Title. I figure that by now the dust has settled from the rush of opportunistic copycats - what are the best games to play if I like Stardew Valley but I’m already finished with it?
Fields of Mistria is ok, a bit unchallenging and grindy though. I found it just throws so much crap at you that it ends up feeling directionless because you’re always lead by the nose. You just sort of perform lists of tasks and don’t ever set your own goals.
Kynseed is similar if you squint? it’s ok,
Also voting for Fields of Mistria. The characters are well developed and it has a lot of content, lots of quality of life additions from Stardew without being a copy of it.
Grimshire is really fun but only has a year of content so far with plans for but no timeline on when the second year will be added so it just feels cliffhangery at the moment. I think it’s just a couple friends making it together but feels like a professional game so far
Honourable mention to Coral Island, the art is great and they worked hard to make all the townies diverse. The island is also Polynesian themed which is a really cool change from the usual western themes.
My Time at Sandrock is not much about farming but I think it’s in the genre, and it’s pretty fun
haven’t rly had time to play much of fields of mistria yet but my favorite thing abt it so far is that there’s an option for my player chara to have it / its pronouns which is especially cool and not something i see often
Me too, I really love how that is integrated very smoothly and there are no clothing or customizations locked behind a gender or anything
Please play Harvest Moon instead. Imagine SDV without the modern crafting guff cluttering it.
And enormous amounts of heteronormative shite plus rather banal untroubled characters.
HM/Story of Seasons is ok, but feels rather lacking after the more adult characters of SDV
Honestly I’ll take anything. I made the mistake of trying Graveyard Keeper a while ago and it was sooooo fucking bad, like just abysmal dogshit all around.
I’ve enjoyed Coral Island.
And Fields of Mistria
But idk I’m easy to please.
probably fields of mistria. i’ve been eyeing grimshire too, it’s a stardew-like but with more stakes which seems interesting (you have to farm enough food for your animal village friends or they’ll legit die 😱)
Moonlight Peaks is the one my wife (
:borat:) is currently obsessed with. It’s your bog-standard farming/life sim, but gothic/horror/vampire-themed.Fields of Mistria is another solid pick, but it looks like the devs basically just took RPG Maker and stretched it to its limits, and then kept going.
Oh these looks chill. Moonlight looks super cute
I rarely ever play video games but I did get sucked into Moonlight Peaks when I was feeling super sick the other day and was reminiscing about Harvest Moon on the N64. You’re Dracula’s kid and you run away from home because your dad is an asshole who eats people.
You live in a town of werewolves, witches, seers, and vampires. You grow blood grapes to make blood wine (vegan vampirism that goes even beyond Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person) and hang out with goth weirdoes.
Cozy games are unironically fascist propaganda.
Look, I get it, implying that the way to escape the woes of modern life is to just move out into an idyllic countryside and, you know, REJECT MODERNITY RETVURN TO PARSNIPS isn’t really an actual solution, but also like. Come on. Stardew Valley is explicitly about how capitalism destroys community - the game’s megacorporation LITERALLY destroys the center of the community to improve their profits if you let them. Also you’re expected to treat everyone in the community with respect regardless of their circumstances - e.g. the unhoused man Linus and the heavy drinker Shane are designed for you to empathize with them rather than the usual right wing response of being shamed for their ‘inferiority.’
No comment on the wider genre, haven’t played that many other games.
then all games are fascist propaganda. matter of fact, all activities are fascist propaganda. furthermore, life is fascist propaganda. furtherfurthermore, existence itself is fascist propaganda.
What a stunningly stupid take.
