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Playing video games on the go is a huge change that’s taking the world by storm.
Devices such as the Nintendo Switch ensure you can enjoy video games while traveling.
Recommended Read: Nintendo Switch Games Like The Sims
One of the most beloved Nintendo Switch games is Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
If you love Animal Crossing, you should check out these similar games: Stardew Valley, Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town, Cozy Grove, My Time at Portia, Castaway Paradise, Littlewood, and Stranded Sails.
Find out everything you need to know about these games below!
Table of contents
- Stardew Valley
- Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town
- Cozy Grove
- My Time at Portia
- Castaway Paradise
- Littlewood
- Stranded Sails
- Conclusion
Stardew Valley
In Stardew Valley, you play a farmer who has just inherited their Grandfather’s old farm.
The game is a farming RPG. You start with a few rusted tools and a few coins and have to build your farm and Stardew Valley back up to greatness!
The game is open-ended. What this means is that the player decides what they want to do! Additionally, explore vast caves filled with dangerous enemies and valuable loot.
But if you’re not in the mood for that, don’t worry!
You can grow crops, socialize with the town’s citizens, mine ores, craft items, and raise livestock.
There are thirty residents of Pelican Town for you to meet and befriend.
You can get married and have kids, so be sure to talk to them all!
If you want deep customization options, then this is the game for you.
There are hundreds of decoration options for both your home and your character!
One person created Stardew Valley over four years. It has now gone on to sell over ten million copies across all available platforms!
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town
Similar to Stardew Valley, you find yourself dreaming of returning to Olive Town, a town your grandfather created with his friends a long time ago.
You carry on your grandfather’s legacy by taking over his farm, similar in concept to Stardew Valley.
In this game, you can cultivate crops, create relationships with the town’s people, raise animals, upgrade the town, gather resources, and more!
The game allows you to level up your farming skills, build new and improved farming infrastructure, craft outfits, and decorate your farm.
In addition, the game boasts over two hundred unique events, including local festivals.
Craft an advanced farm, unlocking a variety of farming facilities and decorations.
These include fences, sprinklers, automatic feeders, and more!
Be sure to explore the surrounding area!
You may run into Earth Sprites, who will lead you to new and strange lands such as an island in the sky, a garden where the seasons never change, or inside a volcano!
Cozy Grove
Cozy Grove is a life simulator in which you camp on a haunted island that always changes.
Explore the island and find hidden secrets. Soothe the ghosts that haunt the area. Craft, fish, and decorate to your heart’s desire.
The game features hand-drawn landscapes, dozens of memorable characters, and a forty-hour campaign filled with optional side quests for you to complete.
Each spirit you find and befriend has an extensive one-of-a-kind backstory for you to explore.
As you help spirits in need, the landscape will come alive for you to enjoy!
Cozy Grove is synced to real-world time. It provides thirty to sixty minutes of new quest content daily.
But you can still collect spirit animals, go fishing, and craft as much as you want after you complete the quest content!
My Time at Portia
My Time at Portia is a single-player game that combines an RPG and a simulation game.
The game is set years after civilization is destroyed.
Humans emerge from the underground to rebuild.
You must build up the city of Portia and become the best builder.
In the game, you gather resources and combine them to craft items.
Over time your arsenal of tools will expand, allowing you to harvest resources faster.
In addition, large assignments will have a direct impact on the town, changing it.
Submit your items and projects for rewards, town favor, and money.
My Time at Portia also contains dungeons for the player to explore and fight enemies!
Be sure to talk to the townspeople. The game allows you to make friends, exchange gifts, and fulfill favors. You can even go on dates!
Inspired by both the art style and worlds created by Studio Ghibli, the game is a love letter to the beloved studio.
Running your own farm is a big part of the game. First, crow your crops and raise livestock.
Then, if you want, feel free to ride your horse or llama into town!
The game also boasts an extensive range of furniture, decorations, and upgrades to choose from.
Additionally, you can level up your character’s skills, including combat, crafting, and social skills.
Castaway Paradise
Castaway Paradise is very similar to the Animal Crossing series, so fans of that series should definitely check it out.
The game allows the player to help the residential animals of a tropical island fix it.
As the player, you repair buildings, bridges, and clear rocks and weeds.
Of course, there are other tasks in the game. These include collecting seashells, fish, bugs, and garbage.
All of these can be sold in-game for the island’s local currency.
Additionally, players can grow flowers, fruit trees, and crops. The island and player home can be decorated.
The protagonist’s outfits can also be customized, with various hats, pants, shirts, and shoes available for you to swap at a moment’s notice.
Finally, residents will give you quests.
There is also an ever-changing list of tasks to accomplish, all of which gain the player experience points.
Littlewood
In Littlewood, you play the hero who has already saved the world from the Dark Wizard.
Explore the world; it’s filled with mysterious forests, fishing towns, and dark caves.
These are only some of the types of places you can explore!
Meet new people and invite them to stay in your town!
These new additions will unlock new structures for you to build, including lumber mills, taverns, and a magical library!
Additionally, collect rare items and materials to earn money and craft new items.
Some of the materials you can collect include wood and various ores.
You can also collect bugs and fish or make new friends such as Willow, Dalton, and Lilith!
The townspeople will often have requests for you, such as living in a higher elevation or living closer to water.
Fulfill these requests to unlock new relationship paths.
The game even features a mini-game featuring ‘tarot cards’.
The Dark Wizard’s monsters were sealed away into these cards when he was defeated, and now the villagers collect and battle with them.
Stranded Sails
Stranded Sails is a single-player open-world game focused on farming and exploration.
Shipwrecked on a mysterious archipelago, survive and solve the mysteries that plague the island to escape.
You will farm, cook, and craft to survive. Manage the creation of a group of survivors and the camp you all share.
The main goal is to build a new ship so you can all escape the island.
You can decorate your base, and decorating your crew’s homes will improve your relationship with them.
A stronger relationship unlocks perks, such as faster sprint, bonus loot, and more.
If you give your crew gifts, this unlocks decorations for you to use.
The game is filled with quests to do and places to explore.
There are supernatural dangers to fight, multiple islands to explore, and puzzles to solve.
Of course, the world is full of side activities, such as ‘Monkey Chase.’ Additionally, find collectibles to unlock different outfits, golden tools, and hats!
Will you be able to save yourself and the crew from the dangerous and mysterious islands?!
Conclusion
Fans of Animal Crossing: New Horizons should be ecstatic to know a handful of similar games they can play!
While all of these games are different, they do share a lot of crucial similarities.
You will grow and expand a farm, a town, or even just a small camp of survivors in these games.
Explore mysterious lands, fight enemies and monsters, collect bugs, fish, and other resources such as ore and wood.
Build up your farm, town, or camp by upgrading the infrastructure. Customize your central hub, your character, and more.
You can even start relationships and families in many of these games!
These games have something for everyone.
Whether you want to fight monsters, explore, or enjoy a peaceful virtual day filled with fishing and farming, these games have it all.
The choice of what to do is endless, leaving you with so many options it might be overwhelming!
But, at the end of the day, what you choose to do is always up to you.
These games have deep and robust mechanics, meaning you’ll be sinking hours into them!
There’s a big market for open-ended single-player RPG life simulators!
While Animal Crossing may be the most well-known of these types of games, it’s certainly not the only one!
So be sure to check out these games for yourself.
You may have just found your next favorite!
Those are our picks for the best Nintendo Switch games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons!
Know of any other great Nintendo Switch games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons that you believe should be included in this list? Let us know in the comment section below.
