Games Like Harvest Moon
Quick Answer
The closest games to Harvest Moon are Stardew Valley, Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, Rune Factory 5, Coral Island and My Time at Sandrock. Below are 9 picks with the reason for each — what carries over from Harvest Moon, and what does not.
What Made Harvest Moon Work
Harvest Moon is a routine — plant, water, talk to the same people, and slowly turn a rundown farm into something. There is no fail state and no urgency; the calendar and the relationships are the whole structure. Modern farming games are plentiful, and a few are genuinely better than the originals.
Harvest Moon began in 1996 on the Super Famicom, released in North America in 1997, created by Yasuhiro Wada. You inherit a rundown farm, grow crops through seasons, raise animals, befriend villagers and court a partner, with no fail state. After a publishing split, the original Japanese series continued in the West as Story of Seasons, while the Harvest Moon name stayed with a different publisher. Fans usually want the same cosy daily routine and sense of building a life.
9 Games Like Harvest Moon
1.Stardew Valley
The game that took the Harvest Moon formula and perfected it.
Why it fits: Eric Barone (ConcernedApe) made it alone and released it in 2016. It keeps the farm, seasons and villagers of Harvest Moon and adds mines, fishing and a community centre to restore.
What is different: Far more to do: combat in the mines, fishing, crafting and a town to restore, so it is busier than the SNES game.
Where to play it: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, iOS and Android.
More about this game →2.Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life
The actual continuation of the original series under its new name.
Why it fits: Marvelous' 2023 remake of the 2003 GameCube game Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life follows one farmer's life across several chapters.
What is different: Time jumps by years between chapters and your family grows up; there is less daily routine and more of a whole life.
Where to play it: Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
More about this game →3.Rune Factory 5
Harvest Moon with dungeons and combat layered on.
Why it fits: Hakama's 2021 Switch game, published by Marvelous, is a spin-off of the series that combines farming and romance with dungeon combat.
What is different: Swords, dungeons and bosses sit alongside the farm, so a good part of each day is combat.
Where to play it: Switch and PC.
More about this game →4.Coral Island
The most complete modern take, with a bigger town.
Why it fits: Stairway Games' farming sim, fully released in 2023, is set on a tropical island with a large town, ocean diving and restoration projects.
What is different: A tropical island with diving and ocean clean-up, and a much bigger cast of villagers than Harvest Moon ever had.
Where to play it: PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
More about this game →5.My Time at Sandrock
Crafting and building rather than farming, same rhythm.
Why it fits: Pathea Games' 2023 life sim swaps farming for crafting and building as a builder in a desert town.
What is different: Crafting and commissions replace crops, and there is combat and a main story to follow.
Where to play it: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch.
More about this game →6.Animal Crossing: New Horizons
If the daily routine and the neighbours were the appeal.
Why it fits: Nintendo's 2020 Switch game is a real-time island life sim built around daily tasks, decorating and animal neighbours.
What is different: It runs on the real-world clock and there is no farm to tend for money; the loop is decorating and visiting neighbours.
Where to play it: Switch.
More about this game →7.Fields of Mistria
The closest in tone to the SNES-era games.
Why it fits: NPC Studio's farming sim, launched in early access in 2024 and fully released in August 2026, uses a 1990s anime-inspired style and a village of characters to befriend.
What is different: A modern game with more villagers, magic and a mine to clear, so days are fuller than on the original farm.
Where to play it: PC.
More about this game →8.Viva Pinata
For the same slow build of a place that becomes a system.
Why it fits: Rare's 2006 Xbox 360 game has you design a garden to attract and keep paper-made animals, building up an ecosystem over time.
What is different: You grow a garden ecosystem to attract creatures, not crops to sell, and there is no village or romance.
Where to play it: Xbox 360; included in Rare Replay on Xbox One.
Games like this →9.Graveyard Keeper
The dark version, and much more of a management puzzle.
Why it fits: Lazy Bear Games' 2018 game, published by tinyBuild, is a darkly comic management sim about running a medieval graveyard.
What is different: Morbid and sarcastic rather than cosy: you run a graveyard and sell what you find in the bodies. Crafting chains are much longer.
Where to play it: PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch.
More about this game →
Where to Start
Stardew Valley is the best place to start — it is the game that brought the formula to a wider audience. If you want the original series' own continuation, Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is a remake of one of its best-loved entries. For something newer, Fields of Mistria is closest in tone.
How We Picked These Games
Every pick is built on daily routines, seasons and relationships, with little or no pressure to fail. We included the series' own continuation, the best modern farming games, and a few life-sims for players who came more for the village than the crops.
This list is in the free app
Games like Harvest Moon, with every reason, works offline in JustLikeGames — plus a pick for tonight and a backlog tracker.
Free · iPhone & Android · no account
How These Picks Match Harvest Moon
Harvest Moon is catalogued here as a life sim on the Nintendo Game Boy. All nine picks share at least one of its genre tags — nine simulation games among them.
Going by the "where to play it" notes, seven can be played on PC, five can be played on a PlayStation, six can be played on a Nintendo system and six can be played on an Xbox. Coral Island, Fields of Mistria and Graveyard Keeper are from small or self-published studios. Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, Rune Factory 5, Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Viva Pinata are, like Harvest Moon, games a child and an adult can play together.
| Game | Genre | Shares with Harvest Moon | Where to play |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stardew Valley | Simulation, RPG, Casual | Simulation | PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, iOS and Android. |
| Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life | Simulation, Casual, Family | Simulation | Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. |
| Rune Factory 5 | RPG, Simulation, Family | Simulation | Switch and PC. |
| Coral Island | Simulation, Casual, Indie | Simulation | PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. |
| My Time at Sandrock | Simulation, RPG, Casual | Simulation | PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch. |
| Animal Crossing: New Horizons | Simulation, Casual, Family | Simulation | Switch. |
| Fields of Mistria | Simulation, Casual, Indie | Simulation | PC. |
| Viva Pinata | Simulation, Family, Casual | Simulation | Xbox 360; included in Rare Replay on Xbox One. |
| Graveyard Keeper | Simulation, Strategy, Indie | Simulation | PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch. |
Buy This Game
* Affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Support Justlikegames
Made by one person, for free
I run Justlikegames pretty much for free — covering hosting, APIs, and the hours spent writing recommendation lists by hand. There are no paywalls, no intrusive popups, and no "premium" tier. If the site has helped you find your next favorite game, a coffee goes a long way toward keeping it that way.
Buy me a coffeeEven $3 covers a day of API costs. Thank you 💛
If You Love Harvest Moon, Try These
Frequently Asked Questions
More Game Boy Games Like Pages
Explore Other Consoles
Get Game Recs Weekly
Top picks, hidden gems, and deals — straight to your inbox. No spam, ever.
