Gardening games are diverse. Taking care of your plant buddies is the focus, but doing that in real life is hard, and you might not have a green thumb. The reality of gardening is too gritty and too sunny for you, and all you want are games that would let you collect beautiful flowering plants.
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Luckily for you, there are a lot of gardening sims that let you tend to plants and curate your own garden. You won’t be touching real grass and dirt in these games, but these gardening simulators will satisfy your need for a lush green lawn.
10Stardew Valley
Garden or farm, it doesn’t really matter so long as there are lots of plants.Stardew Valleylets you live the farm life, which means you have more room to be creative with how you design your plots.
Farming can be creative, and it would feel like gardening rather than farming since you’re in charge of designing hectares of your land.
Why settle for a lawn when you have a whole farm to decorate? you may finally do all that without having to till real land. The challenge doesn’t stop withbeautifying your farm, since you have to make it as functional as possible for yourself as well.
9The Sims 4
Gardening isn’t the first thing you think of withThe Sims 4unless you think ofthe weird Cowplantthat could potentially kill your sims. But gardening is a great way to earn a few simoleons on the side while making your lawn look stunning.
Gardening is a good hobby to have in the game and an even better excuse to buy plant-inspired DLCs.
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Even if you’re not the type to garden in the game, there are a bunch of interior decorations that have plants hanging around that you don’t need to pay that much attention to. Sims 4 has the gardening gameplay you’re looking for whether you’re in it for the landscaping aspect or the actual gardening experience.
8Disney Dreamlight Valley
DisneyDreamlight Valley will restore your childlike wonder and spark nostalgia with its idle gameplay. You return to your old town away from the city, and you find Dreamlight Valley where your favorite Disney characters live.
If you grew up during a time when Disney Princesses talked to animals and loved forests, it only makes sense to see them tend to their own gardens if they were included in the game.
Gardening herewill bring you profit and is more of a necessity than just a fun pastime just like inAnimal Crossing. But that doesn’t mean gardening’s a drag, and you might find important collectibles while gardening in the game.
7Potion Craft
You’re not here to garden because you like plants. In reality, you just want to feel in touch with your inner witch by concocting all sorts of potions from the plants you’re growing.
Nevertheless, the process of creating potions still requires a bit of gardening inPotion Craft.
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You mostly harvest plants that grow at an unrealistic pace because of the Enchanted Tree, but seeing your Enchanted Garden sprawl with different types of plants almost every day in the game is a sight to behold. That’s until you pluck them one by one to use for your next batch of potions.
6Little Witch In The Woods
Compared to the last entry, you really are living your dreams of being a witch in the woods in this game. Your house is at the center of your garden, and your garden will be important in producing all the herbs you need for your brews. The Little Witch In The Woods lets you forage beyond your garden as well if you need other materials for your potions.
Your gardening skills will show based on how you harvest these plants because not all plants are built the same. you’re able to’t just yank these plants out with your bare hands, and you’ll need magical help from your potions to extract equally magical plants.
5Coral Island
Nature is fun to explore in Coral Island. You can fish, dive, and most importantly—you can farm in the game. It’s one of the best skills to learn in the game, but it’s less about growing pretty plants and more to do with planting for necessity.
At least you can arrange and decorate your farm to your preferences.
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The better part of the gardening experience in this game is that you’ll get to hunt for wild seeds to diversify your crops. But if you’re not fond of hunting seeds, you can always buy them from Sam’s General Store.
4Cult Of The Lamb
When you think of a title that hasthe word “cult"in it, gardening will be the last thing you’ll think about. But there’s a lot of gardening involved when you’re taking care of the people in your faith, and food can get expensive if you don’t grow it yourself.
Farming is essential, andCult of The Lambhas ways of making the chore funnier than it should be.
Your farm’s survival is literally dependent on your followers' poop and producing high-quality food for them. The process will make you think of gardening as a mini strategy game within a strategy game.
3Slime Rancher 2
Gardening inSlime Rancher 2makes you feel like you’re gardening slimes more than actual plants. That’s mostly the case in this game, and you’ll be growing and housing slimes more than you’ll be caring for plants.
But having a bunch of pet slimes and exploring a lot gets tiring, so gardening here should be a calm experience.
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Not really, and on the contrary, growing plants here happen quickly. There’s nothing zen about gardening in the game, but a lot of thinking to go into it so that you can feed corrals of your slimes.
2Plants Vs. Zombies
What about gardening taken to the extreme? ClassicPlants vs. Zombiesis plantwarfare on your lawn, and tending to your plants means your very own survival against zombies. But caring for plants is a stretch, you’re mostly collecting sunlight and planting an army.
It’s hard to think about exploding peppers as your plant friend, but when it saves your brains and your other plants from getting chewed up by zombies, you’ll remember it as the plant that nobly sacrificed itself for the greater good of your lawn.
1Cloud Gardens
If you want the unadulterated experience of idle gardening, then Cloud Gardens is your best bet. It’s a game devoid of humans, and you’ll see structures of a time long gone.
But you’re not here for a history lesson, you’re just here to solve puzzles and grow plants on old, withering structures.
Cloud Gardens isa transient experiencethat will let you tend to your sprawling greens up in the clouds. Planting trees and killing weeds in the sky beats real gardening by a mile, especially when it makes you feel like a god tending to your own personal Eden.
