This adorable farming game is like a tiny Stardew Valley where you build your farm "inside a 90s toy," and I'm not surprised it already has 400% Kickstarter funding

Tiny Garden is even more proof that people want cozy games that won't swallow up their entire life.

We got a hint of this when Tiny Glade, the li'l indie game about doodling castles, absolutely stormed Steam Next Fest and notched its one-millionth Wishlist, and now the Kickstarter for Tiny Garden is cementing the idea: people are cuckoo for cozy games, particularly of the smol variety.

Essentially, Tiny Garden is a compact farming/gardening sim that takes place inside one of those Polly Pocket toy balls from the '90s that open up at a hinge. Luckily, in this world plastic is fertile enough to grow plants from plastic seeds when you spin around a plastic crank. You start out with humble crops like carrots and turnips, but once those ripen you can trade them for "fancier" vegetables, plants, and furniture that you can decorate your tiny garden with. You also have a teeny tiny home in the top half of the capsule that you can furnish with a bed, nightstand, fireplace, and various trinkets to make it as cozy as possible. 

That's about the gist of it! There's no RPG elements, mini-games, puzzles, combat, or even opportunity for failure, and apparently that simplicity is attractive. The humble developers at Spain-based studio Ao Norte only wanted about $5000 as an initial Kickstarter goal, and it's now earned more than $22,000 in less than a week since the project went live. 

The developers are actively adding new stretch goals and expanding the scope of the project seemingly in response to the unexpected funding rush, and although some stretch goals are under wraps, we do know we'll get a free mode at €40,000 and something called a 'free mode' at €80,000.

Tiny Garden is in the works for Nintendo Switch and PC, and the devs are hoping to get it Steam Deck verified "soon."

In the meantime, here are the best Switch indie games you can play today.

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more