The Headlands is a meditative farming strategy game set in the early 2000s, built around your home village and the machines you remember from childhood. You revive a run-down farm, trade on a living market, run production chains, take on your neighbours’ contracts and grow your fleet from small tractors up to combines.

Steam 250 week chart: #20, up 27 places, score 7.45 from 83 reviews, released 14 September 2026. That is the largest single-week climb on this chart. Chart position via Steam 250 week top 50.

Key features

A living market instead of a fixed price list

When crop prices move, the decision stops being what is efficient to grow and becomes what is worth growing this season. That one change is what separates a farming sim you optimise once from one you keep reading, and it is the reason the genre’s best entries are economic games wearing overalls.

Neighbours’ contracts as the difficulty curve

Contract work gives a small farm income before it has capital, so the early game is about renting out your time rather than grinding. It is a more honest model of how a smallholding actually survives, and mechanically it stops the opening hours being a money wall.

Period-specific machinery

Setting the game in the early 2000s fixes the equipment list to a generation of machines players in Central and Eastern Europe grew up around. Specificity is doing the work that licensing does in bigger farming games — it earns recognition without paying for brands.

The honest caveat

The Headlands is in Early Access with only 83 reviews, so a 27-place climb reflects a small, enthusiastic base rather than a settled reputation. It is single-player only, with no multiplayer listed, and the $9.34 price is a 15% discount at the time of writing.

Where to find it

The Headlands is on Steam in Early Access at $9.34 from developer and publisher TessaraOxygen. Steam store page.

Frequently asked questions

Is The Headlands in Early Access?

Yes. The Headlands launched into Steam Early Access on 14 September 2026, so its content and balance are still in development.

How much does The Headlands cost?

The Headlands is 9.34 dollars on Steam at the time of writing, a 15 percent discount from its 10.99 dollar list price.

Does The Headlands have multiplayer?

No. The Steam listing lists single-player only, with save-anytime support and no online modes.

When is The Headlands set?

The early 2000s. The machinery and village setting are drawn from that period rather than from modern licensed farm equipment.

What languages does The Headlands support?

The Steam page lists full audio support for English, Polish, Ukrainian, Czech, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Hungarian, Kazakh and Romanian.