tl;dr 7/10 Could stand to have more automation and relationships would be better if fleshed out or given more weight

So this is my first review that I'm totally not doing for community badge reasons of anything since high school, so bear with me.

The story is your farmer grandpa died, gave you the deed to his farm, and told you to wait until the monotony of life was too much before revealing you have a farm. I'd rather have all the wasted cubicle years back, but whatever method you think is best gramps. You arrive to find your farm is all weeds and there's no clean all button. Not to mention there are a lot of people you don't know and what they want from you is also unclear. Which brings me to my first complaint...


You could chalk this up to "Learn by doing" but there are some things that you want to know beforehand. I wish I'd known that putting coops and barns can be fairly permanent when starting. It's a costly lesson when you find out you can't move the barn somewhere more efficient or that your livestock prefer to eat grass which is hard to do when you place it right next to your crop rows. You also make permanent decisions early in the game without knowing the full weight of what you're doing. The cave, your chosen level improvements, etc. Second time around, things are going to go well, but my first run hit a point where I regretted half the choices I made, but there wasn't much to do about it. Not to mention, how many times I wasted valuable goods on people thinking they'd appreciate them. Which brings me to my second complaint.


"What does that mean though, mister conflicting statements?"
Let me go get my pen and paper and I'll explain. First, you need pen and paper (or the wiki, I'm guilty) to remember what people like and luck (or the wiki, I'm guilty) to figure out what they love. Sure you get little hints here and there, but when you're limited to two dialogue lines per day, per person, it can be daunting to find useful information for everyone in a timely manner. So your alternative is to just give them stuff and hope they like it. But it's roulette. Barring a few late game items, everyone's tastes are wildly different. I thought people would like things that I poured blood, sweat, and tears into to get and they call it garbage. My gold star pomegranete is amazing, not 'eh'. That void essence you're holding required me risking my life to get and you could never hope to get any yourself, so don't call it disgusting. Valuable items aren't necessarily valuable to much of anyone except yourself. And it'd be nice to have each person's likes/loves/hates documented in game somehow. I doubt it'd be hard to make something visually pleasing and people would be less likely to spoil the lists online.


I love waking up and finding all my beautiful crops grown and ready for picking. Alllllll of them ready for picking. Water is automated by sprinklers which is a blessing, but you can easily spend your entire day seeding or harvesting. I know I can decide not to harvest or seed to do other things, but when you have a large enough operation, it feels like they control your actions more than you do. You want to go work on that dungeon, but you also want to horde money like a dragon and want that deluxe barn because sheep are awesome. I know it defeats the purpose of virtual chores to have a way to shortuct them, but it'd still be satisfying to have farmhands (those Joja mart employees would do better with some sun anyway) to pick the stuff through the day or even a tractor to do mass seeding. It's slow going on your own with that giant plot of land. Minor complaint, but that's why this game is still highly recommended by me. That reminds me, I should mention why I love this game!


This is awesome! I get to design a house and create a plant-based empire. I get to find some hot girl and marry her (<3 Penny), but if I was inclined, I could choose a guy. A very progressive move that's luckily becoming more common in games. You can even make a family. There's also a nice variety of extracurriculars such as fishing, dungeon-crawling, gambling, cooking and some interesting backstory to find out for everyone. There's some pretty funny drama hidden in Stardew Valley.


With games like Stardew Valley, a common pitfall is losing steam and getting bored with having to make your own goals. You build your own pyramid and then you feel the tedium set in. Stardew Valley however, cleverly sucks you in with its Community Center: a decrepit buildilng inhabited by magic jelly monsters that help you fix it up by turning in goods you acquire throughout specific means. Completing bundled minor tasks leads to major rewards such as the beloved greenhouse, a building that allows you to grow any crop, regardless of season. I'm one bundle away from finishing the game, so I can't tell you what happens when everything is done, but the mystery will keep you going.


You will never feel like anything you do in Stardew Valley feels sloppy. Combat is retro. There's a block button, but you can usually dodge most monsters with a little bit of weaving. It could be argued it's too simplistic, but I prefer the Legend of Zelda feel. Following suit, fishing is easy to pick up, hard to master. Farming is pretty straightforward with tools that are upgradable. All in all, the result is soothing mixed with bits of flare. That being said, don't die in the dungeons. It is awful and terrible and I can not agree with the punishment the developers decided for it. See for yourself, if you dare.


If I wasn't such a productive farmer, I'd get space out and enjoy the music. I'm not such a good farmer that I was able to ignore the pitter-patter of the rain on my humble home's roof. The music is subtly charming while also engrossing and addictive. I find myself in the town's saloon, late at night, flipping through the jukebox, finding the song serving as my current earwig. They truly compliment the 16bit style of the game too. The pixel characters are also given detail with their dialogue portaits, making for characters that feel more rounded (bad pun fully intended). If you don't like the character portraits though, you can change it because...


It's surprising for a game like this to be moddable, but it is. I haven't delved deep into this, but judging from the available mods here on Steam, Stardew Valley is a canvas open to the creative interpretation of anyone with an idea. I'm seriously contemplating downloading the anime Penny of my dreams.


There's much and more left out of this review, but if you take anything away from this, please let it be this: your grandpa's wish is personified when you play the game. After so many overstimulating titles full of action, stress, and competition, it's nice to settle down and get away from it all in Stardew Valley.