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 sim available on Steam (and releasing in Q1 2027), this intriguing indie game could be met with a sizable audience right out the gate.
Ashfield Hollow Features at a Glance
- FIGHT packs of undead enemies and NPC survivors via real-time combat.
- BUILD a “home worth defending,” with barns, warehouses, farms, and more able to be set up.
- SURVIVE by farming, fishing, and raising animals.
- BOND with the survivors of Camp Ashfield, completing personal missions to learn their backstories.
- EXPLORE a post-apoclyptic world full of towns, building interiors, forests, and sewers.
Build a life in the ruins. Ashfield Hollow combines deep survival, real-time combat, farming, crafting, and fishing in a post-apocalyptic world that nearly didn’t make it. Ten years after the outbreak, Camp Ashfield is one of the last places left. Whether it stays that way is up to you.
Ashfield Hollow Has Everything a Stardew Valley Fan Could Ask For
Ashfield Hollow has all the core basics of cozy games, such as the relaxing tasks that keep players busy and allow them to zone out after a busy day in the real world. Players who love fishing mini-games are in luck, as this will be one of many food sources available in this life sim. Additionally, the all-important cozy mechanic of farming is very much present, with players able to plant, manage, and eventually grow a range of crops. Players won’t even have to stop there, as they’ll also be able to care for animals, providing another valuable source of food while adding to the homey vibe and sense of immersion. Pigs, cows, goats, chickens, ducks, and rabbits have all been confirmed for the game.
Like the best cozy games, players will be able to decorate their base to make it feel comfortable, with a goal for Ashfield Hollow being to deliberately transform one’s hideout into “a home worth defending.” Sure, players can build workstations and defenses around the area, but they’ll also be able to add greenhouses, barns, and more decorative items. Adding these details alongside animal pens and lines of crops will take some time, and the final setup will likely make players feel proud of the progress that they made.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)
When players aren’t tending to their wildlife and crops, or decorating their base, they’ll be able to interact with their fellow survivors in the post-apocalyptic world of Ashfield Hollow. This is where another Stardew Valley-like quality of the game comes into play, as players will need to put in some work to grow closer with the people of Camp Ashfield. To accomplish this, they’ll not only chat with characters, but complete personal quests for them to unlock key lore about each NPC—a process that sounds a whole lot like the iconic Heart Events of Stardew Valley. Whether romance will be an option is unclear, but it’s still exciting that the pixel art characters of this game will seemingly have a ton of depth.
Ashfield Hollow’s Combat and Survival Helps It Stand Out From a Competitive Field
Still, Ashfield Hollow is more than a Stardew Valley clone, as combat is far more important in this particular life sim. As a game set in a Last of Us-like world full of infected threats, it’s only natural that players are fighting far more than they do in Stardew, which limits the fighting to areas like the mines and Skull Cavern. To survive, players won’t just have to manage their health, hunger, and thirst, but they’ll have to fight both stragglers and huge groups of undead hostiles. And, on top of that, NPCs who are also struggling to survive could attack players on sight, battling for loot. All of this combat takes place in real time, whether it’s fighting waves of lumbering corpses or shootouts with scavengers.
Much like Pelican Town has a ton of personality, Ashfield Hollow’s developer seems to be doing a lot to give its world a distinct look and feel. Players should expect a ton of environmental variety when they venture beyond the Camp Ashfield hub. Forests, building interiors, abandoned towns, and sewer systems have all been listed as locations explorers will come across. Clearly, restoring Ashfield Hollow’s world will be no easy task. But for players looking to get some practice in on building and fighting within said world, a free Steam demo is currently available.
