story
art style
replay value
customization
soundtrack
ease of play
total score
⇢ great alone or with friends
⇢ highly binge-able
⇢ active modding community
⇢ "new gamer"-friendly
⇢ iconic soundtrack
⇢ same-sex marriage options
⇢ meditative gameplay experience
⇢ the creator cares about the community
⇢ larger narrative is lacking
⇢ needs more diversity
⇢ can feel repetitive & grindy
⇢ combat system can be clunky
⇢ the RNG struggle is real sometimes
⇢ too addicting
⇢ ???
⇢ pierre's is closed on wednesday
related
the review
When I decided to start game reviews on my blog, I knew my first review had to be on Stardew Valley, which is easily my favorite game of the past decade. With almost 1000 hours of gameplay across PC, mobile and Nintendo Switch, it’s clear how much I enjoy this whimsical farming simulator.
I was a Harvest Moon girlie growing up, but as the quality of newer titles declined over the years, I found myself no longer keeping up with releases. However, in 2014, I stumbled upon Stardew Valley on a developer’s blog on tumblr and was enchanted by the pixel art showcasing an adorable character using a hoe to create a 3×3 grid for planting spring crops on their farm! It was the farming simulator I’d been waiting for to fill the void left in my heart by the Harvest Moon titles.
Over the next couple of years I would periodically check to see if a once-every-few-months-update was posted to ConcernedApe’s developer blog. When the release date was announced, February 26th 2016, I decided this would also be the first day I started streaming on Twitch. Beautiful serendipity!
Stardew Valley is like a warm hug from a friendly farmer, blending farming and RPGs into a whimsical wonderland. As soon as you begin playing, you’ll find yourself completely immersed in the charming world of Pelican Town. It’s a trend-setter! Dozens, if not hundreds, of cozy farming simulators have been launched following the wild success of Stardew Valley. This is the perfect game for those who love to take it slow and enjoy the simple things in life. It’s also one of the first farming simulators I ever came across that allowed you to have a same-sex marriage!
The game starts in a cottagecore fantasy escape sort of way: you’re wasting away in a cubicle, a slave to a soulless corporation, when you find out that your Grandfather has passed away and left his run down farm to you! It’s time to leave your capitalist hellscape behind and escape to the magical Stardew Valley, tucked in between lush mountains, where you will restore the farm to glory!
It’s strange how in this overabundant, automated modern society so many of us fantasize and pine for returning to the honest struggle of working the land and earning our keep. To fall back into a natural routine and rhythm with seasonal cycles, plants and animals….
One of the things that makes Stardew Valley so comfy is the fact that it’s a game you can easily get lost in for hours at a time. You’ll find yourself tending to your crops, fishing in the nearby river, and chatting with the locals of Pelican Town. The pace of the game is slow and relaxing, even meditative, and it’s the perfect way to unwind after a long day.
We can’t do a review of Stardew Valley without talking about the customization options! I think this is one of the most beloved features: the ability to choose your character’s appearance, as well as the layout and design of your farm. This allows you to create a truly unique and personalized experience that reflects your own personality and style. When we factor in mods, you can really get creative with how you express yourself in Stardew Valley.
Moving on to the plot, our story is centered around returning to your Grandfather’s farm, and working the land, restoring the buildings and eventually earning your Grandfather’s blessing from the afterlife. You have 2 in-game years to do this, and if you play at an average pace without focusing on completionism, you’ll see about 50-60 hours of solid gameplay from one playthrough of Stardew.
I rated the replay value so high on Stardew Valley, because once you reach the end of the 2nd year, it’s easy to feel like “I want to try again, but do it differently!” This game features a variety of different skills you can level up over time, and as you progress, you’ll be able to craft new items, cook delicious meals, and even fight monsters in the nearby mines.
Your first playthrough you may focus on being the best animal rancher you can be, living on a farm that is full of happy cows, chickens, pigs, ducks, (dinosaurs??), and many other critters. But when you decide to start your second playthrough, you may want to focus on maxing out your money potentials by being a hardcore fisher, catching the little fishies all over the valley and selling them for a hefty profit.
Additionally, there are 12 eligible bachelors and bachelorettes to marry, so the dating sim aspect of the game may find you wishing for multiple playthroughs as you date around and find out.
There’s always something new to discover in Stardew Valley, and the game’s open-ended nature means that you can play at your own pace and explore the world in your own way, and I think that makes this a powerful title to have in your library! Especially considering the game is only $15!! When you start exploring the possibility of modding your game, and the fact that multiplayer options were added in, the value of this game is WELL covered by that $15. Fans love this game so much that we practically beg the developer to let us pay him more, but instead he continues to give us free quality-of-life updates even as recently as 2020.
The Stardew Valley soundtrack is simply magical. Each track perfectly captures the essence of the game’s cozy and whimsical world, from the peaceful ambiance of the morning theme to the playful melody of the festival music. The use of acoustic instruments such as the guitar, flute, and harp creates a warm and organic sound that perfectly complements the game’s rural setting. The soundtrack also features some truly beautiful compositions that can stand alone as pieces of music, such as the hauntingly beautiful “Fall (The Smell of Mushroom)” and the serene “Winter (Nocturne of Ice)”. There are dozens of Stardew Valley playlists on youtube, and even lofi remixes of the tracks for even more relaxation.
yes this is the developer aesthetically playing the Moonlight Jellies theme on guitar....
The gameplay at first glance can seem similar to the playstyle of Animal Crossing.. but there’s a reason Animal Crossing never clicked for me. Animal Crossing has a limit to what you can achieve each Real Life day, at a certain point you might as well turn the game off and wait to check in with your villagers tomorrow. Stardew Valley (and Harvest Moon, for that matter), is a game that isn’t effected by the Real Life passage of time, and you can binge it and play it at your own pace. I’m not always able to play the same game for a little bit each day, but I have a weekend free where I can sit and play one game the whole weekend.
I’d also like to take a minute to point out one of the things that makes Stardew Valley so special is that it truly feels like a heartfelt work of art from one person’s mind. A labor of love. There are so many tiny details that breathe life into the landscape of Stardew Valley and Pelican Town, and it’s simply a delight exploring around and finding little touches of love here and there. For example, if you enter an area and walk near a squirrel, they will run up a nearby tree with a small chance of knocking a seed out of the tree which you can then pick up. This is such a cute effect that adds so much life to the environment, but is also a great example of “show, don’t tell” where the game is subtly teaching you that you can shake trees to knock foraging goods out of them.
To talk about one of my only major complaints about the game, though: It feels like the end game is a little lackluster. This is actually why I ended up rating the storyline a little lower as well, after the end of the 2nd year it just starts to feel like… you’ve accomplished everything. Dialogue dies off, nothing new seems to happen, and it just feels like an endless loop with no rewards in sight, or reason to keep playing. I’ve never found myself play longer than the summer of year 3, and I do wish that there was a more immersive and rewarding end-game experience. That being said, I’m happy that the developer is working on new titles instead, because I’d love to see what he can come up with next!
But really if we look at the complaint, all I’m saying is…. I WANT MORE!!!! It’s so good, I don’t want it to end 
I’m eternally grateful to ConcernedApe for making such an enchanting experience that has given me hundreds of hours of peace and relaxation in my life over the last several years.
omg I didn’t even get to dive into how magically loaded this game is yet… with a local Wizard, hidden forest spirits, talking bears, enchanted caves, magic fruits, and SO much more!! I could seriously brag about how wonderful this game is ALL DAY.
But this review is starting to get a little long, so I’ll end by encouraging you to pick up Stardew Valley if somehow you still haven’t tried it out. It is an absolute gem of a game: cozy, relaxing, and a great way to unwind after a long day. Whether you’re a seasoned gamer or just looking for a new way to relax, I highly recommend giving this game a try.