Given how iconic Stardew Valley has become, it’s no surprise that indie developers often look to it for inspiration. ConcernedApe’s farming sim is essentially the king of its genre, nailing its day-to-day activities just as much as it does everything else. Its charming pixel art visual style is easy to replicate, if hard to master, and the massive number of gamers with a fondness for the cozy genre gives any attempt at a cozy game like Stardew Valley a built-in audience. However, one upcoming Steam game that resembles Stardew Valley, Ashfield Hollow, has an interesting twist: deep survival mechanics due to a horde of zombies.
To be clear, Ashfield Hollow has a ton of the features that make Stardew Valley so relaxing and easy to return to. Players will do plenty of farming, crafting, and fishing every time they load into the game. However, the key difference is that, instead of trying to build profits with one’s crops, players rely on them to keep their character fed. Ashfield Hollow boasts deep survival mechanics like Project Zomboid, not to mention plenty of combat that will threaten the safety of the player character. As part cozy game, part life...
