While Stardew Valley obviously didn't create the farming sim genre, it's definitely one of the main games that led to the resurgence of the cozy game. The likes of Ooblets, Cozy Grove, Coral Island, and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth have all blown up in the time since (although Animal Crossing: New Horizons can take just as much blame for that). One of the bigger entries into the genre over the last few years is Gameloft's Disney Dreamlight Valley, which infuses the genre with a roster of Disney characters from my boy Remy the rat to Jack Skellington.
Speaking to PC Gamer at GDC 2025, Eric Barone (ConcernedApe) was asked which games in the life-sim genre had caught his eye as of late, to which he gave a shoutout to fellow indies Sunhaven and Graveyard Keeper. However, Barone admitted "I did boot up Disney Dreamlight Valley." He said the Disney life sim caught his attention because of the similarity of the game's names, saying, "Wait, it's called Dreamlight Valley? What's going on here? So I had to check it out." Although, despite the similar titles, Barone said, "I'd say it's more like Animal Crossing than Stardew."
But despite tough competition from a roster of indie titles and the likes of Disney, Barone is happy that the genre is thriving, saying, "It's really great that Stardew – I mean, I can't take all the credit for this – but that Stardew seems to have inspired people to consider this kind of game. I loved those kind of games growing up, Harvest Moon was my favorite." He added, "It's great to see a resurgence of that kind of game and see that maybe Stardew inspired other developers to make games in this style. I think it's cool."
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