New idle farming sim out now on Steam lets you play while doing something else

I don’t know about you but increasingly I find that I’m doing more than one thing at once. At any point during the day I’ll be watching something while browsing the internet while a game sits in the background waiting to be alt-tabbed to. Rusty’s Retirement is an idle farming sim that is tailor-made for this kind of hectic multitasking, designed to let you do other stuff while the game merrily plays away, and it’s out now on Steam.

Ol’ Rusty has retired to the countryside having decided to do a spot of farming. As you look after Rusty’s Retirement farm you’ll plant crops, slap down some buildings, and help your little farmer grow a bustling homestead. It’s a supremely chill affair, but what sets this apart from other relaxing games is how it lets you do other stuff at the same time.

It does this by squatting at the bottom of your screen, only taking up a ribbon of space, allowing you the majority of your desktop for whatever else it is you want to do. The launch update also included the ability to make it run down the side of your monitor instead, should you need height instead of width for your tasks. Of course for those with four hundred monitors you may be used to having a tremendous wealth of space for games and other things. For those of us with more modest setups, and limited desk space, the idea of a game that fits around what we’re doing is beguiling indeed.

As Rusty’s farm grows you’ll be able to automate more tasks, meaning you can pop in and out of the game when you see fit rather than staring intently at it for a period of time. By giving Rusty priorities, you can tell him what you want to do so he’ll get on with the business of farming while you watch Netflix or file a news story on PCGamesN … not that I would ever do that.

Rusty’s Retirement is out now on Steam and you can grab it with 10% off until Tuesday, May 7. Head over to the game’s page to pick it up if you want to indulge in a spot of farming while you’re supposed to be working.

If you’re intrigued by incremental games, our guide to the best clicker games you can play on PC will soon have you seeing the numbers go up in a satisfactory fashion. Should running a farm be what calls to you, our best farming games guide will get you tilling in no time.

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