Stardew Valley if you want systems, Animal Crossing if you want a routine. Stardew has crops, mining, combat, fishing and a progression that keeps opening up. Animal Crossing has no fail state and no real progression — it is a place you visit for twenty minutes a day.
Both are gentle, both are about slowly improving somewhere, and both run on a real-world calendar.
The farm becomes a machine you designed, the caves give it real challenge, and multiplayer works properly. Hundreds of hours, and it is very cheap.
More like this: games like Stardew Valley.
Terraforming and decorating are the deep end, and the villagers carry the tone. It deliberately paces itself so you cannot rush, which is either the point or the problem.
More like this: games like Animal Crossing New Horizons.
Stardew Valley if you want systems, Animal Crossing if you want a routine. Stardew has crops, mining, combat, fishing and a progression that keeps opening up. Animal Crossing has no fail state and no real progression — it is a place you visit for twenty minutes a day.
Better is the wrong question for these two — they are close enough that the answer depends on what you want from the next twenty hours. Pick Stardew Valley if you want something to optimise. Pick Animal Crossing if you want somewhere to potter.
No. There are no scores anywhere on this page. This is a written opinion about what each game is for, so you can judge whether it matches what you are after.