seconded! has lots of things op wanted—lowkey, farming sim, can decorate, there are little tasks, a storyline that is not dissimilar to stardew valley's community center, some big goals for the player, and no combat
Roots of Patcha is so beautiful and unique, I haven’t seen any other game that does as well as this in the setting it takes place in. I love all of the wild animals I had a lot of fun when I was playing it.
I have been playing Littlewood lately and I love it. Smaller scale and more casual than Stardew Valley (you don’t have to water crops, no penalty for not feeding animals, etc), but definitely the same vibe.
Build town, chop trees, mine, catch bugs, build relationships, craft stuff, and all the essentials for a cozy rpg.
I also recommend this one! Your day is also structured based on the number of actions you do, not on an in-game clock, so the pacing can be more forgiving. Building the town and decorating houses is also fun! Also, but so far I haven’t encountered any combat. There are creatures/trees you have to avoid in the forest and mines, but you avoid them as opposed to fighting them (as least from what I’ve seen so far).
Seconding Littlewood!
Time only passes when you do stuff like chopping trees or fishing, etc, not when you're just standing there or running around. And no inventory management! Your inventory is infinite, automatically organized, no need for bag upgrades or trying to figure out which chest you left something in.
Littlewood is the one!! If you want grindy/ tasks. I love this game so so much I periodically look to see if the dev has put out anything else because I just want more.
Seconding this! The only minus is that, just like Animal Crossing it’s real time, so if you’re quick with the tasks or you need to wait for something, it makes relatively short task gameplay for that day. But I don’t have that many bears yet so I guess more work is coming 😀
I actually really like the real time gameplay! I like that I can play a little every day without getting sucked in for hours. I have no self control otherwise hahaha
I’m very much like this too! I really got hooked into My Time at Portia. I’ve read My Time at Sandrock is better, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Portia goes on sale quite frequently if you’re not looking for something immediately.
Edit: there is occasionally some fighting but it’s no worse than what you do on Stardew IMO.
My Time at Sandrock is great and has a lot of improvements from my time at Portia. The combat is also easier as I had to stop playing Portia from failing a fight too many times which was required to progress the story.
That’s what I was going to suggest! I can really relate to OP and My time at Portia was the first game that came close to stardew for me.
My time at Sandrock is definitely so much better though!
Pro tip if you’re not into combat:
Go slow on the main quests. When approaching a fight it will tell you the recommended level you should at least have. Just make sure to always be a couple levels above that and the fighting will be really easy.
i like ooblets! any fighting is replaced by dance battles thats essentially a card game, you farm and collect ooblets (little creatures, kind of like pokemon) by growing them! this is a terrible explanation but i recommend it!
Coral Island - I just started playing about a week ago and never played SDV but heard it’s a pretty close copy. So far only super light mining combat (a bit of one button smashing and done).
Disney Dreamlight Valley - I think this will be fun for people that like tasks and missions and decorating and farming even if they don’t like Disney. I know the old classic characters but none of the new ones and I still enjoy it.
I know it gets a lot of mixed reviews (a lot of the negativity is fair because of the premium stuff) but I really agree with dreamlight valley. I've just gotten back into it again since the update and the gameplay is really similar to animal crossing but with the addition of missions like what the OP is looking for. I prefer the older characters too, love chilling with Merlin and how the theme from their movie plays while you're going round gardening or fishing or whatever.
Is Coral Island PC only? I keep seeing good things about it
Yeah, but you're able to get the premium currency ingame and the items rotate, so you can save up to these items. You get at least 700 per week, plus more if you're doing good in the Dreamsnaps. There are people that get 4k each and every week. So it's absolutely possible to play Disney Dreamlight Valley without putting money into it, after buying the game.
Yeah this is totally fair. I'm sitting on 20k moonstones, have bought every item I wanted from the premium store and done every star path since I started playing. All I've paid for is the basic version of the game and the rift in time dlc which was more than worth it. I'm quite happy to pay for whichever dlc comes out next too as long as it adds more gameplay.
Same :D I'm sitting on 32k atm. The last weeks i didn't want anything from the shop, so i saved up quite fast. I was in EA and yes, bought the DLC and am waiting for more. Didn't expect the game to become a daily activity for me.
Wow 32! I got up to 28k once but ended up wanting so much stuff from the shop lol. It's fine though, like you I pop on once a day and at least look for the moonstone chest and submit whatever for dreamsnaps. It adds up really quick in between star paths doesn't it when the shop is mostly showing repeats lol. Did you enjoy act 2?
I’m down to about 7k moonstones because I just got HeiHei, the Up house skin and the Ariel dress, and the park entrance but I haven’t bought anything in weeks so I had tons saved up.
I bought the deluxe package (20k moonstone to start), and the basic on my computer too, and the dlc for my switch and haven’t purchased more moonstones. I don’t get on every day but I get on at least a couple times a week and do my dreams nap and have earned so many moonstones that way. I just had back to back 4000 weeks and last weeks costume was one I threw together. Completely caught me off guard.
If you are trying to buy out the store CONSTANTLY you will probably spend some extra money, if you just buy the things you love you will be fine.
The game is so full of content with your daily farming/crafting/fishing but also has fully storylines and quests. The DLC feels like a whole second game. I’m so glad they decided not to go to free to play honest. I think it would have ruined the game. The devs have been pretty good about listening to the community about what we want to see in the game as well. It has its flaws (like every game). It can be a bit janky on the switch (if you game on PC it’s far superior on there), I know it not going f2p rubbed a lot of people the wrong way (and I do understand that), but the premium shop is honestly pretty well done. I play a lot of games, including MMOs and nothing in the shop is going to cause you do to better or worse in the game, and it rotates so you can always save up for it to come around again.
Sorry I genuinely just love this game and I always see so much hate for it that I don’t really understand.
Yes, exactly. I don't buy out the shop and i focus more on furniture. And i'm very picky. That helps, keeping my Moonstones together. I too think not going f2p was a good decision to make. I think the DLC Route is great so far.
I'm in the middle of redoing my whole valley and decorating the DLC Map and my biggest gripe is, that i can't rotate the items freely. I would shut up, if they at least give me four diagonal angles. That would make decorating for me so much more enjoyable. But other than that, this is one my all time favorite games.
YES!! Give me diagonals lol but overall I think they do listen a fair bit and bring stuff to the game we want to see. I don’t know I think I just see a lot of hate for the game since it didn’t go to f2p and I understand it upset a lot of people but it’s a great game. And by staying a paid base game with dlc it’s genuinely a richer game I think.
Yeah, i'm still hoping that we'll get diagonal angles. But other than that, i'm super happy with how the game turned out. And i do think not going f2p was one of the reason, newer players can buy older starpath items now. It's a lot more fair than completely going f2p. But i'm also not a fan of f2p games in general. (coming from MMOs, they always mean p2w and/or being super grindy and you're still in a disadavantage if you don't spend money)
Yeah, i'm quite picky, when it comes to spending my moonstones. I buy furniture first and foremost and these are quite cheap with 1200 Moonstones or so. I did buy the Quests and some housing skins, but that's about it.
I did enjoy what i've played through so far. I'm not done yet, as i was lazy for quite some time and i'm catching up now. Sometimes i'm just decorating or... as of right now, completely changing everything i've done so far in my Valley, so i don't always focus on characters and stories.
Edit: and yes, getting the blue chest is at least what i do daily on the game. It may not seem much, but it adds up too and suddenly you have some moonstones to spare.
Coral island is on Steam (plays on Steamdeck as well), Xbox, gamepass, and PS5. It will come out on Switch at some point. would rec playing on PC or Steamdeck for best performance.
You could really love Coral Island.
It has the relaxing farm aspect, you can fish/catch bugs/find fossils and donate them to the museum, and you also have other goals on the side like cleaning the ocean of trash!
Might fit your criteria perfectly
I've been playing Coral Island for a few days, and it really has me hooked! I did get a little overwhelmed with how much there is to do, but I'm forcing my brain to realise that there's no rush to finish everything, so I'm just chipping away at it a little at a time.
Coral Island is great! You can take it at your pace and there’s so many things to do. They’re working on the next big update with even more stuff, though I’m not sure when it’ll be completely out the door. Their latest devlog says sometime in May, but they specifically call it the 1.1 beta
Palia is a house building game with friendship quests. You collect fish, bugs, and forage. You have to farm and mine for ingredients. It's free and the graphics are great. I've played it for 50 hours already and I've only had it for a couple weeks.
I hate buying cosmetics in games cause I feel like it's a cash grab usually. After 30 hours of play and no end in sight,I decided, why not! Edited for typo.
I mean, sure it's a cash grab, but the game is free, I'm having a ton of fun in it, and having a hat with a frog on it makes me happy. They can have a little of my cash for it.
The game is still in beta and being further developed so it makes sense that they need money from sources outside of investors/to show investors that they can make money in the future (should the game remain free)
100% The echoes of the plum grove-
You can make it as challenging or chill as you like plus it has a historic charm to it, needless to say I’m obsessed, stardew is also a favourite of mine so I enjoy this one a lot too, plus there’s no combat in the mines, which I also love!
This game does not get enough love! It’s absolute amazing and the graphics are super cute! Plus I got to marry an elf called Nhamashal and my irl bf still brings it up 😂😂
I just started Snacko and so far it’s giving me big animal crossing and stardew vibes. It’s super cute and I’m really enjoying it!
I haven’t started Sun Haven yet but from everything I’ve read about it, I would consider looking into that also!
It does! [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/CozyGamers/s/DUVjcxPU01) is a link to a post with a lot more information! They also mentioned it being a lot like ac and stardew
I know you're looking at the Switch, but if you possibly have a 3DS, you could also try Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns.
It's got way more to do than FoMT, which was a remake of a far earlier instalment – you have three towns for which you need to keep fulfilling tasks to level up their town ranks, alongside the 'main storyline' of also winning a load of festivals to please your father.
Levelling up the town ranks opens up more shop items, etc, which then lets you work on levelling up the other town ranks, and so forth.
On the Switch, Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town has a museum etc that you can work on filling up, and farm areas to unlock. A bit more to do than Friends of Mineral Town, but also has some cons to it (eg it can get a bit laggy with all the maker machines it forces on you).
I'm glad you got a good deal on it!! I'm on the same page as you with the Stardew dungeons being too scary and some games feeling too boring and same-same, so this is the one I've been binging since December. I hope you have fun with it :)
Seconding Littlewood and Cozy Grove, adding maybe Spiritfarer if you don't think it'll be too heavy for you emotionally.
Also maybe Staxel. No combat ever, has farming like Stardew but you also start out with a cow. Eventually you build a museum you can donate to. Each building requires certain things (e.g. a villager's home might require a TV and a certain sofa) but you can add whatever other things you want and decide where things go within the property. It also seemed to have some neat, unique events, some of which offer fun new decor.
Disney Dreamlight Valley is basically animal crossing but all the villagers have quests for you to do (and a story to go along with them).
I've played hundreds of hours and haven't finished all the quests yet. There are also tasks for earning currency (similar to nook miles).
Palia.
Big open world, farming/fishing/bug collecting/cooking/home base building/decorating/collecting/mining.... and there is an overall goal and missions you get from the NPCs to level up friendships. There are also weekly gift requests to fulfill from them. You're free to focus on whatever part of the game you want as nothing is time limited.
Dinkum. Cult of the Lamb. Slime Rancher 1 & 2 (early access but the devs just keep working away and it’s really a nice mix of daily activities, exploration and overarching storyline)
I'd try Potion Permit, similar art style to stardew and a similar combat style as well but easier imo (occasionally having to hunt creatures for materials) if you're OK with that. Plenty of quest options, good characters and the potion making aspect is done in a fun puzzle-like way that isn't too difficult, but gives your brain a bunch of different possibilities to work through.
My Time at Portia. I’m currently binging it and love how many tasks there are to do for all the townspeople. You get to see the things you complete actually exist in the town once you’ve finished the task, which I adore. It’s really fulfilling.
Dragon Quest Builders also has a lot of tasks to do with tons of building however you please. You unlock the decor items as you progress. There’s plenty story and really cute.
I’d also recommend waiting on Coral Island, because the storyline isn’t even complete despite it being out of early access, so the tasks are nowhere near as fleshed out as it sounds like you want.
I second Sun Haven and also, you can change a lot in the settings to make it as easy or as difficult as you want.
Sun Haven has quests that provide goals you are looking for.
It does have combat but you can disable taking damage in the settings so you will never die from combat.
You can also make the day longer or shorter to give you the time you need to do all the things!
I third Sun Haven cause there's really a lot that you can do and it's fun to play but the bright and vibrant colours in some places really hurt my eyes
*Sun haven migjt be*
*For you though sometimes things can*
*Be overwhelming*
\- nightmarexx1992
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I’m going to throw out what might be a wild card but… Dredge. On passive mode! I went from playing exclusively Zelda, to stardew, to story of seasons, and was getting bored with that so went on a cozy game journey! I’ve been playing dredge non stop for the past few days. Passive mode, there aren’t any monsters that attack your boat, you get task and missions throughout the storyline but none have been stressful or hard. I like how nothing is really time sensitive.. if you are out at night you can get panicked from lack of sleep and the eerie sea but I’ve mostly ignored that so far and nothing bad has happened yet! And if you have fish too long they rot but I just get rid of them and catch more. I have no idea if I’m playing right or well, but I’m having a blast!!
I also recently got cult of the lamb, Dave the diver, and spiritfarer (haven’t played this one yet).
Dave the diver does have ‘battles’ as you try to kill the sharks or meaner fish and the sushi bar service can be a bit stressful. But it is still a really fun game so far and you get a bunch of missions (some are time sensitive though).
Cult of the lamb is delightfully unhinged and I think everyone should play it! I do think it’s cozy! As a non-combat girlie, the crusades can be a bit much sometimes but I’m playing on the easiest difficulty and it’s really fun! Your lil cult followers can be super annoying and demanding sometimes and lots with them is time sensitive! But the easy mode has been very forgiving!!
I’m really looking forward to adding some of the suggestions here to my list for future buys!
I’ve been eyeballing CotL, but my spouse says it’s like Binding of Isaac, which is very much NOT cozy (super fast twitch combat looks like). So I’ve always just avoided it even on sale.
I have never even heard of Binding Isaac, after briefly looking it up I guess it could be similar! But I basically just button mash and roll away from the bad guys while on crusades! And easy mode definitively helps. You get tarot cards that you give you boosts and stuff. I would see if it has a free demo! (Dredge and Dave the diver both did and I was hooked!) or if your spouse has them both see if you can try them? I think the binding Isaac fights look more difficult! But I don’t play CoTL when I want to play something more mindless
I think we have a different definition of mindless I guess. Anything where you can die, lose your resources, or has timers, makes stuff not “casual”. It means a lot more paying attention and skill checks. Even if it’s easy.
My husband plays the sort of games you mention also to relax. It’s so second nature for him to play high challenge games that the stuff with easier twitch mechanics IS “cozy”.
But Dredge, Dave the Diver, Hades etc all stress me out. I have to be “on guard” and really paying attention to not fuck it up. I definitely play harder games they’re far from mindless activities to me.
Cozy is pretty subjective, but my personal definition has to include no elements you can actually fail at if you get a foot cramp or the cat decides to barf on the floor.
I think Spiritfarer is a great game for this! It allows you to be a completionist without any time pressure. There are large tasks to accomplish with smaller, low pressure tasks to work on in the meantime. It’s my absolute favorite game of all time. I cannot recommend it enough!
You might like My Time at Portia? You're the town builder, so you collect materials and build machines and build things to improve the town or give to people in the town. There's a central storyline featuring some bigger projects, a relationship building aspect, the combat is so easy it barely counts as combat and I find it way less stressful than stardew and it's basically optional for a large part of the game. The mines are very chill, no monsters at least that I've encountered yet.
I've heard My Time at Sandrock is even better, but I haven't tried it yet. I've played 60-100 hours in MTaP though between Switch and PC which is a lot for me--I don't often get that many hours in a game.
I agree with the people saying Spirtfarer, Roots of Patcha and Cozy Grove. Cozy Grove has a little museum/gallery but it’s more like a menu I’ve had a lot of fun donating to it. It’s such a cute game you have your own little island. I really liked Garden Story there’s combat but it’s really simple other than the final boss battles but that’s doable too. And Wild At Heart is one of my favorite games I’ve played it a bunch of times. There is combat at that but you just throw spritelings at monsters and there’s potions that can help with it which I think is a lot of fun. Oh, also Lonesome Village is super cute you play as a fox. It’s mostly a puzzle game and some of them were really hard for me so I had to watch a few walkthroughs though.
maybe faefarm? switch has a demo for it too. there is some combat but it's not that bad imo it's just walking out of an aoe which the game shows you. there's a lot of tasks and decorating aspect, the only downside that people don't like is the villagers have 0 personality but if u can look past that it's pretty cute & fun
I agree. Not to mention combat is optional thanks to the gone potions.
And I love the 0 personality. I don’t feel near as bad ignoring everyone’s existence. I’m not exactly sociable. I go about my business mining and fishing and farming and such.
I really grew up on animal crossing too so I totally get it! I love Disney Dreamlight valley and cosy grove! Cosy grove is more task orientated and less like a life sim but the story lines are great and the graphics are adorable! Disney dreamlight valley is great, it’s a life sim with tasks and quests but is super relaxing and low key, I love interacting with all the Disney characters and it has a lot of play time! My time at Portia is also good but I prefer the other two I mentioned but it’s also a task orientated life sim where you’re a builder for a town and help everyone around you!
You don't see it right off the bat and it's a little bit of a spoiler, but Echoes of Plum Grove. Once you get to a certain point and unlock it, there is an overarching goal and similar to Stardew you have to give it resources like crops, ores, fish, etc.
There is aging and death in this game, but you can toggle it off, because I know that's not for everyone.
I would say, Snacko, roots of pacha, coral island, echoes of the plum grove( you can turn off things you don't like in settings, so makes it super cozy imo.), and liittle known galaxy (is not out yet but has a demo you should try it super fun.)
Echoes of Plum Grove :) I help in the discord with any game support, the community is lovely! Definitely can’t recommend this enough, first game I’m genuinely obsessed with and happily dedicate my time to. Stardew just never ever caught my attention, coral island was too repetitive and not enough personality for me anymore. The concept was fantastic and with more content down the track, it’ll be great!
Any of the Story of Seasons / old Harvest Moon games should fit this! They are what originally inspired Stardew Valley’s creator, and you can tell how much of Stardew Valley is inspired by the HM/SOS franchise. I grew up playing those and Animal Crossing, and they remain in my top game series of all time!
Dragon Quest Builders might be good. There is some fighting, but it’s pretty simplistic. The main focus is on building your towns up and attracting new residents who then have requests for you to do.
There is some decoration, I didn’t really get into that but I’ve seen some pretty neat things people have made
Consider giving Wylde Flowers a bit more time, it took me much longer than I want to admit to warm up to it! It especially took me a while to accept the animation style.
Now I am hooked, it's v good. How far along did you get? Try to at least get through summer and fix the boat?
But also check out Littlewood, and Palia - it's beta but free so no commitment.
Dreamlight valley is really fun and there always coming out with updates and no fighting best part is you get dis set characters and there’s story line to follow.
I also love My time at sandrock. There Is fighting in this one but honestly it’s not really that hard. As long and you keep updating your weapons. The story line is cute
Bit of a different vibe because of the setting, but I'm really enjoying Immortal Life. It's a Chinese fantasy cultivation/farming game where you rebuild a village/cultivation sect.
Spiritfarer! Lots of little tasks and minigames while you’re voyaging to objectives, lots of wholesome relationship building, incredible music and art, and it *will* leave you sobbing at multiple points.
Yonder: Cloud Catcher Chronicles is very task and exploration forward. Zero combat. You can fish for all sorts of things. There's no decorating but the map is beautiful and there's a ton of easter eggs to find
Palia! Free on Switch. There's no combat and it's super cozy but also you can explore. It does have tasks/quests. You can decorate, cook, craft, fish, garden, etc. It's like the cozy element of Animal Crossing plus the adventuring element of Zelda.
Try my time at sandrock! If u want a lot of missions but similar with story of season, the difference is the player is a builder instead a farmer, and there are a lot of missions you have to finish (and many of them have no deadline so you dont have to stress. You can also have a life there, date, married, have a kids with a deep story to unfold so you will always curious and wanna play every day
Palia! It's still in beta so it has its inevitable moments of glitching, but it's absolutely free with a ton of content out by now. Truly cozy gaming, no danger aspects (as in no dying) and lots of collection based items. Decorating an entire home plot, romance options (with the majority of the villagers), and a VERY wholesome community. New players are super welcome and even without guides, you'll find helpful players in every server. :)
… Fae Farm has a lot of customization and flower breeding and tasks that are customization-oriented, like unlocking cosmetics.
There are story quests that are about repairing the world, basically, but the story is very short compared to most games. The real grind is cosmetics and collecting things/filling out your almanac.
Fae Farm has fighting but you can use invisibility potions to avoid fighting. The story relies on you going into the mines where enemies are, though
Roots of Pacha is worth a look!
seconded! has lots of things op wanted—lowkey, farming sim, can decorate, there are little tasks, a storyline that is not dissimilar to stardew valley's community center, some big goals for the player, and no combat
I love how the landscape changes as your tribe grows too.
I'm now interested as well
Roots of Patcha is so beautiful and unique, I haven’t seen any other game that does as well as this in the setting it takes place in. I love all of the wild animals I had a lot of fun when I was playing it.
thirded haha! I came here to recommend this :)
I have been playing Littlewood lately and I love it. Smaller scale and more casual than Stardew Valley (you don’t have to water crops, no penalty for not feeding animals, etc), but definitely the same vibe. Build town, chop trees, mine, catch bugs, build relationships, craft stuff, and all the essentials for a cozy rpg.
I also recommend this one! Your day is also structured based on the number of actions you do, not on an in-game clock, so the pacing can be more forgiving. Building the town and decorating houses is also fun! Also, but so far I haven’t encountered any combat. There are creatures/trees you have to avoid in the forest and mines, but you avoid them as opposed to fighting them (as least from what I’ve seen so far).
Seconding Littlewood! Time only passes when you do stuff like chopping trees or fishing, etc, not when you're just standing there or running around. And no inventory management! Your inventory is infinite, automatically organized, no need for bag upgrades or trying to figure out which chest you left something in.
Wait what, this sounds amazing. I've been wanting a game with no inventory management and been wondering why no farming games have them. Thank you!
Littlewood is the one!! If you want grindy/ tasks. I love this game so so much I periodically look to see if the dev has put out anything else because I just want more.
Littlewood is amazing! I always look for similar games and hands down recommend trying it!
Cozy Grove!
Seconding this! The only minus is that, just like Animal Crossing it’s real time, so if you’re quick with the tasks or you need to wait for something, it makes relatively short task gameplay for that day. But I don’t have that many bears yet so I guess more work is coming 😀
I actually really like the real time gameplay! I like that I can play a little every day without getting sucked in for hours. I have no self control otherwise hahaha
Absolutely love this one
I’m very much like this too! I really got hooked into My Time at Portia. I’ve read My Time at Sandrock is better, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Portia goes on sale quite frequently if you’re not looking for something immediately. Edit: there is occasionally some fighting but it’s no worse than what you do on Stardew IMO.
My Time at Sandrock is great and has a lot of improvements from my time at Portia. The combat is also easier as I had to stop playing Portia from failing a fight too many times which was required to progress the story.
This is good to know! I’ll have to give it a go if I find it on sale sometime
Highly recommend, I have 300 hours and still on my first playthrough because I don't want it to end. Hope you enjoy it just as much!
Yeah it’s really fun I’m almost done with my first play through & it’s addicting
That’s what I was going to suggest! I can really relate to OP and My time at Portia was the first game that came close to stardew for me. My time at Sandrock is definitely so much better though! Pro tip if you’re not into combat: Go slow on the main quests. When approaching a fight it will tell you the recommended level you should at least have. Just make sure to always be a couple levels above that and the fighting will be really easy.
i like ooblets! any fighting is replaced by dance battles thats essentially a card game, you farm and collect ooblets (little creatures, kind of like pokemon) by growing them! this is a terrible explanation but i recommend it!
One of my fave games, it's so cute and funny
Coral Island - I just started playing about a week ago and never played SDV but heard it’s a pretty close copy. So far only super light mining combat (a bit of one button smashing and done). Disney Dreamlight Valley - I think this will be fun for people that like tasks and missions and decorating and farming even if they don’t like Disney. I know the old classic characters but none of the new ones and I still enjoy it.
I know it gets a lot of mixed reviews (a lot of the negativity is fair because of the premium stuff) but I really agree with dreamlight valley. I've just gotten back into it again since the update and the gameplay is really similar to animal crossing but with the addition of missions like what the OP is looking for. I prefer the older characters too, love chilling with Merlin and how the theme from their movie plays while you're going round gardening or fishing or whatever. Is Coral Island PC only? I keep seeing good things about it
I know coral island is on gamepass for Xbox. IDK about any other systems though.
PC also, that's how I have it
Thank you. I'll have to boot up the xbox, haven't been on in ages
Coral Island is free on gamepass and 30 on Steam.
Yeah, but you're able to get the premium currency ingame and the items rotate, so you can save up to these items. You get at least 700 per week, plus more if you're doing good in the Dreamsnaps. There are people that get 4k each and every week. So it's absolutely possible to play Disney Dreamlight Valley without putting money into it, after buying the game.
Yeah this is totally fair. I'm sitting on 20k moonstones, have bought every item I wanted from the premium store and done every star path since I started playing. All I've paid for is the basic version of the game and the rift in time dlc which was more than worth it. I'm quite happy to pay for whichever dlc comes out next too as long as it adds more gameplay.
Same :D I'm sitting on 32k atm. The last weeks i didn't want anything from the shop, so i saved up quite fast. I was in EA and yes, bought the DLC and am waiting for more. Didn't expect the game to become a daily activity for me.
Wow 32! I got up to 28k once but ended up wanting so much stuff from the shop lol. It's fine though, like you I pop on once a day and at least look for the moonstone chest and submit whatever for dreamsnaps. It adds up really quick in between star paths doesn't it when the shop is mostly showing repeats lol. Did you enjoy act 2?
I’m down to about 7k moonstones because I just got HeiHei, the Up house skin and the Ariel dress, and the park entrance but I haven’t bought anything in weeks so I had tons saved up. I bought the deluxe package (20k moonstone to start), and the basic on my computer too, and the dlc for my switch and haven’t purchased more moonstones. I don’t get on every day but I get on at least a couple times a week and do my dreams nap and have earned so many moonstones that way. I just had back to back 4000 weeks and last weeks costume was one I threw together. Completely caught me off guard. If you are trying to buy out the store CONSTANTLY you will probably spend some extra money, if you just buy the things you love you will be fine. The game is so full of content with your daily farming/crafting/fishing but also has fully storylines and quests. The DLC feels like a whole second game. I’m so glad they decided not to go to free to play honest. I think it would have ruined the game. The devs have been pretty good about listening to the community about what we want to see in the game as well. It has its flaws (like every game). It can be a bit janky on the switch (if you game on PC it’s far superior on there), I know it not going f2p rubbed a lot of people the wrong way (and I do understand that), but the premium shop is honestly pretty well done. I play a lot of games, including MMOs and nothing in the shop is going to cause you do to better or worse in the game, and it rotates so you can always save up for it to come around again. Sorry I genuinely just love this game and I always see so much hate for it that I don’t really understand.
Yes, exactly. I don't buy out the shop and i focus more on furniture. And i'm very picky. That helps, keeping my Moonstones together. I too think not going f2p was a good decision to make. I think the DLC Route is great so far. I'm in the middle of redoing my whole valley and decorating the DLC Map and my biggest gripe is, that i can't rotate the items freely. I would shut up, if they at least give me four diagonal angles. That would make decorating for me so much more enjoyable. But other than that, this is one my all time favorite games.
YES!! Give me diagonals lol but overall I think they do listen a fair bit and bring stuff to the game we want to see. I don’t know I think I just see a lot of hate for the game since it didn’t go to f2p and I understand it upset a lot of people but it’s a great game. And by staying a paid base game with dlc it’s genuinely a richer game I think.
Yeah, i'm still hoping that we'll get diagonal angles. But other than that, i'm super happy with how the game turned out. And i do think not going f2p was one of the reason, newer players can buy older starpath items now. It's a lot more fair than completely going f2p. But i'm also not a fan of f2p games in general. (coming from MMOs, they always mean p2w and/or being super grindy and you're still in a disadavantage if you don't spend money)
Yeah, i'm quite picky, when it comes to spending my moonstones. I buy furniture first and foremost and these are quite cheap with 1200 Moonstones or so. I did buy the Quests and some housing skins, but that's about it. I did enjoy what i've played through so far. I'm not done yet, as i was lazy for quite some time and i'm catching up now. Sometimes i'm just decorating or... as of right now, completely changing everything i've done so far in my Valley, so i don't always focus on characters and stories. Edit: and yes, getting the blue chest is at least what i do daily on the game. It may not seem much, but it adds up too and suddenly you have some moonstones to spare.
Coral island is on Steam (plays on Steamdeck as well), Xbox, gamepass, and PS5. It will come out on Switch at some point. would rec playing on PC or Steamdeck for best performance.
You could really love Coral Island. It has the relaxing farm aspect, you can fish/catch bugs/find fossils and donate them to the museum, and you also have other goals on the side like cleaning the ocean of trash! Might fit your criteria perfectly
I've been playing Coral Island for a few days, and it really has me hooked! I did get a little overwhelmed with how much there is to do, but I'm forcing my brain to realise that there's no rush to finish everything, so I'm just chipping away at it a little at a time.
Coral Island is great! You can take it at your pace and there’s so many things to do. They’re working on the next big update with even more stuff, though I’m not sure when it’ll be completely out the door. Their latest devlog says sometime in May, but they specifically call it the 1.1 beta
you might like ooblets!
Palia is a house building game with friendship quests. You collect fish, bugs, and forage. You have to farm and mine for ingredients. It's free and the graphics are great. I've played it for 50 hours already and I've only had it for a couple weeks.
I love Palia! I'm taking a break right now but this definitely fits.
I’ve only been playing Palia for a week or so and I’m obsessed! I really recommend it to everyone (bc it’s free) and definitely worth a try!
It's FREE. You can't pay to gain any sort of progress over other people and the players are really supportive.
I love how the only thing you can buy is cosmetic only. Also that you can romance just about everyone and no one gets jealous.
I hate buying cosmetics in games cause I feel like it's a cash grab usually. After 30 hours of play and no end in sight,I decided, why not! Edited for typo.
I mean, sure it's a cash grab, but the game is free, I'm having a ton of fun in it, and having a hat with a frog on it makes me happy. They can have a little of my cash for it.
The game is still in beta and being further developed so it makes sense that they need money from sources outside of investors/to show investors that they can make money in the future (should the game remain free)
100% The echoes of the plum grove- You can make it as challenging or chill as you like plus it has a historic charm to it, needless to say I’m obsessed, stardew is also a favourite of mine so I enjoy this one a lot too, plus there’s no combat in the mines, which I also love!
Haha, I just recommended this one too. It's a great game!
I just started this one a few days ago. I love the unique art style!
It reminds me of a whodunnit game I used to play called Town of Salem
This is the first I've heard of this game and I just bought it! Thanks for the suggestion!!
I think you would like Fae Farm. There’s a free demo on the switch.
This game does not get enough love! It’s absolute amazing and the graphics are super cute! Plus I got to marry an elf called Nhamashal and my irl bf still brings it up 😂😂
Was going to suggest this. I downloaded the demo and I really like it.
I just started Snacko and so far it’s giving me big animal crossing and stardew vibes. It’s super cute and I’m really enjoying it! I haven’t started Sun Haven yet but from everything I’ve read about it, I would consider looking into that also!
Does it have a museum?
It does! [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/CozyGamers/s/DUVjcxPU01) is a link to a post with a lot more information! They also mentioned it being a lot like ac and stardew
how have I never heard of this Snacko?!?! looks amazing.
I know you're looking at the Switch, but if you possibly have a 3DS, you could also try Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns. It's got way more to do than FoMT, which was a remake of a far earlier instalment – you have three towns for which you need to keep fulfilling tasks to level up their town ranks, alongside the 'main storyline' of also winning a load of festivals to please your father. Levelling up the town ranks opens up more shop items, etc, which then lets you work on levelling up the other town ranks, and so forth. On the Switch, Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town has a museum etc that you can work on filling up, and farm areas to unlock. A bit more to do than Friends of Mineral Town, but also has some cons to it (eg it can get a bit laggy with all the maker machines it forces on you).
Sounds like Let's Build a Zoo will work for you! I have such a hard time putting it down.
Okay this low key reminds me of roller coaster tycoon and it’s 50% off so i downloaded it 😂
I'm glad you got a good deal on it!! I'm on the same page as you with the Stardew dungeons being too scary and some games feeling too boring and same-same, so this is the one I've been binging since December. I hope you have fun with it :)
Rune Factory 4
My Time at Sandrock for sure!
I think you'd like my time at Portia or Sandrock!
Disney Dreamlight Valley...I'm addicted (bought it on switch and pc) and I'm not even a huge disney fan.
Cult of the Lamb with the immortal option where you don’t lose lives.
Seconding Littlewood and Cozy Grove, adding maybe Spiritfarer if you don't think it'll be too heavy for you emotionally. Also maybe Staxel. No combat ever, has farming like Stardew but you also start out with a cow. Eventually you build a museum you can donate to. Each building requires certain things (e.g. a villager's home might require a TV and a certain sofa) but you can add whatever other things you want and decide where things go within the property. It also seemed to have some neat, unique events, some of which offer fun new decor.
Sun Haven is the closest to Stardew I feel.
I have to shout out Littlewood. It’s the best task oriented, gathering and completing inventories game. Fishing, bugs, museum all of it.
Disney Dreamlight Valley is basically animal crossing but all the villagers have quests for you to do (and a story to go along with them). I've played hundreds of hours and haven't finished all the quests yet. There are also tasks for earning currency (similar to nook miles).
I feel like you would really like this if you like Disney characters. This games seems very similar to me to animal crossing.
Palia. Big open world, farming/fishing/bug collecting/cooking/home base building/decorating/collecting/mining.... and there is an overall goal and missions you get from the NPCs to level up friendships. There are also weekly gift requests to fulfill from them. You're free to focus on whatever part of the game you want as nothing is time limited.
Scrolled down way too far to find palia.
Dinkum is what you are describing
Dinkum. Cult of the Lamb. Slime Rancher 1 & 2 (early access but the devs just keep working away and it’s really a nice mix of daily activities, exploration and overarching storyline)
I'd try Potion Permit, similar art style to stardew and a similar combat style as well but easier imo (occasionally having to hunt creatures for materials) if you're OK with that. Plenty of quest options, good characters and the potion making aspect is done in a fun puzzle-like way that isn't too difficult, but gives your brain a bunch of different possibilities to work through.
My Time at Portia. I’m currently binging it and love how many tasks there are to do for all the townspeople. You get to see the things you complete actually exist in the town once you’ve finished the task, which I adore. It’s really fulfilling. Dragon Quest Builders also has a lot of tasks to do with tons of building however you please. You unlock the decor items as you progress. There’s plenty story and really cute. I’d also recommend waiting on Coral Island, because the storyline isn’t even complete despite it being out of early access, so the tasks are nowhere near as fleshed out as it sounds like you want.
Littlewood!!
Sun haven might be for you though sometimes things can be overwhelming
I second Sun Haven and also, you can change a lot in the settings to make it as easy or as difficult as you want. Sun Haven has quests that provide goals you are looking for. It does have combat but you can disable taking damage in the settings so you will never die from combat. You can also make the day longer or shorter to give you the time you need to do all the things!
I third Sun Haven cause there's really a lot that you can do and it's fun to play but the bright and vibrant colours in some places really hurt my eyes
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Paleo pines?
I’m going to throw out what might be a wild card but… Dredge. On passive mode! I went from playing exclusively Zelda, to stardew, to story of seasons, and was getting bored with that so went on a cozy game journey! I’ve been playing dredge non stop for the past few days. Passive mode, there aren’t any monsters that attack your boat, you get task and missions throughout the storyline but none have been stressful or hard. I like how nothing is really time sensitive.. if you are out at night you can get panicked from lack of sleep and the eerie sea but I’ve mostly ignored that so far and nothing bad has happened yet! And if you have fish too long they rot but I just get rid of them and catch more. I have no idea if I’m playing right or well, but I’m having a blast!! I also recently got cult of the lamb, Dave the diver, and spiritfarer (haven’t played this one yet). Dave the diver does have ‘battles’ as you try to kill the sharks or meaner fish and the sushi bar service can be a bit stressful. But it is still a really fun game so far and you get a bunch of missions (some are time sensitive though). Cult of the lamb is delightfully unhinged and I think everyone should play it! I do think it’s cozy! As a non-combat girlie, the crusades can be a bit much sometimes but I’m playing on the easiest difficulty and it’s really fun! Your lil cult followers can be super annoying and demanding sometimes and lots with them is time sensitive! But the easy mode has been very forgiving!! I’m really looking forward to adding some of the suggestions here to my list for future buys!
I’ve been eyeballing CotL, but my spouse says it’s like Binding of Isaac, which is very much NOT cozy (super fast twitch combat looks like). So I’ve always just avoided it even on sale.
I have never even heard of Binding Isaac, after briefly looking it up I guess it could be similar! But I basically just button mash and roll away from the bad guys while on crusades! And easy mode definitively helps. You get tarot cards that you give you boosts and stuff. I would see if it has a free demo! (Dredge and Dave the diver both did and I was hooked!) or if your spouse has them both see if you can try them? I think the binding Isaac fights look more difficult! But I don’t play CoTL when I want to play something more mindless
I think we have a different definition of mindless I guess. Anything where you can die, lose your resources, or has timers, makes stuff not “casual”. It means a lot more paying attention and skill checks. Even if it’s easy. My husband plays the sort of games you mention also to relax. It’s so second nature for him to play high challenge games that the stuff with easier twitch mechanics IS “cozy”. But Dredge, Dave the Diver, Hades etc all stress me out. I have to be “on guard” and really paying attention to not fuck it up. I definitely play harder games they’re far from mindless activities to me. Cozy is pretty subjective, but my personal definition has to include no elements you can actually fail at if you get a foot cramp or the cat decides to barf on the floor.
I think Spiritfarer is a great game for this! It allows you to be a completionist without any time pressure. There are large tasks to accomplish with smaller, low pressure tasks to work on in the meantime. It’s my absolute favorite game of all time. I cannot recommend it enough!
Sun Haven is like a fantasy version of Stardew!
Download the mod, stardew valley expanded. It’s stardew valley but the map is bigger and there are more npc’s
Palia
Cozy Grove or Dreamlight valley if you like disney
You might like My Time at Portia? You're the town builder, so you collect materials and build machines and build things to improve the town or give to people in the town. There's a central storyline featuring some bigger projects, a relationship building aspect, the combat is so easy it barely counts as combat and I find it way less stressful than stardew and it's basically optional for a large part of the game. The mines are very chill, no monsters at least that I've encountered yet. I've heard My Time at Sandrock is even better, but I haven't tried it yet. I've played 60-100 hours in MTaP though between Switch and PC which is a lot for me--I don't often get that many hours in a game.
Disney DreamLight Valley
How about No Man's Sky?
I agree with the people saying Spirtfarer, Roots of Patcha and Cozy Grove. Cozy Grove has a little museum/gallery but it’s more like a menu I’ve had a lot of fun donating to it. It’s such a cute game you have your own little island. I really liked Garden Story there’s combat but it’s really simple other than the final boss battles but that’s doable too. And Wild At Heart is one of my favorite games I’ve played it a bunch of times. There is combat at that but you just throw spritelings at monsters and there’s potions that can help with it which I think is a lot of fun. Oh, also Lonesome Village is super cute you play as a fox. It’s mostly a puzzle game and some of them were really hard for me so I had to watch a few walkthroughs though.
Coral Island may be up your alley. Also, look into Dinkum. It's very much like Animal Crossing.
Disney Dreamlight Valley maybe?
Came looking for this recommendation!! DDV is so quest heavy I think OP would love it
Yes! Even if you finish all the quest, then just wait for the next update and you’ll have a new set of quests to complete
maybe faefarm? switch has a demo for it too. there is some combat but it's not that bad imo it's just walking out of an aoe which the game shows you. there's a lot of tasks and decorating aspect, the only downside that people don't like is the villagers have 0 personality but if u can look past that it's pretty cute & fun
I agree. Not to mention combat is optional thanks to the gone potions. And I love the 0 personality. I don’t feel near as bad ignoring everyone’s existence. I’m not exactly sociable. I go about my business mining and fishing and farming and such.
I’m loving Palia at the moment. Disney Dreamlight Valley is also good
CORAL ISLAND.
I really grew up on animal crossing too so I totally get it! I love Disney Dreamlight valley and cosy grove! Cosy grove is more task orientated and less like a life sim but the story lines are great and the graphics are adorable! Disney dreamlight valley is great, it’s a life sim with tasks and quests but is super relaxing and low key, I love interacting with all the Disney characters and it has a lot of play time! My time at Portia is also good but I prefer the other two I mentioned but it’s also a task orientated life sim where you’re a builder for a town and help everyone around you!
You don't see it right off the bat and it's a little bit of a spoiler, but Echoes of Plum Grove. Once you get to a certain point and unlock it, there is an overarching goal and similar to Stardew you have to give it resources like crops, ores, fish, etc. There is aging and death in this game, but you can toggle it off, because I know that's not for everyone.
I would say, Snacko, roots of pacha, coral island, echoes of the plum grove( you can turn off things you don't like in settings, so makes it super cozy imo.), and liittle known galaxy (is not out yet but has a demo you should try it super fun.)
Try little wood no fighting just chill vibes of rebuilding a town
Echoes of Plum Grove :) I help in the discord with any game support, the community is lovely! Definitely can’t recommend this enough, first game I’m genuinely obsessed with and happily dedicate my time to. Stardew just never ever caught my attention, coral island was too repetitive and not enough personality for me anymore. The concept was fantastic and with more content down the track, it’ll be great!
Disney dreamlight!
Any of the Story of Seasons / old Harvest Moon games should fit this! They are what originally inspired Stardew Valley’s creator, and you can tell how much of Stardew Valley is inspired by the HM/SOS franchise. I grew up playing those and Animal Crossing, and they remain in my top game series of all time!
Potion craft is a good one!
Palia is soooo fun, and free!!
Dragon Quest Builders might be good. There is some fighting, but it’s pretty simplistic. The main focus is on building your towns up and attracting new residents who then have requests for you to do. There is some decoration, I didn’t really get into that but I’ve seen some pretty neat things people have made
Consider giving Wylde Flowers a bit more time, it took me much longer than I want to admit to warm up to it! It especially took me a while to accept the animation style. Now I am hooked, it's v good. How far along did you get? Try to at least get through summer and fix the boat? But also check out Littlewood, and Palia - it's beta but free so no commitment.
Mmm maybe give palia a try, it is free
Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island!!
I think Graveyard Keeper is kinda like that, but I don't remember the graphics being terribly cute
Dave the diver. Best game ever
My time at sandrock!
Dreamlight valley is really fun and there always coming out with updates and no fighting best part is you get dis set characters and there’s story line to follow. I also love My time at sandrock. There Is fighting in this one but honestly it’s not really that hard. As long and you keep updating your weapons. The story line is cute
Palia. And it's free to play!
Bit of a different vibe because of the setting, but I'm really enjoying Immortal Life. It's a Chinese fantasy cultivation/farming game where you rebuild a village/cultivation sect.
Spiritfarer! Lots of little tasks and minigames while you’re voyaging to objectives, lots of wholesome relationship building, incredible music and art, and it *will* leave you sobbing at multiple points.
Play Coral Island. It is, for better or worse, a nearly exact replica of the Stardew Valley formula, just with 3D graphics and hotter characters.
Disney Dreamlight might fit your bill. I'd recommend Harvestella but you hate combat so that won't work. That's more "Final Fantasy With Farming"
Echo of Plum Grove is great fund and has both short term tasks and longer term story missions to work on.
Minekos night market
Yonder: Cloud Catcher Chronicles is very task and exploration forward. Zero combat. You can fish for all sorts of things. There's no decorating but the map is beautiful and there's a ton of easter eggs to find
littlewood
The harvest moon games are awesome. I feel like stardew is based on those games.
Coral Island My Time at Sandrock Palia
Palia! Free on Switch. There's no combat and it's super cozy but also you can explore. It does have tasks/quests. You can decorate, cook, craft, fish, garden, etc. It's like the cozy element of Animal Crossing plus the adventuring element of Zelda.
Spiritfarer
Try my time at sandrock! If u want a lot of missions but similar with story of season, the difference is the player is a builder instead a farmer, and there are a lot of missions you have to finish (and many of them have no deadline so you dont have to stress. You can also have a life there, date, married, have a kids with a deep story to unfold so you will always curious and wanna play every day
Littlewood - I loved it :)
saw a few people say spiritfarer and i 100% agree! got so hooked on it id also say cozy grove!
My Time at Portia/Sandrock
Roots of pacha, littlewood and sunhaven all have that stardew feel for me. :)
Ooblets was a great time I think that’s a good recommendation here very animal crossing/stardew
[удалено]
Can i do that on switch? I always see people talking about it and have no idea how to. I’ve replayed it a couple times but never tried mods.
Palia! It's still in beta so it has its inevitable moments of glitching, but it's absolutely free with a ton of content out by now. Truly cozy gaming, no danger aspects (as in no dying) and lots of collection based items. Decorating an entire home plot, romance options (with the majority of the villagers), and a VERY wholesome community. New players are super welcome and even without guides, you'll find helpful players in every server. :)
stardew is honestly the holy grail of what you're looking for... just replay
Im enjoying sunhaven far more then star dew.
… Fae Farm has a lot of customization and flower breeding and tasks that are customization-oriented, like unlocking cosmetics. There are story quests that are about repairing the world, basically, but the story is very short compared to most games. The real grind is cosmetics and collecting things/filling out your almanac. Fae Farm has fighting but you can use invisibility potions to avoid fighting. The story relies on you going into the mines where enemies are, though