Taking inspiration from other farming and life sim games, Garden Paws starts with you inheriting a farm from your grandparent. Then, you’ll start your adventure with new friends to meet and places to explore. Given how much people adore Animal Crossing: New Horizons, how well does this indie game scratch that community management itch?
Related: The 10 best games like Animal Crossing you can play right now
How is Garden Paws like Animal Crossing?
When you look at the similarities between Animal Crossing and Garden Paws, there’s a lot to like. Just like Animal Crossing, the game is fairly open-ended, letting you interact with the world as you see fit. You also can use the money your earn to help build up your community, just like you do for the best villagers you befriend in Animal Crossing.
Moreover, if you love the cute animal aesthetic of the Crossing characters, Garden Paws is perfect. Every character is a cute little creature, from cats to ducks. After all, who doesn’t love a bear in a construction hat?
During the game, you can also forage, dig, fish, and do tons of other Animal Crossing-like activities.
How is Garden Paws different from Animal Crossing?
Unlike Animal Crossing, Garden Paws can get a bit more down and dirty. You can head off to the mines for resources, build a bustling farm on your property, and take on quests to earn money. Depending on how you play, you can be a foraging wanderer, a hard-working, farming homebody, or a mine-trekking adventurer.
The options available to you are even vaster because instead of one island, you get an entire, sprawling world to explore. If you get a little bored of your backyard, you can head off into the forest looking for excitement. If you thought you made up the game as you went in Animal Crossing, Garden Paws strives to let you curate your experience to be exactly what you want.
Is Garden Paws a farming or life sim?
While Garden Paws gets buzz for being like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, it also has an open, explorative world full of foraging, questing, and building, much like Minecraft. You can build your community, expand your home, grow your crops, and run a shop. Garden Paws basically lets you become your own Tom Nook. It’s an intersection of a lot of different cozy games, so it’s perfect for anyone who loves to experience a good bit of fishing, adorable designs, and ambient music combined in a unique, wide-open world. While it’s not exactly like Animal Crossing, it’s close enough that Animal Crossing enthusiasts will enjoy it just the same.
