Farming in a Galaxy, far, far, away.
Farming sims are well worn cozy tales across many different lands that often sample pieces of a few different genres. Whether you are inheriting a loved one's land, looking for an escape from soul crushing desk work, just wanting to strike out on your own, or in some cases all of the above, they all tend to follow a similar premise. With a veritable flood supply to choose from, it can often become overwhelming, if not mildly monotonous at times, as many of them are quite similar.
Unfortunately, only a few of them tend to stand out with their unique stories and immersive gameplay. I have played many cozy farm life sims and quite honestly, I will continue to add to my library until the end of time. As long as there is an interesting story and the gameplay brings something different to the table, they may even make it to the top of the stack. So naturally, as soon as code for Farlands came across my inbox, I was instantly intrigued. They were going somewhere that not many games of this type have gone before… Into space! Does Farlands fly far on its own? Let's talk about it!
Your tale begins on a rusty nearly worn out beater of a ship as it's chugging through space. You are heading towards, hopefully, a new beginning and a bright future of Independence. You answered a shady sales ad offering meager farm land on a tiny uninhabited planetoid floating in the middle of nowhere. After speaking with an even shadier salesperson and paying the fee that seems too good to be true, you are ready to get elbows deep in the alien soil and begin your new life as a farmer.
You soon see that you'll need more supplies than the small amount of seeds that were left behind by the last farmer. You decide to visit a neighboring planet that holds a small settlement of a ragtag assortment of different species of alien races. They are families fighting to survive and even individuals trying to carve out a living just like yourself. However, as you find that there are trade mechanics out there to repair and upgrade your ship, a humble family-run shop that sells various goods and seeds for your farm, and even a blacksmith to help craft farming tools, there is something already at play that threatens everyone in the system. Now, that includes you and your freshly purchased planetoid farmstead. With the only reliable ship in the system, it's up to you to travel the galaxy and gather enough varieties of vegetation, lifeforms, minerals, and artifacts in order to earn the protection of a highly advanced alien race.
The gameplay and mechanics of Farlands are wonderfully simple, just like any other farming life sim on the market. I had the pleasure of playing Farlands on the Switch 2 so I can speak on that experience. To access your hub, it's a simple button press and you utilize the shoulder buttons to switch between your different selections. There is a catalogue page to keep track of the species of insects and fish you catch and if you've donated them to your benefactors. There is a friendship list of all the people you meet, along with what level your friendship is at, recipes collected, and a host of other valuable info pages. From there, you can also cycle through your inventory and customize your quick use tabs for your tools, seeds, and even a snack or two for energy. The use of your tools and items is a nice and comfortable shoulder button click left or right and trigger button in order to quickly switch between lines of your inventory without having to open your menus. To swing your tools or use what you have selected, you press one of the face buttons.
Farlands follows the similar mechanics as many other farming life sims, with little interesting spins. Progression of any sort is mainly centered on how you utilize the space on your farm, upgrade your spaceship, fill up your collections, and even maintain your relationships with people across the galaxy. There aren't any experience points to collect to level up your farmer, so you won't need to agonize over any grinding or tough decisions on which experience tree to follow for specific abilities. On one hand it may seem shallow in the content pool, but it's also a nice relaxing change that allows you freedom to concentrate on what there is to do around you.
The farming of your crops is entirely dependent on 3 seasons instead of the standard 4. Each type of seeds are color coded for each season, which makes it easier to organize and quickly buy what you need. An easy way to tell if they are ready is to pay attention to how many days it says for its growth cycle, or go near the plant and if a small hand indicator pops up, you just have to press your action button to pick them. Crops can then be sold, donated to your alien benefactors, cooked in your fabricator for recipes, or even utilized in your ship for fuel if you run out of power cells.
Speaking of your ship, this will be your main mode of transportation and will even double as a place to sleep in case you are on a different planet and don't have time to make the trip home. There is a ship mechanic on the nearest settlement that can help upgrade your ship’s systems and storage. You can upgrade your ship's speed and power to make the trips between planets shorter and require less fuel, as well as a one time install of a shielding system that makes it possible to breach an asteroid belt and access the last unlockable planet. There will be a fee to pay him for the work and a list of required minerals you'll need to gather. The more you upgrade, the more it will cost and the rarer the materials you'll need. Not only do the upgrades make a noticeable improvement, but visually the ship will look more stylish and sleeker.
Every planet you travel to in your trusty ship, and there are a surprising number of them available, has its own unique environments, vegetation, insects, and fish. One planet even has limited oxygen that sends you racing from one group of giant mushrooms to the next for fresh air as you attempt to explore. A few of the planets will have a mine that operates differently than the next with different minerals and ore and their own ways of traversing their depths. Not to mention, there are different monster types in each that require you to strategize which of your farming tools are needed in order to defeat or chase them away. I, for one, think this touch is interesting. There is no combat or weapons to speak of and you only need to rely on your observations in order to determine how to chase away any threats with your tools on hand.
The art and visuals of Farlands is colorful and nostalgic, utilizing lightly pixilated and smooth animation that pays homage to the bygone days of many Super Nintendo and Genesis RPGs. Each planet has its own style and color palette which is an amazing effort implemented from the crazy talented development team. Each cinema is entertaining and each character portrays believable emotions fitting for whatever is happening and will pull you into the story. All of this functions quite well behind the scenes, with no chugging and minimal load times regardless of what system you choose to play the game on. I loved playing it on the Switch 2 for the portability alone.
Farlands was an entertaining game on the whole. All the characters were charmingly unique, the story was fun to play through and I really enjoyed visiting each planet to experience their nicely designed environments and the challenges they brought with them. I really enjoyed this new spin on a beloved genre and really hope that perhaps they may add more things to do post launch. If you are reading this, I urge you to try Farmlands. You won't regret the trip!
Developer - Jandusoft, Eric Rodriguez. Publisher - Jandusoft, anotherindie. Released - July 16th, 2026. Available On - Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC. Rated - (E) No Descriptors. Platform Reviewed - Nintendo Switch 2. Review Access - A review code for Farlands was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
Rebecca is a huge fan of JRPG’s, RPG’s, and Survival Horror. From Silent Hill to Resident evil. Xenogears and Final Fantasy. When she isn’t tinkering with skill trees or equipping the right rifle to take down numerous monsters, you can find her farming away on Stardew Valley.