Game Details
- Publisher: Chucklefish
- Developer: Concerned Ape
- ESRB Rating: “T” for Teen
- Genre: Farming RPG
- Pros: Great oldschool visuals; fantastic soundtrack; solid gameplay with lots of things to do; yearly events
- Cons: Occasionally awkward controls
- MSRP: $15
Stardew Valley begins with your created character wanting to
escape the hustle and bustle and annoyances of the city in favor of some good
ol’ country living at a small farm you inherited from your Grandfather. Once you arrive in the small town of Stardew
Valley, what you do next is totally up to you.
Farming is an obvious first step, and a good way to make
money, but you have to clear away all of the overgrown trees and grass and
break apart rocks in order to have a big enough space to farm. Then you till the soil with a hoe, plant
seeds, water them with a watering can, and in a few in-game days you have
produce to sell. Then rinse and repeat
until you go crazy. Each season of the
year has different crops to grow as well as different wild plants to collect,
different fish to catch, and much more so there is always something new to
do. You can also upgrade your house,
build new farm buildings, and even get crazy into landscaping and turn your
property into a beautifully manicured garden full of trees and flowers. It is totally up to you.
Stardew Valley has more to do than just farming, though, as
it also offers river, lake, and ocean fishing with multiple fish species to
catch, mining where you go deep into monster-infested mines to collect various
ores to upgrade your tools with, and there is also an extensive social aspect
in the game as well. You can make
friends with the 28+ characters living in the town and even romance and marry
someone. There is a museum to fill with
minerals and artifacts you dig up. Town
social events that happen at set times every season. Merchants that only appear on certain days. Special missions given by townsfolk to help
them out. The most interesting side
quest is rebuilding the community center in town by collecting specific crops
and items and fish. By completing these
specific collections you open up new things like minecarts that help you travel
around town faster and even a bus that takes you to a brand new area full of
stuff to do.
That really is the genius of Stardew Valley – it doesn’t
force you to do anything you don’t want to.
If farming is boring, don’t do it.
Make your money mining or fishing instead. Your best bet to make the most money is, obviously, to do a
little bit of everything as you have plenty of time during each gameplay day to
get a lot accomplished, but you don’t have to.
The thing is, though, that pretty much everything you do in Stardew
Valley is pretty darn fun so you’ll want to experience everything the game has
to offer.
Stardew Valley does have some quirks you have to get used
to, but nothing that will stop you from having fun. The game was built for the PC first and the console versions
still have a weird hybrid control scheme where gameplay things are mapped to
the controller like you’d expect but you still use a mouse-style cursor to
navigate menus. It isn’t optimal, but
you get used to it. Also a little wonky
is that the farming tools don’t always hit where you expect them to so it is
advised to turn on the option for a tool cursor in the menu so you know exactly
what square of land you’re going to hit.
The fishing mini-game is also kind of crazy frustrating at first as you
have to keep the fish you’re catching in a small green bar as you reel it in by
tapping or holding the “X” button.
Honestly, fishing sucks at first because it is hard. As you play and level up your fishing skill
and get better poles, however, it becomes a lot easier and more enjoyable.
Once you get into the rhythm of daily life in Stardew
Valley, it becomes an extremely addictive game where real-time hours fly by as
you’re farming and fishing and mining.
Aspects of it can certainly be considered tedious and boring, but pretty
much everything you do is accomplishing something. You’re making money or fixing up the community center or filling
the museum with artifacts so there is a great sense of satisfaction with almost
everything you do. You always have a
goal so you’re compelled to keep playing and playing and playing.
It is worth noting that Stardew Valley launched on Xbox One
with some issues, namely a glitch that caused the game to freeze when you tried
to proceed to Year 2, but that and the other performance issues have been
patched out and the game is perfectly fine and playable now. The major glitches are gone and you can buy
with confidence.
The presentation in Stardew Valley is very, very appealing
with a 16-bit graphical style and the sprites for everything look
fantastic. Everything is clear and easy
to identify even though it’s all really just a few little pixels. The sound effects and music are also
absolutely pitch perfect for the game.
All in all, Stardew Valley is an easy game to fall in love
with that offers compelling and satisfying gameplay across a wide variety of
tasks that are all fun and worthwhile.
The presentation is awesome and the sheer amount of gameplay hours you
can get out of it for the $15 price make it pretty much a no-brainer. If you loved oldschool Harvest Moon games,
or if you love modern day Farming Simulator, there is a lot to like in Stardew
Valley. It is simply awesome and I
highly, highly recommend it for a purchase.
