interact with, buy from, sell to, and receive items from a large, surprisingly friendly community as you play.
Best of all, though? This is a truly free-to-play game, with no forced ads and no paywalls. Some in-app purchases are available, but they’re truly not necessary to enjoy what Farm RPG has to offer.
• MOOMIN Welcome to Moominvalley
If games like Zynga’s popular Farmville series have proven anything, it’s just how easy it is to suck the fun out of farm sims by turning them into a daily chore that’s clearly aimed at getting players to open their wallets. MOOMIN Welcome to Moominvalley explores a formula that’s quite similar to Farmville, but it avoids the frustration of that series with two major changes.
First and foremost, Welcome to Moominvalley just feels significantly more user-friendly than Zynga’s series. It’s a lot faster-paced, there are less obvious “pay now or wait hours to continue playing” moments, and the premium currency that is purchasable is also doled out for regular play at a reasonable rate. It makes for an experience that we found much more engaging and much easier to get lost in for long stretches.
The other secret ingredient is right there in the name: MOOMIN! If you’re unfamiliar with these adorable creatures, the Moomins come from a series of Finnish books and comics. They’re round, white things that stand on two legs and have a bulbous protrusion from their faces. They sort of look like a sheep crossed with a...marshmallow? Listen, I don’t know how to describe this, just look at the screenshots! The point is, they’re CUTE.
While the original Moomin books and comics were released from 1945 to 1970, the series gained a surprisingly massive following in Japan, where numerous anime shows and films have been created based off these characters. If you spend an hour or two poking around in Welcome to Moominvalley, you’ll surely start to understand the appeal for yourself!
• Pig Farm Mix
Many farm sims have a very broad approach to the genre, but others choose to focus on one single element and really dig in deep and get it right. Pig Farm Mix is in the latter category, and one look at the title should tell you exactly what part of the farm it’s focused on. This game is all about hunting, raising, caring for, breeding, and eventually shipping off your pigs.
Here’s the thing about pigs: Like Moomins, they are extremely cute. And smart! Anyone who’s ever watched Babe (or the extremely underrated Babe: Pig in the City should be horrified at the thought of sending a pig off from your farm to be butchered. Pig Farm Mix developer Joe, Inc. even acknowledges this reality in the game’s trailer, where a baby pig watches his fully matured father disappear on the back of a truck. The trailer then promises a game that is “sorrowful but also adorable.”
Luckily for Pig Farm Mix’s sake (and our own), there is more to this game than just sending these cute lil’ hams off to their doom. The game includes an extensive breeding system that allows players to produce over 150 different varieties of piglets—from spotted pigs to pigs wearing cute bonnets to pigs that are named after classical music composers!
If you’re looking for a more intentional farm sim experience that really draws out the complexity of a single element of running a farm, Pig Farm Mix is a fantastic choice that truly is both delightful and, yes, kind of heart-wrenching. Check it out for yourself here.
• Sumikkogurashi Farm
Don’t let the big Japanese name scare you off! Sumikkogurashi Farm is one of the most relaxing farm sims we’ve ever played. It offers a full farming experience, similar to My Dear Farm or Moominvalley, and it also includes its own mind-bogglingly cute little creatures, including a shy bear, a penguin who isn’t sure if they’re a penguin, a clever dinosaur, and even a leftover piece of tonkatsu that has come to life.
Like Welcome to Moominvalley, Sumikkogurashi Farm is based on an existing set of characters, the Sumikko Gurashi line created by Japanese stationery company San-X. There have been two Sumikko Gurashi films produced, as well as several video games, but Sumikkogurashi Farm is by far the most well-regarded of that bunch, especially for ones that are available in English.
The ultimate chill-out game, Sumikkogurashi Farm not only lets you grow crops, but also lets you use your harvest as ingredients in recipes via a cooking system. There’s tons of farm decorations to collect, and the game moves at its own relaxed pace. It never feels like you’re under pressure to complete the next objective, top your high score, or rebuild your farm setup from the ground up. It’s a fantastic choice for a game to play on the side, when you need something more casual, or when you want to unwind after a long and stressful day.
If that sounds like something you could use in your life, consider downloading Sumikkogurashi Farm for yourself here.
💬 Check out all of our recommended farming sim recommendations, and let us know what you think of them in the comments below! Also, let us know if there are some great mobile farm sims that we missed. We’re always looking for more recommendations!
Mentioned games
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A relaxing farming game for Harvest Moon fans - Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Quick Review
PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?
Play it, especially if you’re a fan of older Harvest Moon games. Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is a remake of a Harvest Moon title that was originally released on the Nintendo GameCube. It’s received a visual overhaul, and there’s lots of new content, but it hasn’t lost any of the original game’s charm. A Wonderful Life has everything you’d expect from a farming game, like crops to grow and cute animals to raise, but it has a unique approach to storytelling that sets it apart from similar titles. The story it tells spans decades, and your choices can shape the course of the game. It’s a truly special title that helped me remember why I fell in love with farming games in the first place.
Ndi7K2023-06-21
Farm Sim 2024 Gameplay Realistic farming simulator! (Android, iOS)
➡️Farm Sim 2024 now available for Android & iOS devices
➡️Android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ovilex.farmsimulator24
➡️iOS:
https://apps.apple.com/in/app/farm-sim-2024/id1273216352
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➡️About this Game
Experience the ultimate farming simulator: drive tractors, and manage your farm!
ANDROOSGAMEPLAY 2K2024-03-14
Farming Simulator 23 Mobile Android Gameplay
Farming Simulator 23 Mobile Android Gameplay | Samsung Galaxy S23 ULTRA
Farming Simulator 23 Mobile is now available on both Android and iOS. You can download from Google Playstore and iOS Apple Appstore.
Game Mode: Offline
Size : 1.1 GB
Device : iPad Pro M2
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Techzamazing9K2023-05-23
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I absolutely loved this collection. As someone that enjoys gardening (a little too much sometimes), farming games like Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, and My Dear Farm have kept me strapped to my phone during my free time. I'll definitely be trying out these other game suggestions this month to build my own farming empire! 🌽🥕🍅
2022-06-17
Author likedPig Farm looks dumb and fun! Thanks for recommendation!!
2022-06-17
Author liked😎 Give it a try. It's fun!
2022-06-18
Speaking of Moomin, if you like illustration books, you might want to try Peter Rabbit's Garden. It's also a simple farming sim and you can unlock stories of Peter Rabbit in the game. It's lovely but you'll have to pay for the lottery tickets to win new decorations. So in the long run it's getting to cost more than I can take and eventually I quit.
2022-06-17
Author liked