5 Games to Play Instead of Animal Crossing

Haley PerryReporting for Wirecutter ��

Those who enjoy Animal Crossing’s unhurried pace and nature-oriented activities will love the peaceful gameplay of My Time at Portia, in which you’re a builder who takes commissions around town at your leisure.

Haley PerryReporting for Wirecutter ��

If you decorate your A.C. island to impress friends, try building and sharing your own theme park in Parkitect. The PC game’s multiplayer mode lets up to eight people work on the same park, so it offers similar social aspects.

Haley PerryReporting for Wirecutter ��

Fans of the villager camaraderie in Animal Crossing will enjoy relationships with passengers in Spiritfarer, a game about ferrying lost souls to the afterlife. Its character dialogue and backstories are more fully realized than in A.C.

Haley PerryReporting for Wirecutter ��

For a mobile game, try Seabeard, in which you’re a captain rebuilding a once-thriving island. Like Animal Crossing, Seabeard excels at fairly mindless gameplay with adorable music and artwork that’s easy to relax with.

Andrew CunninghamReporting for Wirecutter ��

Before A.C., Stardew Valley was the Platonic ideal of a chill-out game. Ostensibly a farming simulator, the game also has exploration, puzzle-solving, dating, fishing, cooking and a healthy dose of the occult.