Stardew Valley is beloved for good reason: it’s one of the best Xbox Game Pass games, and indeed one of the best indie games on Xbox overall. Stardew Valley’s big 1.6 update arrives for Xbox next month on November 4, and promises to add a lot of content, including new festivals and events, a new Meadowlands farm type, and more. We’ve still got a bit of time before 1.6 drops, so now’s a good time to flex your farming muscles with some other great farming games on Xbox.
Best farming games on Xbox
There is, of course, a whole lot more to Stardew Valley beyond farming: life sim elements, a community of characters to get involved with, a lovely story about returning to a more fulfilling way of life, and more, all bound up in the game’s charming pixel art style. But whether you’re looking for something to scratch the farming itch while waiting to start a new Meadowlands farm in Stardew Valley or for another game which melds life sim and farming elements together, here are several great contenders for farming fun. This list is based on ratings, review scores, and personal opinions alike, and we’ve added in info on which are included with Game Pass. We’ll be adding to it in the future, so check it out below and let us know if you think we’ve missed any hidden gems.
Roots of Pacha
- Release date: 31 July 2024
- Developer: Soda Den
- On Game Pass: No
Roots of Pacha is an excellent game. It arrived for Xbox at last a few months ago after launching for PC a year or so earlier, and is a definite recommendation for anyone who loves Stardew Valley. Roots of Pacha is a gorgeous pixel farming and life sim set in the Stone Age, with a big focus on community: you evolve your clan by testing out ideas and learning to do things like metalworking and irrigation. You can also befriend the people in your village, go to festivals with them, invite people of other clans to come to your village, and find a partner. On top of all this you’ll be decorating, exploring, domesticating animals, fishing, mining, discovering new crops, and more. The Stone Age setting is an interesting twist on the farming sim genre and the idea of helping your clan and village evolve is a great way of keeping you connected with the Pachan community, rather than disappearing off to be a lone farming hermit who only occasionally makes an appearance at festivals (something I’m guilty of in Stardew Valley).
The pixel art is beautiful, and Roots of Pacha combines it with a melodic soundtrack which really adds to the atmosphere of the game. There are more mystical elements to the story, too, to mix things up from pure farming, and overall, Roots of Pacha is a wonderfully fresh entry in the farming and life sim genres. What’s more, the Xbox launch coincided with Roots of Pacha’s 1.2 update, which added in even more features, such as the option to send your kids to school. Out of the games on this list, Roots of Pacha feels the most akin to the feeling of playing Stardew Valley, but that’s not to say they’re identical: Roots of Pacha definitely feels like its own game, especially with the twist of the Stone Age setting.
Coral Island
- Release date: 14 November 2023
- Developer: Stairway Games
- On Game Pass: Yes
This is an interesting one, as while I love Coral Island, the experience on Xbox hasn’t exactly been smooth. First, the good stuff: if you love your farming/life sims to look gorgeous, this is one for you. There’s the tropical setting, with beaches, forests, and (with the most recent update), savannah biomes to explore, and the art style is pretty darn beautiful. Each season has its changes, with gorgeous festivals to boot, and there’s a pretty big cast of townies to get to know too. Not every townie is as memorable as the others but the animations and in-the-background dialogue as they go about their daily routines really help the island feel populated, and Coral Island does a grand job of melding farming and life sim elements together.
When it comes to farming, you’ve got all the aspects you would hope for: a big range of crops, an excellent variety of farm animals (including llamas and more exotic options), and a big plot of land to decorate as you see fit. Unless you’re a much more efficient farmer than me, it can take quite a while to get to the point where you have a bunch of cash to fling at decorations, but one good thing about Coral Island is that it feels rewarding to keep playing year after in-game year, rather than finishing most of the content before the end of the first winter. Like with all the best in the genre, there’s a fair amount of magic and mysticism to add intrigue to the farming life, and without spoiling too much, you’ll spend a good chunk of time underwater following a questline there. You’ve got friendships and romances to pursue, a museum and temple offerings to complete, mines to explore, and a whole lot more, all wrapped together with a great message about respecting and caring for the environment. Coral Island has had some serious issues on Xbox, but there have been plenty of updates since, and I have hopes this will be a standout for farming sim and life sim fans alike in the future.
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life
- Release date: 27 June 2023
- Developer: Marvelous Entertainment
- On Game Pass: No
If, while waiting for Stardew Valley’s 1.6 update to arrive on Xbox, you’re looking for another cozy game where you can farm, care for animals, make friends with townies, attend seasonal events, and more, then Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is a good choice. You’ll be heading to Forgotten Valley to build up your own homestead and explore everything the Valley has to offer for a more relaxed farming experience. The Stardew Valley boom led to a wave of reinvention in the farming genre, and while this game might not feel quite as modern, there are improvements such as updated visuals and more marriage candidates which make this a good choice to dive back into for some farming fun.
Farm Together
- Release date: 18 January 2019
- Developer: Milkstone Studios
- On Game Pass: No
If you enjoy playing Stardew Valley with friends, then Farm Together might be a good choice to sink your teeth into while waiting for Stardew Valley’s next update. One interesting difference with Farm Together is that time passes whether you’re playing or not, so your farm is always ticking away in the background. You can also decide who to invite to your farm and put some boundaries in place so players can’t come in and vandalize your hard work. All you have to do then is decide what to do: whether that’s upgrading your setup, decorating and customizing, or, you know, actually farming.
Farming Simulator 22
- Release date: 22 November 2021
- Developer: Giants Software
- On Game Pass: Yes
If you’re looking for a palate-cleanser before Stardew Valley 1.6 — less befriending townsfolk and attending festivals, and more pure farming — then Farming Simulator 22 might be your jam. It’s a more realistic take on modern farming, so no helpful Junimos gifting you things for completing bundles, and instead a more fierce focus on the minute details of farming life, from massive machinery right down to mulching. It’s entirely up to you what type of farm you’ll have, and how you’ll go about farming it, giving you the freedom to dive right into that farming life.
Ooblets
- Release date: 1 September 2022
- Developer: GlumberLand
- On Game Pass: No
Depending on how you play Stardew Valley, it can go from a “cozy laid-back rural life” atmosphere to intense min-maxing in an instant with spreadsheets and season plans galore. On the much sillier side of things is Ooblets, a game in which farming, creature-collecting, and dance battles all play a part. If ever a game was whimsical, it’s Ooblets: everything is celebrated, from winning battles to finding random resources, and nothing is taken seriously — everything’s a big ol’ party. One of the only drawbacks to Ooblets’ silliness is that it’s sometimes hard to remember what everything is when words like Pompadoot and Flootiflower are thrown around willy-nilly. You can farm on the silly side of the field in Ooblets while waiting for the serious business of Stardew Valley’s 1.6 update.
Lightyear Frontier
- Release date: 19 March 2024
- Developer: Frame Break, Amplifier Game Invest
- On Game Pass: Yes
Although it’s still in Early Access, Lightyear Frontier is already proving itself popular. You’re not just leaving the city for the countryside in this game, but setting off to build a home on a whole new world. This alien setting makes for a few key changes: you’ll be doing most of the heavy-lifting in your customizable mech, taking care of strange new crops and animals, clearing up polluted areas, and exploring the secrets of your new home. Lightyear Frontier recently dropped its biggest content update yet with even more new features, such as the option to invite your neighbors to your planet. Given how excellent Lightyear Frontier is already proving to be (and how many of the cozy farming boxes it ticks) plus the fact that more content will undoubtedly arrive along the path to its full launch, and this is a great contender to flex your farming muscles with while waiting for Stardew Valley’s next update.
This is just the tip of the farming iceberg, and while we’ve also explored some of the best simulation games on Xbox, we’re also putting together a list of the greatest cozy games on Xbox — so if you’re more into life sim elements or cozy atmospheres than fretting about crop cycles or animal happiness, keep an eye out for that too!
