14 January 2026

New Free to Play Game Has Serious Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing Vibes

By newsgame

A newly released multiplayer cozy game is completely free-to-play, and it should appeal to fans of games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing. It’s been an exciting time to be a cozy gamer, with Stardew Valley recently releasing its Switch 2 version and Animal Crossing: New Horizons gearing up for its first major update in years. Cozy game fans are honestly spoiled for choice, but they may want to prioritize checking out a recently-released game.

Heartopia is a new cozy game that just had its full 1.0 release on January 7 for Android and iOS devices. Fans of the genre should rest assured that Heartopia checks all the cozy game boxes. Players are able to build their own house, garden, fish, farm, customize their character with special outfits, adopt pets like dogs and cats, and interact with the locals. It’s a full-blown Animal Crossing/Stardew Valley-style cozy game experience that you can play on your phone without paying a dime.

All Active Heartopia Codes

Players can get a head start in Heartopia with these codes.

Heartopia has enjoyed an overwhelmingly positive reception since its 1.0 launch, with the game currently enjoying a 4.8 rating on the Play Store after 22,000 reviews. Heartopia has proven to be an instant hit, with over 1 million downloads and counting. If you are a cozy game fan interested in seeing what Heartopia is all about, feel free to head to the app store on your mobile device, install it, and give it a try. There are microtransactions, but you can still enjoy the game being a totally free-to-play player.

Heartopia doesn’t have much in the way of completely original ideas, but it features a cute art style with 3D graphics that should help it stand apart from the pixelated look of Stardew Valley. It effectively takes ideas from other cozy games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing and presents them in a mobile-friendly format, and that has proven to be a recipe for success so far.

Is Heartopia Coming to Steam?

There are many gamers that don’t like playing games on their phone and may prefer to play something like Heartopia on Steam. The good news is that Heartopia is currently available on PC via direct download through the game’s site, but the bad news is that the Steam version still has yet to launch. An exact release date for Heartopia on Steam has yet to be revealed, but it’s expected to drop on Valve’s digital storefront by the end of the year.

Unfortunately, no console version of Heartopia has been announced to date, and so it’s unclear if the game will make its way to PlayStation, Switch, or Xbox. One has to imagine if Heartopia keeps enjoying the kind of success it’s had so far, that ports to other platforms have to at least be considered. Heartopia seems like the kind of cozy game that would absolutely blow up on something like the Switch, and so hopefully news on that front comes sooner rather than later.

Switch 2 gamers may not have access to Heartopia, but they will soon get to play an exclusive cozy game in the form of Pokemon Pokopia, set for a March 5 release date at the time of this writing.

In the meantime, Heartopia fans can look forward to more updates for the game in the months ahead. Heartopia is a free-to-play game after all, so expect it to receive more frequent updates than something like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing. Cozy game fans that need something new to play should definitely make sure to give Heartopia a try. It’s free, after all.