Ashfield Hollow is a farming sim with a little more bite

I love farming sims, but I’m the first to admit they’ve become a little predictable: grow crops, make money, make friends, make things look nice. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a bad gameplay loop; as I said, I love the genre, but I have been looking for something a little different to play, and I think I’ve found it in Ashfield Hollow.

Ashfield Hollow is a farming/life sim with a zombie outbreak twist by BitQuest Studio that forces you to be selfless. Instead of pouring hours into making sure your farm looks amazing, you venture out into the post-apocalyptic wastelands to loot useful items, forage for sustenance, and actively contribute towards the upkeep of a camp you now call home. 

It’s a farming sim that forces you to think about others before yourself, and it definitely breaks the mould set by the genre.

Freedom to explore and learn your own lessons

Ashfield Hollow, at least in its demo state, is not a game that’s going to hold your hand, and it would be pretty weird if it did given the post-apocalyptic theme; who has time to help the newbie when everyone is just trying to survive in a zombie-infested world? You’re free to go pretty much everywhere right off the bat, as evidenced by my rather foolish first-day decision to head into the zombie-filled town to the west armed with just a shoddy sword and absolutely no knowledge of what I was getting into. 

Rather than being confusing, this lack of hand-holding and freedom to explore (at times to your own detriment) feels really freeing, and it’s just one of the things that makes Ashfield Hollow feel like something new in a world full of farming sims. We all know what to expect when stepping into a game of the genre: grow food, sell food, make money, upgrade, make friends, and so on. This undead-battling take on the genre takes the established formula and shreds it up in a glorious way. 

It’s not as if there is no guidance, though. It is there; you just have to explore and seek it out for yourself, which seems like a realistic take on how things would be if society collapsed and you suddenly had to fend for yourself. You have objectives to complete, but the game doesn’t make them the focus. Instead, you may find yourself completing them without even knowing they existed. The guidance is unobtrusive, which, to someone like me who yearns to explore and learn lessons for myself, is absolutely lovely. 

Making yourself useful

Are you tired of the inherent selfishness that farming sims encourage? Yeah, me too, although maybe this is a bit of a “hot take” on my part. The usual formula means that most things you do are ultimately for the benefit of you and your farm. Sure, there are quests to help villagers and grow your relationships with them, but mostly you’re trying to make money, upgrade your little patch of land, and make things look pretty. It’s a very self-centered mentality, and it’s pretty prevalent throughout the genre. 

Things are different in Ashfield Hollow. Everything you do contributes to the community; from filling up the devastated stockpiles to heading out into the zombie-infested town for supplies, you’re not just looking after yourself, but everyone around you. And why wouldn’t that be the case? These people took you in with no knowledge of where you came from, fixed up your bruises and broken bones, and then provided a home for you to sleep in. The least you can do is help them survive the post-apocalypse.

Besides, it would be incredibly out of place if you wound up in this tight-knit community and someone handed you a hoe and a bag of turnip seeds. Ashfield Hollow takes place in a world that’s barely keeping itself together, and these people do not have the time or resources to give you everything you need to live comfortably. You need to earn your place; you need to be useful, and that’s the thing that stands out most about this game. 

Different, but familiar

Don’t worry, Ashfield Hollow isn’t so different from other farming sims that it feels completely alien. You can still grow crops, go fishing, build relationships with members of the community, and craft everything you need. Of course, you’re doing all of this while monitoring your thirst and hunger, looking out for any signs of infection in yourself, and otherwise just trying to survive, which gives the familiar mechanics a little more weight and helps ground them in the world. 

If you’re looking for something to do, there’s a bulletin board out front of the main building in the camp where you can pick up small jobs that help residents and build relationships. It’s the same formula as many other farming sims, but these tasks feel more important thanks to the theme of the game; instead of delivering a piece of quartz to someone just because, it feels more like you’re bringing sustenance and helping them survive within the game’s world. 

And if you’re wondering whether there’s a museum or bundles mechanic, there kind of is, but this again feels much more meaningful than in other farming sims I’ve played. Instead of completing arbitrary collections, you need to contribute towards the growth of the depleted stockpiles. Fish, foraged items, medicine looted from the nearby overrun town, and other items go into the reserves to help sustain the community. 

A learning curve at the end of the world

I love the lack of hand-holding in Ashfield Hollow, but it does lead to some panicked moments during the first few in-game days, and I’m not just talking about my health shooting down to 4 because I tried to take on three zombies with nothing but a glorified kitchen knife. Thankfully, there are tutorials you can read in the menu, which serve to answer pretty much any question you might have.

It took me two in-game days to figure out how water worked and how I was supposed to refill my hydration bar. That’s not the game’s fault; as I said, the tutorials are there. I just failed to read them and didn’t even track my hydration until I suddenly began to die of thirst. So I tried to fill up my canteen on a rainy day, only to discover I couldn’t drink the water until I’d boiled it, which, side note, is a lovely realistic addition to the mechanic!. Except I needed to boil the water over a campfire, of which there were none, because it was raining. Obviously. 

Let’s face it, the end of the world would be a steep learning curve for most of us, and Ashfield Hollow turns it into a gorgeous pixelated reality that makes you care not only about yourself, but the small community that comes to be your home. This is not a farming sim for people who want pretty aesthetics and happy endings, but it’s definitely one to watch if you like the genre but want something with more… bite. 

(Not sorry.)

Ashfield Hollow is set to release in Q1 2027, and has a demo available on Steam until then, which I highly recommend trying if you’re looking for something to pour some hours into! Even better, your save from the demo will carry over into the full game, so you won't lose any progress you make!