Stardew Valley Review

Stardew Valley took me by surprise when it launched. Although I had heard about the game a few years back and loved the concept, I hadn’t followed its development closely. To my surprise, I noticed it sitting comfortably at number one on Steam’s top-selling list when I logged in recently. After watching some launch day streams, I decided to give it a try—and I’m so glad I did. The game’s art and sound design are truly exceptional. The 8-bit aesthetic perfectly complements the gameplay, with each season bringing the landscape to life in vibrant, changing colors. For my complete thoughts, check out my full Stardew Valley review below.

From Corporate Grind to Farming Delight

Stardew Valley shares similarities with games like Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon. In the story, your character inherits a farm in Pelican Town after your grandfather’s passing, leaving behind a soul-draining corporate job to start fresh. Upon arrival, the town warmly welcomes you but also presents a challenge: restoring a rundown, dilapidated community center.

Restoring the community center involves gathering various materials, but beyond that, the story is yours to shape. You can choose to live as a hermit, like I did, or engage with the friendly townsfolk. The game features a robust gift-giving system that allows you to build relationships, including the option for romance with any of the town’s citizens, adding to the sandbox nature of the game. Although I haven’t fully explored the relationship mechanics, they are well-developed for those who enjoy that aspect. Personally, my greatest enjoyment in Stardew Valley so far has come from farming and exploring.

It’s a Simple Life

Ahhh farming. Nothing like spending hours upon hours, planting, watering and ultimately harvesting crops. Stardew Valley does an excellent job in this area. The farming does not feel overly tedious. Each season (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) is part of the year cycle and comes with differing crops and events.

An interesting leveling system encourages players to farm as each level adds valuable benefits (+1 hoe efficiency for example) to the player. Other ‘craftable’ upgrades exist, adding to the need to gather and store resources. Just as watering my crops started to become a ‘chore’, I reached a point where sprinklers became accessible. Sprinklers allow for autonomous watering. So now, being able to put sprinklers down by my crops allows me to focus on other areas of my farm.

Farming also encompasses animals allowing the player to raise cows, chickens, slims, fruit bats and other less common animals. Other elements that I would call ‘farm gameplay’ includes foraging (Animal Crossing style collecting) and fishing. Both of these offer a nice reprieve from a day of farming and pay well too. However, if all of these activities do end up becoming tedious, this game has something that I really enjoy, combat and exploration.

Into the Depths We Go

The inclusion of combat was a good decision. Stardew revolves around a need to constantly be upgrading and advancing. Ore soon becomes a sought after material and helps in introducing the combat element of the game. Ore is found within the town mine. The town mine is crawling with critters, critters who don’t want you to get the ore. Armed with a sword, the player can venture into the depths of the mine (the lower you go the better the ore).

This ‘Terrariaesque’ system is welcome. Ore equals better farming equipment, which equals more crops, which equals more money. Each time I was in the mine, I kept feeling the draw to go deeper. Balancing the risk/reward is incredibly fulfilling. Fear of dying is a real thing, as dying means losing money, resources, and ‘knowledge’ of a random number of dungeon floors (you have to replay x number of floors when you respawn), so I found myself playing it safe pretty often. Bringing back a huge haul of ore, dramatically altered my farm allowing for more profitability, and I love profitability.

I can easily say this has been the best gaming experience I’ve had in 2016 (so far). An indie game like this being created by only one person is mind blowing. Stardew Valley seriously raises the bar for indie developers. The existence of so many systems all acting together creates a wonderful experience that is a direct reflection of the love and care the creator put into the game. Not only is the game well designed, the price point is perfect. Coming in at $16.99 CAD, the game is a steal. I’ve put in a shameful 20+ hours and still feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of all the nuances of this game.

What I Liked

• The art style and design are fitting
• Few issues at launch
• Easy control scheme
• Deep upgrade mechanics allow for literally hours of gameplay
• A seemingly endless amount of things to discover
• Price
• Dev is already updating the title

What I didn’t Like

• Missing some higher end upgrades
• Stayed within conventions. Would love to see more interesting farm equipment (cars exist but no tractors?)
• Minor bugs

9.5/10