Stardew Valley's popularity is well-deserved. It excels at being a highly customizable life sim RPG, with lots of content and plenty of in-game projects to work on. Some fans of Stardew Valley may want to venture into similar games however, of which there are plenty to find.
The genres to explore would be town-building or life simulation RPGs. There are some notable indie games that scratch the itch, as well as more established franchises in the genre that are readily available.
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Littlewood is a town-building RPG created by the developer Sean Young. The story of the game is set after the plot of a typical fantasy RPG, in which the player character has defeated the Dark Wizard and comes back to rebuild the town they left behind. The story is lighthearted and contains many references to other franchises like Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger. Players build skills, hobbies, and bring in new characters to their town. There's fishing, bug catching, mining, farming, and more.
The town is completely customizable, with terraforming and building placement decided by the player. It's similar to Animal Crossing: New Horizons in how the each town is unique to the player. Another feature Littlewood has is that the day's timer is connected to the player's energy level, rather than a continuous clock. Players can take their tasks at their own pace. Gamers who love farming sims and fantasy RPGs will find a lot to enjoy in Littlewood.
Littlewood is available now on PC and Nintendo Switch.
My Time at Portia is a life sim RPG developed by Pathea Games. The focus of the gameplay is on building and crafting, rather than farming. However, players can eventually buy livestock, raise plants, and even breed fish. The game has quite a lot of content, and players can always pursue new skills at their own pace. Even after in-game years have passed, there is still plenty to do and there is never any pressure to complete every skill path.
Like many other town-building life sim games, My Time at Portia focuses on the player revitalizing a small town and becoming part of the community. The player character inherits a workshop and works on developing it throughout the game. The player takes on commissions from the townspeople and competes with other workshops. Each of the town's residents have fully-fleshed personalities and backstories, and there are many marriage candidates who can be courted regardless of gender. It's an easygoing game with a charming art style and a lot of heart.
My Time at Portia is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. A mobile version is in development.
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This suggestion may seem like a no-brainer considering Stardew Valley itself was influenced by this series, but those who haven't played any Harvest Moon (now known as Story of Seasons) should give the franchise a try. Each game has adorable animals to raise, villagers to befriend and romance, and plenty of unique oddities.
Before diving into the franchise, there's a bit of confusion to clear up; in 2014, the original Harvest Moon developers switched publishers, but Natsume kept the rights to the title. So the developers continued the series under the title Story of Seasons, while Natsume took the opportunity to release other games with the original branding. Long-time fans recommend against the post-2014 Natsume Harvest Moon games, as the difference in quality is clear.
The series has been ongoing since the SNES days, but the most recent entry is Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town. It's a remake of the Game Boy Advance Mineral Town games, with added features and finally including same-sex marriage. It's available now on the Switch and on PC.
Stardew Valley is out now for Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.