Despite the fact that Stardew Valley came out in 2016, it has remained relevant in the gaming community throughout its existence. This can be partially attributed to the updates that developer Eric Barone pumps out every few years. The most recent update was the 1.5 update, which was released in 2020. It introduced a new island to explore, a new farm layout, and various other new additions. There has also continuously been merch released for the game that has contributed to its popularity, like plushies and T-Shirts, as well as bigger projects like the Stardew Valley board game that was released in 2021, and a Stardew Valley cookbook that features in-game recipes that will be brought to life, which will be released on May 14th, 2024. However, the biggest cause of Stardew Valley’s prominence in the gaming community is the simple fact that it’s a great game. This claim can be backed by Steam reviewers, as the game has received over 540,000 reviews, 98% of which were overwhelmingly positive and written by players who have hundreds to thousands of hours on the game. Stardew Valley is a beloved game within my social circle as well, and here is what my friend Collin thought of the game after he began playing; “I love the pixel art and the way Stardew is put together. It’s very beautiful in a simple way, and I find it rewarding to get to know the characters and unlock new areas as I progress through the game. It’s a simple, chill game that can be fun to play alone or with friends.”

 For several months, I kept Stardew Valley in my Nintendo eShop wish list as a result of hearing the buzz surrounding the game, and was finally able to purchase it in late December. In lieu of the 1.6 update, rumored to come out during the winter of 2024, I think it’s worth it to get into the game to see what it has to offer, and here’s why.

Every time I play Stardew Valley, I find myself struggling to put down the controller and end up deciding to play one more (in-game) day every time that I decide to stop. As soon as I downloaded and began the game, I was instantly hooked by the nice music, stunning design, and emotional introductory cut-scene, and was excited to discover every feature of the game. I love RPG’s, and prefer games that aren’t super intense with minimal time constrictions, and Stardew Valley is the perfect balance of all of my preferences.  The developer, Eric Barone, ensured that players of the game wouldn’t feel rushed to complete every task that the game offers, and I think he did a pretty good job of that. The game has basic tasks for each player to complete, and offers optional timed tasks for the player to complete for various villagers. However, the player is on a clock, as your character will pass out and get robbed if you haven’t returned to your farm house by 2:00 AM. This feature was added to raise the stakes of the game, and may not be appealing to people who want a stress-free experience when playing games. As for the game-play, it’s fairly easy, but still challenging in some aspects (combat and fishing, particularly). Additionally, most of the characters are lovable and well developed, each with detailed story-lines and personalities that you can get to know more and more throughout the game. 

There are very few issues that I personally have with the game, such as the need to rely on the wiki page to find out information needed to complete tasks in a timely manner. The game is entirely playable without using the wiki or guidebook, but is difficult and can lead to you making a lot of mistakes, some irreversible, and can also cause you to miss task deadlines. However, the positives far outweigh the negatives, and overall I find the game to be very fun and fulfilling. 

The setting of the game begins by showing the player’s sprite working in a corporate job, who then goes on to inherit their grandfather’s farm, which is located in Stardew Valley. You are given a few basic wooden tools, and are set free to explore, meet the villagers, and start working for coins. After a few days, the game will introduce the two routes that you can take to improve the town and unlock more features in the game. The most commonly taken route is the Community Center route, which involves the player bringing various special objects into the center in exchange for upgrades, rooms being fixed, and unlocked areas. The other route is the Joja Corporation route, which has bundles that you can buy for upgrades. The two routes make the game easily re-playable, as well as the fact that the game is designed to be endless. Over time, the player will go through the four seasons in a yearly cycle, and slowly build up/upgrade their farm, grow crops and find/craft items to sell for coins that can be used in a few shops, or be given as gifts to the villagers to form friendships with them. 

If you’re still unsure if you’ll like Stardew Valley, know that it has an incredibly diverse amount of things that you can do to advance in the game. It essentially has something for everyone. At the start of the game, there are dozens of diverse hair, clothing, and skin tone design options to use when making your own sprite, and several different types of farms you can choose to live on. You can live on a normal farm, which has a little bit of everything, or a specialized farm that lets you focus on a specific skill. The 5 skills that exist in Stardew are fishing, farming, foraging, mining, and combat, which vary in difficulty levels. Throughout the entire game, there is a large group of characters that you can befriend, hundreds of furniture options that you can use to decorate your home, and several mini skills to improve on, like raising animals and cooking. I’d say that Stardew Valley is fairly beginner friendly for people who don’t typically play video games, but still has some difficult features like fishing and fighting which can be difficult. The game is also available on multiple platforms and in several languages, and has a co-op feature so you can play with friends and family on your TV, or with friends online who are playing on the same device. The game isn’t cross platform, though. Lastly, Stardew Valley is very mod friendly! ConcernedApe works with modders by releasing each update to them early so that they can adjust their mods to function alongside the new update.

Speaking of updates, the 1.6 update will introduce many exciting new features. ConcernedApe has confirmed that there will be a new major festival, two new mini festivals, new late game content that expands on each of the 5 skill areas, new items and crafting recipes, over 100 new lines of dialogue, winter outfits for the villagers, a new type of reward for completing billboard requests, support for 8 player multiplayer (PC only), a new farm type, and several new secrets, small additions, and adjustments will be added as well.