Stardew Valley

Review game Stardew Valley, Stardew Valley becomes an even more enjoyable, feature-rich farming role-playing game with a number of major content updates.

I get a sense of returning home every time I launch a new Stardew Valley farm or access my 100-hour save on my PC. I rarely feel as at ease in other games as I do in Stardew Valley. The 16-bit rural town’s laid-back atmosphere is wonderfully complemented by the seasonal music, and the endless activities ahead of me promise to bring me both excitement from the mysteries of the place and tranquilly from my everyday grind. This farming adventure has a lot to offer, whether your goals are to farm, fish, battle monsters, craft, mine, become everyone’s best friend, or do a little bit of everything.

Stardew Valley “beautifully combines farm simulation with RPG elements to create an intriguing, absorbing rural world,” as we stated in our original review, and it has only gotten better with each significant free update. In the third in-game year, multiplayer, new items, buildings, farm types, events, and relationships give Stardew Valley an even stronger base and more motivation to stay around after the highly anticipated event.

Players can now focus more effectively than during Stardew Valley’s initial launch, thanks to the five new farm maps. The designs of each farm encourage different types of work, such as farming, fishing, foraging, mining, and combat. The activities on each map provide a respite from the cold, in-game Joja Corporation, which is encroaching on Pelican Town.

The tale of Stardew Valley is straightforward but rewarding. After you quit your boring job at Joja Corporation, you inherit your grandfather’s farm. After relocating to the farm, you must choose between renovating the dilapidated community centre and supporting the neighbourhood of Joja Mart. After resolving this conflict, making friends with and getting to know the locals opens up other untold tales, driving the story of Stardew Valley for the next two or so years.

Charming people live in Pelican Town and surrounding areas.

Pelican Town locals and others are a pleasant group of people, but cultivating a deeper relationship with each of them is a rather surface-level affair. All you need to do to gradually gain their affection and trust is give them presents they enjoy twice a week. When I had some expendable resources well into my second year, it at least encouraged me to try and find out what each person enjoys most and to get creative with my gifts. Giving them items they dislike can lower their level of affection. Yes, Maru, you have been promoted to pepper popper.

Even though the system is straightforward, finding out about the goals, interests, and difficulties that each Stardew Valley resident faces is still fulfilling. There, you can find a scientist studying the wildlife in the valley, a grumpy old man who is reluctant to form relationships, a friendly monster who sells his wares to kind people, and many other fascinating individuals.

If you catch them at the appropriate moment and location, a special character scene will play after they reach particular friendship or romance levels. If you decide to marry one of the 12 romantic characters, they will move into your house and occasionally even assist with tasks around the farm. Some of the characters have more scenes than others. For the late game, this benchmark is much-needed. Beyond learning about their hobbies and personal struggles, NPCs are also essential for crafting blueprints and certain food recipes, so developing a friendship with them is beneficial. Sometimes they’ll even send you a small gift in return.

Charmingly sprouting

One of the most exciting things that happens in Stardew Valley is probably the changing of the seasons. When summer brings lots of sunny days interspersed with a few productive thunderstorms, you can use the lighting to create batteries if you have the proper equipment! – If your primary occupation is farming, the activities of the season are somewhat more uncertain because the snow-covered ground in the winter prevents any crops from growing outside. With the changing weather, crop types, NPC schedules, birthdays, fish, and entertaining festivals that keep things interesting, each season has a pleasant pace of its own. Finding the best way to spend the 28 days that each season has is a great challenge as each in-game year goes by. By the time my second year came to an end, I was comfortable with my daily schedule and farming tactics.

Although farming isn’t very complicated, it is calming due to its methodical nature. Making enough money in the first year to optimise your farmland, acquire a good number of the best seeds, install a watering system, and establish a routine to take care of everything does take some time. Every primary mechanic in Stardew Valley has levels: farming, fishing, mining, combat, and foraging. Early on, when I had a low energy metre for performing tasks like chopping wood, tilling soil, and using the watering can—all without additional farming bonuses from my level—figuring out how to make the most of my days was a great challenge. The challenge and fulfilment I experienced in farming, however, came from overseeing a larger plot of land and choosing whether to process the produced goods to create more lucrative artisan goods or use them for other purposes. That is, even as my energy metre increased and I acquired farming specializations, I could, for example, sell every grape I grow, cook them for my own energy and health, or save them in the keg and craft preserves jar to make wine or jelly. My everyday farming routine became even more welcome with the addition of farm animals.

Stardew Valley still has the minor issue of having a lot to do and not enough guidance on how to do it, even with the major updates, but there is joy in making your own routines and figuring out what suits your playing style. While the in-game TV series Living Off the Land offers helpful hints on gameplay mechanics and seasonal variations, it falls short when it comes to explaining how to use some of the trickier items. For example, I had to use a guide to figure out how to actually get a great new item that picks up all products from sheep, cows, and goats to actually work. Conversely, new items, such as the planter pot, somewhat ease the early going. Regardless of the season, it enables the player to grow any plant in a pot indoors, which is particularly useful for finishing some early, significant challenges and villagers’ requests that are easy to overlook after a season is over.

When I wasn’t farming or tending to the farm animals, I was fishing or foraging for the natural goods of the season, which is as easy as strolling around and gathering them off the ground. The fact that Stardew Valley keeps track of everything you own makes trying each major activity all the more appealing. In contrast to farming, where you have to purchase seeds in order to grow the next item on the list, there is a set timetable for when specific fish are available, and some of them are very challenging to catch. For small fries, the fishing minigame is a lighthearted pastime, but for more elusive fish, it can be a bit frustrating. Nevertheless, I am optimistic about conquering this challenge by honing my fishing skills, acquiring ample tackles, and gathering an abundance of bait to entice the elusive creatures.

Stardew Valley is really into collecting, and I’m a big fan of it.

On the other hand, mining and fighting are a little simpler. The main mine contains enemies that grow stronger with each of the game’s 100 levels, while another cavern holds even more challenging monsters and an apparently endless number of unlockable floors. At first, spelunking through the main cave is a risky undertaking, but it becomes more tolerable as you acquire better weapons and armour from the shop, chests, enemy drops, or by progressing through new combat levels. Combining monster battles with the difficulty of going down into a mine makes the combat much more enjoyable and satisfying because it only requires pressing buttons to swing a sword. Leaving the mine before your character faints at 2:00 a.m. adds to the pressure of getting through the caves as quickly as possible. Another reason to descend the mines and defeat monsters is the Adventurer’s Guild’s challenges, which require you to defeat a specific quantity of the more common monster types. Oh, and there’s more collecting involved as you find unusual and ancient artefacts that you can give to the neighbourhood museum in exchange for even greater benefits. Stardew Valley is really into collecting, and I’m a big fan of it.

Each of the five skills has a consistent and satisfying progression, despite the differences in their complexity. Apart from providing a fundamental sense of satisfaction, nearly every skill level offers a craftable reward that enhances your expertise or reduces the energy needed to operate a tool. You can further specialise your character at skill levels five and ten by selecting occupations that grant bonus stats for specific actions. For instance, while tillers sell crops for more money, ranchers profit more from the sale of animal products. At level 10, players can further refine that profession. Halfway through my third year in Stardew Valley, I still haven’t levelled up every skill to 10. You can accomplish a lot in a day, just like in real life, but the way you choose to spend it is totally up to you. But those days can be much more productive when you have someone else on your farm.

Frayed Co-Op

Stardew Valley’s multiplayer feature is an amazing addition that completely alters the gameplay. Naturally, having a cooperative farmhand allows you to accomplish much more in a day, but it doesn’t feel too much like a cheat code. Upon joining, a friend receives a new character that must be created from scratch and gets their own house, which can be customised by the main player. This indicates that they lack skill perks, have little energy, poor beginning tools, and very few crafting recipes. While starting over is a more fair trade-off for having multiple people on a farm, it would have been nice to have been able to import a character with all of its stats and upgraded tools, possibly even at a cost.

Bring new players up to speed if you’re adding them to an established farm; you share money with up to three farmhands or friends who can tamper with your belongings. However, having to pay for other people’s activities out of your own pocket keeps multiplayer balanced in terms of power and difficulty. If you feel like you’re making too much money, you can even adjust the profit margins for your cooperative savings. I haven’t grumbled about getting more gold every day because the updates brought some really helpful but pricey items. I can see how dividing up the work could make that first difficult year easier to handle and possibly even more enjoyable if you’re starting a new farm together. While someone who enjoys farming could take care of the crops, someone who prefers to fish or mine could concentrate on those activities.

Conclusion

When combined, all the components of Stardew Valley create a lovely, entertaining game that offers an amazing rural adventure. Regardless of the weather—rainy, sunny, snowy, or filled with pollen drifts—every day presents a wealth of amazing opportunities to engage in, learn, or form new friendships. Despite having completed three in-game years and 100 hours, I still feel like there are a tonne of mysteries to solve and things to gather. Experienced farmers can extend Stardew Valley’s lifespan, while new players are welcomed with new objectives, events, and items added since the game’s debut. The multiplayer feature of this exceptional farming RPG is the perfect addition to an already delightful experience.