You've come to the right place if you're looking for the best games like Animal Crossing. After all, Tom Nook is on everyone's mind thanks to the newly released Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 update, and the good news is that there are plenty of alternatives out there if you don't want to reach for your Nintendo Switch either.
With all manner of adventures that channel the delightful features and world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, we've gathered the greatest cozy hits for you to play today. From delightful farming adventures like Stardew Valley to colorful outings like Hello Kitty Island Adventure and much more, some of the best PC games and the best Switch indie games are counted among our picks.
The best games like Animal Crossing...
15. A Short Hike
Developer: adamgryu
Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
Less like Animal Crossing in mechanics, but very like it in vibe. This delightful little indie is about exploring the lush landscape of Hawk Peak Provincial Park. There is no pressure, no time limit, just one little bird making friends, going for a swim, and stretching his wings to soar between cliffs.
It'll give you the same warm fuzzy feelings you get from Animal Crossing at its best and demand very little from you in terms of time or difficulty. Short and sweet, it's the perfect way to kill a few hours when the world outside is being particularly crazy.
14. Garden Paws
Developer: Bitten Toast Games
Platform(s): PC, Nintendo Switch
Developers Bitten Toast Games brought this adorable simulation game to life on Kickstarter, and it rings a lot of similar bells to Animal Crossing in its gameplay and style. You play as a cute animal who inherits a farm from your grandparents. It's up to you to build up the town and customize your home. Just as you need bells, getting yourself a healthy supply of coins to work on the town is a must.
You'll begin filling up that coin purse by exploring caves for treasure, completing quests, and running your own shop to sell everything you find around the world. As the town begins to expand, more residents will move in and unlock more items and quests. With farming, fishing, cooking, crafting, and animals to raise, there’s no shortage of ways to pass each day.
13. Fruitbus
Developer: Krillbite Studio
Platform(s): PC
Do you love to cook in Animal Crossing: New Horizons? Are you a fan of the adorable villagers? Well, then, Fruitbus is well worth checking out. The adorable culinary adventure from developer Krillbite sees you set out in a customizable food truck as you scavenge for ingredients and serve up dishes to hungry locales.
As you upgrade your bus and improve recipes, you might just earn yourself some loyal customers. It's a relaxing affair that will have any Animal Crossing fans hooked, sure there is no island to settle on but sometimes being a free spirit on the open road is better.
12. My Time at Portia
Developer: Pathea Games
Platform(s): PC, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch
There are endless things to do in My Time at Portia, and many Animal Crossing fans will feel right at home in its cartoony world. Surprisingly, it’s set in a post-apocalyptic time where lots of secrets dwell beneath its unassuming charm. When you move into the town, you assume the role of a builder who can craft all manner of buildings and items to fulfill commissions.
But there are ample opportunities to set out into the big open world and discover relics, go fishing, raise livestock, and farm; you’re free to build a life for yourself in whatever way you wish. Getting to know the residents is also a huge part of the game. There's also combat, but if you'd rather avoid the fighting, you can send out the Civil Corps to collect items for you so you can avoid venturing out into dangerous areas.
11. Wylde Flowers
Developer: Studio Drydock
Platform(s): PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS
Wylde Flowers is a delightful life sim set in a small coastal town that fans of Animal Crossing are sure to love. Playing as Tara Wylde, you take over your grandmother's farm, only to discover the town is home to a coven of witches, and you yourself have magical ties.
As you build up your farm, you'll also learn magical spells, get to know and befriend the locales - and maybe even find love. With updates that have brought more customization and plenty to discover and do, you'll get swept up in a magical story that has so much to offer. So, if you love magic, witchy games, and Animal Crossing's relaxed gameplay, this title is a must-play for sure.
10. Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town
Developer: Marvelous Inc
Platform(s): PC, Nintendo Switch
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is a charming, more expansive entry in the series that has a similar feel to Animal Crossing. Very much also channeling Stardew Valley vibes, you move to a new town that's languishing and struggling in order to start your own farm. However, you're efforts help the town flourish and brings you closer to all it's residents.
But it gives you a lot of freedom to live out your best farm life however you want, but also revitalize the town, and make friends with the residents there. Activities include growing crops, raising pets and livestock, making clothes, and cooking up a storm. And for anyone who loves decorating, you're sure to enjoy making up your farm and home.
9. Fields of Mistria
Developer: NPC Studio
Platform(s): PC
If you loved carving out a home for yourself on the island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Fields of Mistria is for you. The pixelated farming RPG sees you move to a cozy village that sits between the sea and a forest, where you can settle into your very own homestead and start raising your own farm.
You can also get to know the locales, fall in love, and get stuck into all manner of activities, from fishing to crafting and mining. You can also set out to complete quests, and if you're a fan of Animal Crossing's events, you'll likely enjoy Mistria's festivals. The game is still getting updates, so we expect more fun new features to gush about here in the future as well. It's definitely one of the most exciting newer titles on our list.
8. Dinkum
Developer: James Bendon
Platform(s): PC
What if Animal Crossing: New Horizons was set in Australia? If you ever wanted to find out the answer to that question, then Dinkum is for you. Just like in Animal Crossing, you'll have to build a town from scratch, completing quests and gathering enough currency to attract more residents and unlock buildings such as a fancy new museum.
A lot of the mechanics of Dinkum come straight from Animal Crossing. You have to gather and craft to make tools and furniture, save coins to progress, collect materials to donate to the museum, and more. However, the Outback is much more dangerous than Tom Nook's real estate market. While you do all your daily tasks, watch out for any crocodiles roaming the plains.
7. The Sims 4
Developer: Maxis
Platform(s): PC, Xbox One, PS4
The Sims and Animal Crossing, surprisingly, have a lot in common. If you enjoyed designing in the Happy Home Paradise DLC, creating homes in The Sims 4 takes that to the next level with some very satisfying and intuitive home-building tools. Instead of having neighbors who are elephants with teapot-shaped heads, you have human-like sims. You're not in debt to start off with, but you can be if you don't send your sim to work and avoid using the classic money cheat (we all do it); it's entirely up to you.
Be warned, though, if you don't pay your bills, your power and water will eventually get shut off. If you think about it, Tom Nook is good, really. With a vast library of expansions available to add more content to your sim worlds, there's no end to the number of activities you can get up to. Some are even quite similar, such as collecting bugs, going fishing, and finding collectibles around the towns.
6. Coral Island
Developer: Stairway Games
Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5
Coral Island offers up another slice of island life, only here you're running your very own farm. With crops to tend and animals to care for, you can also help to try and bring life back to the nearby town and form bonds with the local residents. Just like Animal Crossing, you can also choose your own outfits and customize your character so you can express yourself in style.
And not unlike the way your island has a ranking and a museum to add to in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you can also help increase the town's rank in Coral Island by expanding the local museum and lending a hand to restore heritage sites. Oh, and you can even go diving in the coral reef just as you can go diving in the sea as part of Tom Nook's getaway package (you won't meet a wise otter named Pascal, though). With plenty of freedom, you can decide how you want to spend your time.
5. Disney Dreamlight Valley
Developer: Gameloft
Platform(s): PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch
If you're looking for something a lot like Animal Crossing, Disney Dreamlight Valley is just the ticket - Gameloft's adventure life sim hybrid shares a lot of similarities with the world of Animal Crossing, from its features to its playstyle. When you drift off to sleep, you find yourself in a magical Valley that has seen better days thanks to a force known as the Forgetting.
As you set out to help restore the valley and get to the heart of some mysterious occurrences, you start out with your very own little home, just like you do in Animal Crossing. You also live alongside and help villagers who are characters plucked from beloved Disney and Pixar adventures. With features such as fishing, mining, cooking, and crafting, many of its activities will feel familiar to Animal Crossing fans, and Dreamlight Duties see you complete goals not unlike the Nook Miles program in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
4. Stardew Valley
Developer: ConcernedApe
Platform(s): PC, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android
Ditching your old life as an office drone, you move into Pelican town and begin to run a farm you inherited. In Animal Crossing, visiting your favorite residents and lending them a hand by fulfilling favors or giving them gifts helps you bond with them. From Goldie to Bluebear and Tia, the town would be nothing without the animals you meet.
The residents of Stardew Valley are also at the heart of its charm, and forming friendships or even romantic relationships with the townsfolk is one of the most relatable and heart-warming aspects. Lots of activities are also very reminiscent of what you get up to in Animal Crossing, such as fishing, mining, digging, and working to save up coins in order to improve your farm and house. You can also decorate your home, and while there is combat involved in the caves, you still get to decide how you want to spend your day.
3. Ooblets
Developer: Glumberland
Platform(s): PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Ooblets is what you would get if you let Animal Crossing and Pokemon breed. This creature-collecting adventure puts you in the world of Oob and lets you slowly uncover the town and its people. You'll also have to interact with the town's folk, work to restore areas, and save enough to upgrade your house and Ooblet farm.
The creatures themselves - the titular Ooblets - are wonderfully quirky, and you'll be able to compete in dance battles to level them up and interact with the other Ooblet keepers. It's gentle, beautifully bizarre, and just up any Animal Crossing fan's street.
2. Cozy Grove
Developer: Spry Fox
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Xbox One, Mac, Nintendo Switch, Apple Arcade
If you're looking for games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons that channel many of the game's elements, then you need to check out Cozy Grove. It's a game that lets you play as a Spirit Scout, with the aim of helping the spirits of Cozy Grove. You'll run errands, cook, fish, make friends, tend to animals, and more.
And just like Animal Crossing, there's only so much you can do each day, which makes it the perfect game to add to your daily routine. However, we will admit that there isn't as much to get done each day as there is in Animal Crossing, so keep that in mind. Still, it's super adorable and worth your attention.
1. Hello Kitty Island Adventure
Developer: Sunblink
Platform(s): iOS, PC, Nintendo Switch
If you're looking for more games like Animal Crossing, you can't come much closer than Hello Kitty Island Adventure. Think New Horizons, but make it Sanrio, where you can make your own adorable custom character and set out to explore and restore an island.
Along the way, you can befriend characters from the world of Hello Kitty, get stuck into some cooking, solve puzzles, throw parties, and much more. Just like in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, there will also be opportunities for you to attract new island residents. There are also multiplayer options as well, making it the perfect alternative to the hit Nintendo franchise.
Looking for more recommendations? Why not explore our pick of the best Switch games you can play right now. Or keep track of future releases with our roundup of upcoming Switch games, and new games.
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