Press release:
MANILA, Philippines – August 27, 2026 – What if the creatures you collected in Palworld are also the crops and livestock powering your Stardew Valley-style farm? Independent Philippine game studio Yangyang Mobile is excited to announce Spirit Rancher, a cozy creature-collecting farming simulator where magical spirits aren’t just companions, they’re the foundation of everything you build.
In Spirit Rancher, players venture to discover and catch a variety of spirits, each with their own unique abilities and resources they can produce. Fight and explore alongside them, use their powers, then bring them home and design a ranch that would keep them happy and productive.
The happier your spirits are, the more your ranch can grow.
Instead of taking care of endless rows of traditional crops, players can build automated systems to move their resources around the ranch and experiment with different spirit combinations to create miniature ecosystems: one creature’s produce becomes another’s food, turning the right habitat into a self-sustaining production chain. The more efficiently your ranch runs, the more you can build, automate, and expand.
The result is a gameplay loop that combines the thrill of creature collecting with the cozy satisfaction of building, optimizing, and expanding a home of your own.
Game Features
● Catch and Collect Spirits: Explore the world, discover new creatures, and bring them home to become part of your growing ranch.
● Fight Alongside Your Companions: Your spirits aren’t just ranch residents. Take them with you and battle together on adventures.
● Use Their Powers: Fuse with your spirits and harness their unique abilities yourself, using their powers to fight, explore, gather resources, and interact with the world.
● Build Them a Home: Create and expand a ranch where your spirits can thrive. Build habitats and facilities around the creatures you’ve collected and the resources they produce.
● Design a Growing, Living Ranch: Start small and gradually build a bustling home filled with spirits, facilities, resources, and interconnected production systems.
● Explore a Story-Rich World: Meet a colorful cast of characters, form relationships, make choices, and uncover the mysteries surrounding the world of Spirit Rancher and the spirits that inhabit it.
Spirit Rancher is currently in development. It will be released in Steam Early Access in 2028.
Spirit Rancher is being showcased at Booth 17 in the Indie Arena (Hall 10.2, Floor 2), at Koelnmesse Exhibition Center, Gamescom Cologne from 26-30 August 2026. Attendees can drop by for freebies and a chance to try out the most recent build of the game.
About Yangyang Mobile
Yangyang Mobile is an indie game studio based in the Philippines. Founded by couple John and Danni Pineda back in 2015, the team is dedicated to making narrative-driven games that leave a lasting impression. Their previous titles include The Letter, Love Esquire, Perfect Gold, Saint Maker and High Times.
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Jonas “O.J” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround
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Tags: Farming sim, Indie games, Palworld, PC games, Spirit Rancher, Stardew Valley, Steam, Yangyang Mobile