Your poor old grandfather has popped his clogs. But what’s this? He had a whole farm which he left to you, a farm which could give you the chance to escape from working for a heartless corporation. Time to pick up sticks (literally) and embrace your inner farmer!
Stardew Valley has been giving us joy since it’s initial release in 2016 on PC and is now pretty much available on every console with the most recent release to Nintendo Switch in 2017 and Android phones in March this year. You can tell that a lot of love and attention went into making this game (god bless you, ConcernedApe) which has gone on to receive outstandingly positive reviews. That’s why in this blog post I’m going to talk about why I have pumped hours into this game when I should have been doing my university coursework.
Simple farming life
The primary feature of Stardew Valley is that of a farming simulator. You choose what crops you’re going to grow and where on your farmland you’re going to plant them. Each season gives you the opportunity to grow new crops and gather more materials to let you expand and develop your farm in your own way. Given that you have the right materials the player has the opportunity to build barns, mills, and even a cabin for a friend to stay in (which is really useful with the introduction of multiplayer!).
When you’ve racked up enough materials and cash you can buy animals too, which allows chicken enthusiasts like myself to overrun my farm with nothing but chickens (and I loved it).
A nice new feature is the option to choose from five farm maps at the beginning of the game, giving you the chance to choose a farm for the skill you’d like to prioritise in your game (farming, mining, fishing, foraging, and combat). Your house will look the same on the outside regardless of the map you choose but the interiors are all tailored specifically to each farm map.
You’ve got your Standard farm map which has been the basic since the release of the game. This map is pretty simple and offers a lot of space for agricultural activities, as well as two small ponds and the broken glasshouse that features on every map waiting to be fixed (something which will be on your list of many things to do).
Next is the Riverland farm map. I chose this map on my second playthrough purely for the fact that I thought it looked cool. The only problem is that you lose a lot of space for planting and building BUT you gain the ability to fish around your farm. I enjoyed playing on this map because it gave me a challenge as to how I was going to set up my crops and my animals and still get a decent amount of money in my limited space.
The Forest map is great if you like the whole living in a woodland thing. This map gives you the opportunity to gather hardwood from the tree stumps and forage for items which are usually only available outside of your farm.
Next, you have your Hill-top farm which is specialised towards the mining skill. If you choose this map you will be able to mine the stones for gems and ores instead of going down into the mines – the most efficient way to gather ores will still be going in the mine, however.
The last kind of map you can have is the Wilderness farm. At night monsters will spawn on your farm for you to attack, the aim of this is to focus on the combat skill whilst also giving the player a bit of an extra challenge at night.
Villagers will steal your heart
Farming isn’t the only thing to do in Stardew. Pelican Town is filled with NPC residents who provide some of the best content you will experience whilst playing. There are 30 villagers for you to get to know, with the aim being to build up from being a complete stranger to them to be a good friend (or something…more).
You build your relationship with these villagers by giving gifts and completing quests and tasks for them. Getting a higher friendship level with a villager grants you the chance to learn about their character and develop your understanding of them. Taking the time to learn about the different characters and how their stories intertwined dragged me down a rabbit hole to try and achieve maximum friendships with literally everyone.
The backstories that are shared with the player are relatable situations which really connected with me on an emotional level. For example, when we first meet Alex we might think that he’s a bit of an arrogant arse who only cares for sports. However, the more I got to know him (constantly giving him eggs seemed to do the trick) the more I realised there was more to this character than I initially thought.
We find out that Alex has had his fair bit of struggles in his life as he starts to open up to us. These moments made the villagers of Stardew feel somewhat real and someone that I could understand on a human level. These characters easily could have been throwaway elements to fill out the world, but they really have been fleshed out to be like actual people. We also find out that the sweet and shy Penny is trying to cope with her alcoholic mother, but is ultimately depressed – motivating me to get to know her better to try and help her out as a friend.
Heck, I’d say I cared about some of these characters more than I have actual people. That’s how much the game does an outstanding job of creating those emotional connections to the characters.
Although the characters in Stardew are amazing, there is a downside to them as well. If you’re a new player there can feel like there is a steep learning curve. By this I mean that to learn each villager’s individual likes and dislikes, learning where to find them at specific times of the day can certainly take some time to get used to (I often consulted the games wiki to help learn). However, once you know thee things they become an efficient tool that makes earning those relationship points much faster.
Seasonal Festivals
Stardew Valley keeps you amused throughout the different seasons by offering the player the chance to participate in festivals where you can win special prizes.
In Spring there’s the “Egg Festival”, where I ran around racing children trying to collect the most eggs only to be beaten by the little turd Jasmine who miraculously managed to collect one more egg than me (my revenge and victory came the following year).
Spring also offers the chance to partake in the “Flower Dance”. All the villagers come together to dance, except no-one will want to dance with you if you don’t have a good enough relationship with anyone. So you have to stand there like a loner… Just a bit awkward.
The Summer “Luau” gives you the chance to poison the town and the towns Governor by adding an ingredient of your choice to the soup pot – beware as a potentially negative outcome can affect friendship levels which I found out after I deliberately added fish 3 years in a row.
Of course, Halloween is celebrated in the “Spirit’s Eve” event in Fall, where you can collect some creepy decorations to pimp your farm with. And the year wouldn’t be complete with the “Feast of the Winter Star” (basically Christmas).
In “Feast of the Winter Star” you have been tasked with a secret gift exchange and must get a present to give to your selected villager. If you are like me, I took the time to research and find the perfect gift for the villager I was given and get those brownie points, whilst Jasmine (that bratty child again) gave me a mushroom. Cheers, kid.
Other things that make Stardew great
You will find constant motivation in this game through rewards and upgrades. For example, you can work towards the restoration of the towns Community Centre, reviving it from a derelict mess to a pristine community environment. This takes a fair amount of time to gather all the required materials but the pay off is definitely worth it.
Stardew is also one of those rare games which really has something for everyone. It’s incredibly accessible for a wide range of people from children/teens to adults. The game is childish enough yet still retains a serious undertone when it needs to, therefore appealing to a wide spectrum of people. Some sneaky innuendos also make for a laugh too.
It’s easy to see why this game has acquired overwhelmingly positive reviews from game critics. ConcernedApe has managed to combine the simplicity of a farming simulator and paired it with adventuring, crafting, and relationship-building to create one of the best RPG’s which I have ever played.
According to the Stardew Valley blog, ConcernedApe is still working on making new content and improving the game. With a good as this, it’s hard to see how he’s going to improve on it anymore – I’m excited to see what the future holds for Stardew!
Here’s a drawing from yours truly! I’m trying to get better at drawing so I’m planning to try and do a small drawing for my blog posts (practice makes perfect after all!)
If you want to know a bit more about Stardew Valley here are some websites I recommend checking out:
https://stardewvalley.fandom.com/wiki/Stardew_Valley_Wiki
https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Stardew_Valley_Wiki
https://uk.ign.com/articles/2018/08/07/stardew-valley-review-2018
https://store.steampowered.com/app/413150/Stardew_Valley/
kymmcube.wordpress.com 
Great post 🙂
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