Yearning for the simple island life, endless gardening, or chatting with kindly neighbors? Our list of games like Animal Crossing can help you pick up a new title to sink hours into, or a few minutes each day. There are plenty of wholesome vibes here, along with friends to meet, and outdoor areas to decorate however you please.
If you're looking for something a bit more specific, then we recommend the best farm games, indie games, visual novels, and these Steam Deck games to take your gaming on the go, or to curl up in bed with.
Here are the best games like Animal Crossing:
Cozy Grove and Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit - Switch and mobile
Cozy Grove and its 2024 sequel are life sims with a likeness to Animal Crossing. In this title, you find yourself camping out on a haunted island. While the premise might sound a little spooky, the gameplay and aesthetics are as cozy as the name suggests. You're a spirit scout who finds and befriends local ghosts, exploring the surrounding forest, and crafting with items you find along the way. Blissful.
You can play Cozy Grove on Switch and mobile, but Camp Spirit is available on mobile via Netflix games - if you have an account, we highly recommend you play it.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure - mobile, Switch, and Steam Deck
Imagine a world, similar to Animal Crossing's islands, but you play as Hello Kitty. Well, it exists! Hello Kitty Island Adventure is currently available via Apple Arcade on iPhones and iPads and features all of your favorite Sanrio characters.
You can give them gifts, complete quests, decorate, and just have a lovely time. The game is coming to Switch next year, so we can all get our hands on it even if we don't have an iPhone.
Galactic Getaway - Steam
If you, like me, got stuck into Animal Crossing's marketplace bartering on Nookazon, you may recognize the name Galactic Getaway. The developer is Akrew, the team behind Nookazon. The game is in early access right now, but already looks adorable, and we're excited to see where it goes.
The game takes inspiration from Nintendo's classic IP, but is a mainly multiplayer adventure set on an uncharted planet. Here, you can befriend animals, grow crops, and decorate your house. On top of that, there are also plenty of mini-games to play with friends - something missing from the latest Animal Crossing.
Ooblets - Switch and Steam Deck
Ooblets on the surface is a creature collection game, but there is much more to it. You can farm, explore new areas, build relationships with local townsfolk, and enter into many dance battles against wild Ooblets and other people to win items or get that Ooblet on your team.
Mainly, though, you'll be taking part in dance battles to win new Ooblet seeds and growing your collection of friends. The game has relaxing vibes and cute things in it, which scratches the Animal Crossing itch for players.
Stardew Valley - mobile, Switch, and Steam Deck
Another fantastic game - that's available on basically any platform - is Stardew Valley. Made by singular developer ConcernedApe, Stardew is the gift that keeps on giving. The focus of this game is cultivating your farm while embarking on quests, planting crops, raising animals, and foraging across the map.
However, there's plenty more to do. You can woo a resident of the town and marry them, make friends with everyone (or not, it's up to you), investigate the mines and a mysterious cave in the desert, and take part in seasonal activities that pop up in Pelican Town. Everyone can find something they like about this game, whether it be the engaging gameplay, catchy soundtrack, or lovable characters.
Disney Dreamlight Valley -
mobile, Switch, and Steam Deck
Disney Dreamlight Valley brings together some great aspects; it's got a house to furnish, crops to plant, a town to revamp, and friends to make! Best of all, it's filled with our favorite Disney characters. Dreamlight Valley continuously gets updates adding more characters and content, so you won't run out of things to do.
Check out what's coming in the next Disney Dreamlight Valley update here, all the active Disney Dreamlight Valley codes for some freebies.
The Garden Path - Switch and Steam Deck
The Garden Path works similarly to Animal Crossing in that it's meant to be enjoyed in short bursts, over the course of a few weeks or months - or longer if you feel like it. You find yourself in an overgrown garden where vegetable and animal-shaped villagers wait to greet you.
You can fish, plant plenty of seeds, and decorate your own tent and the surrounding forest. Check out our The Garden Path review for a deeper look at this adorable life sim.
Petit Island - Switch and Steam Deck
If you're yearning for island life after creating a paradise in New Horizons, then Petit Island may be for you. You play as cute little cat Lily who relives her grandpaw's memories and adventures.
It's an open-world game set on an adorable island, waiting for you to explore it and meet the animals who live there. You need to help your grandpaw remember his past by tracing his steps and discovering it all for yourself. There's wildlife to see, treasure to find, friends to make, and most importantly - pictures to take with your camera.
Cult of the Lamb - Switch and Steam Deck
Okay, look, I can explain. Do you remember Aika village, the horror-themed Animal Crossing New Leaf town? And plenty of other spooky and strange islands in New Horizons? Well, Cult of the Lamb is like that, but with some combat and murder thrown in. Sorry… I meant sacrifice.
Look at those little critters, aren't they adorable? You can fill your cult with any number of animals to follow your religion while building houses and amenities for them and decorating your space. Sure, you have to collect bones and fight demonic beings but it's all so cute!
Pocket Love - mobile
Available on iOS and Android is HyperBeard's Pocket Love, an adorable little game where you (and your lil chibi partner) can decorate and build up a house, and earn money through minigames.
Each day the store refreshes its offerings, and there are freebies to get every so often. Though there may not be any animals to play as, we highly recommend this game for its decoration and furniture collection aspects - and seriously cute aesthetics.
Slime Rancher: Plortable Edition - Switch and Steam Deck
Alright, hear me out - sure, you can't really decorate or talk to villagers, but if you like small, round, smiling creatures, Slime Rancher is for you. The scenery, soundtrack, and setting in the game are all delightful and offer a wholesome and cozy time.
Your job is to ranch slimes on the Far Far Range as Beatrix LeBeau. Here you find plenty of different kinds that provide, um, Plorts (its poop) for you to sell to make money on the Plort market. Using these profits you can upgrade your ranch with new areas for your adorable slimes, some decorations, and boosts for your equipment.
Floatopia - coming to Switch in 2025
The Floatopia release date is coming up, and it will be releasing on Nintendo Switch. It looks adorable - you play as a small, Animal Crossing-like character in a relaxed, fantasy world.
Details are still a little thin on the ground, but the game promises that you can decorate and dress up as you see fit, fish, farm, and fly through the skies on your own floating world.
That's it for our list of the best games like Animal Crossing on Switch and mobile. If none of those takes your fancy, go ahead and browse our list of the best RPGs on Switch and mobile.