Before there was Stardew Valley, there was Harvest Moon. There may be earlier games that used farming mechanics earlier but those two games that first come to mind for many players. The genre has grown over the years but every game still has elements that appear in those games for the first time.
The games in this list of Upcoming Farming Games 2022 try their best to stand out in their own way. But just as shooters prefer to have standard controls, a little familiarity goes a long way in helping players get organized faster.
Many games that consider themselves farming games (not to be confused with farming simulations. They are completely different beasts.) usually use a tiled system for planting crops. With this system, it’s easy to perform tasks like watering and harvesting without going through the trouble of verifying whether all plants are getting the same amount of attention. Also, it looks pleasing to the eye.
(On a side note, have you noticed what counts as skilled farming in Fallout 76? It ain’t pretty.)
songs of glimmerwich
Possible release date: 2023
Style: RPG, Adventure, Life Sim, Farming Sim
platformpc
It’s fair to say that Glimmerwich’s songs have more in common with the Magical Academy genre than farming. However, your character appears to be taking care of the school’s botanical garden and as such, there is a lot of farming involved. What’s more, you can use magic to freely manipulate tools and call for convenient rain showers. We don’t yet know how to control chants with a flute, we just hope it works the same way as an ocarina.
Everdream Valley
Possible release date: TBA
Style: farming sim adventure
platform: Nintendo Switch, PC
It’s the middle of summer and you and your faithful pet dog are taking care of your grandparents’ farm. During the day, grow crops, take care of animals and build workplaces. But the most unique aspect of the game doesn’t start until night falls and you fall asleep. With the aid of a magic cap, you enter a dream state and actually control your pet. Some nights you may need to keep your dog and keep the wolves away. Other nights you might find yourself in constant conflict with rats in cat form and it’s your food pantry that’s in line.
It’s an interesting idea and we will keep an eye on the development of the game.
Harvest Island
Possible release date: 2022
Style: Farming Sim, RPG, Adventure
platformpc
Harvest Island is a self-described story-driven farming simulator. That’s not to say that most aren’t story-focused, though you can’t deny that other farming sims are content with simply keeping players working their way too long with respect to their story. From what we can tell, it’s similar to Harvest Moon in many ways but it’s just you and your siblings who live on an island. The island gods also play a more active role in the game than the Harvest Goddess. Every day, they would ask for certain items. If you present it to them, they will bless your buildings or the objects you make.
If you want to play a different kind of farming sim on a remote island, you should check this out.
Chef RPG
Possible release date: Q3 2023
Style: farming sim, life sim, management, rpg
platform: PC, Nintendo Switch
Plenty of games allow players to collect and cook food but not all of them allow players to open their own restaurants and serve whatever they hunt. But what really interests us about Chef RPG is how great the food looks on the menu. We’d love it even more when the number of recipes is in the dozens. If that’s the case, we are very happy to spend our day gathering ingredients and cooking dishes at night.
sunny side
Possible release date: TBA
Style: Life Sim, Farming Sim, Casual
platform: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC
Sunnyside is a very ambitious farming/life sim. The whole idea revolves around getting away from the big cities and making a new life for themselves by moving to the countryside, as many Japanese youth do. In addition to your typical activities, Sunnyside will allow players to design and build their farms the way they want. And that’s where it can go incredibly well or incredibly bad. This is the reason why this game is not going to top our list in spite of its potential.
We haven’t heard much from Sunnyside for a while, but they finally updated their Steam page to give us some comfort.
a lonely outpost
Possible release date: Q3 2022
Style: Colony Sim, Life Sim, Adventure
platform: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC
Our first impression of One Lonely Outpost is that it is a 2D My Time in Portia set in space. But of course, that’s not the case at all. (Looks like you’re building a more eco-friendly version of Mos Eisley on Tatooine.) You start out as the Titanic Lonely Outpost and over time settlers will come and well… will that do. Once you’ve established a home for yourself, you may be tempted to bio-engineer a kind of crop with the power of science or build a bipedal walker and destroy things. it’s your choice.
The game has been shown at some high-profile events, so hopefully we’re closer to the actual release date.
aka
Possible release date: 2022
Style: Open World, Relaxation, Adventure
platform: Nintendo Switch, PC
“Getting away from it all” is a mainstay in many life sim games, whether the character means “getting away” from a situation or a change of scenery. And what we do know about aliases is a little more serious than just wanting a different point of view. In Aaka, we play as a former soldier trying to get some semblance of inner peace after fighting in a war. One of the activities our character does is farming.
We don’t yet know how our character will be affected after the war but we can assume that in order to find inner peace, we have to face those ghosts. Farming aside, this can be an interesting journey.
i am the future
Possible release date: 2022
Style: Farming Sim, Crafting, RPG
platformpc
What do you do when you wake up in the future and you only see waterfalls and endless forests? Pick up a roof and call it home, of course! In I Am Future, players will have to break apart and repurpose components from the old world to create something new… such as planters that will grow your food. We’re excited to see what kind of trouble we can get ourselves into in the new world. And hopefully, our Wilson is made of synthetic leather and not air.
Harvestella
Release Date: 4 November 2022
Style: Farming Sim, Exploration, Building, RPG, Action
platform: Nintendo Switch, PC
A farming game set in a world with Final Fantasy-like crystals that determine the seasons in that world. To be honest, this announcement completely shocked us. And because it’s being made by a company like Square Enix, it can be so different that it looks bad in comparison to other farming/dungeon crawling games. Or it could be just too boring… we really don’t know what to expect until the game’s release later this year. Considering how high it ranks on our list, we’re going to exercise caution this time around.
Ikonei Islands: An Earthlocked Adventure
Possible release date: TBA
Style: Adventure, Simulation, Exploration
platform: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC
Exploration aspects and visuals from the Earthlock series, that’s what we can expect from Iconei Island. Throw in the construction mechanics and “anywhere in the place” for multiplayer and we’re looking at a farming game with lots of side activities. And did we forget to mention that you can befriend local wildlife to help us with some of the tasks? Yes. You can do that in this game.
my time in sandrock
Release Date: TBA (now in early access)
Style: RPG, Adventure, Action, Farming Sim, Life Sim
platform: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC
My Time at Sandrock may be in Early Access, but that doesn’t mean we won’t make it a part of our list, especially when the game is still “incomplete.” The current version of the game still lacks story exploration, general polish, and a multiplayer mode. The devs also have plans to convert several art assets. But it’s an excuse to play the game several times throughout the year in Early Access. In short, if you like my time at Portia, you’ll really like my time at Sandrock.
coral island
Early Access release date: 11 October 2022
Style: farming sim, life sim
platform: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
Coral Island’s environmental message is at the core of the game. You could say that the game is about saving an island community from corporate greed and its impact on the environment. The gameplay also sees us clearing the surrounding sea and this somehow improves the general mood of the islanders. Additionally, the game looks really, really cool. Simple but attractive 3D models and attractive 2D sprites work well together. And because of all these things, it is our number one game on this list.
Ah, back in the good old days.
And this is our list for Top 12 Upcoming Agriculture Games 2022 and onwards. When we first made this list, we were expecting a lot more survival titles to mix up. Instead, we got a lot of management and life sims. It really works because we also have a list of survival games and we are always hesitant to add those games which we have already mentioned. (With a few exceptions.) But more than that, we’re really glad we didn’t have to go real in our search. This tells a lot about the quality of each game.
Anyway, that’s all. That’s all! See you soon on our next list!
If you like this list, check it out:
We also keep track of all video game releases for the year 2022. You can watch it here:
And check out this video from YouTuber YourFriendJacob, where he talks about his personal list of the best upcoming farming and life sim games of 2022.
