The people behind the farm gate at Heathermoorgames

Heathermoorgames began with a running argument about whether a browser farm could be as absorbing as a full-blown simulation. A few of us had spent years tending virtual fields alongside real allotments and window boxes, and we kept recommending the same handful of games to friends. Writing those recommendations down properly seemed the obvious next step.

We are a small desk of players with mud on our boots in both senses. Between us we have kept chickens, grown far too many courgettes, and spent more evenings than we would admit arranging digital fences. What unites us is a fondness for games about country life, the slow satisfaction of a harvest and the comfort of a routine.

We play every game we review for weeks before scoring it, from a fresh account, and we compare notes across the desk. When a game changes, we revisit it. When readers tell us something new, we check it and update the review. The goal is a site you can trust to tell you which farm will suit you, not just which one is newest.

We are based in the north of England, which means a great deal of our farming happens indoors while the rain does the real watering outside. That suits these games perfectly: a cup of tea, a laptop, and a field that needs harvesting before supper.