As Concerned Ape's indie RPG adventure sim Stardew Valley opens, you've reached your breaking point at your mindless job, and that's when you remember the letter left to you by your grandfather long ago. He told you to open it when you felt hopeless and lost, and, well, this fits, I suppose. Turns out he's left you a farm... it's more than a little run down, but the locals are willing to lend you a hand. Packed with secrets, surprises, crafting, the potential for marriage (regardless of gender!), dungeons, and much, much more, Stardew Valley is an ambitious and addictive Harvest Moon-alike game from a one-man team that delivers a startling amount of content despite some shallow portions. (Please note that as of this writing, Stardew Valley is only available for PC, though the developer says ports for Mac and Linux are a top priority.)
Playing Stardew Valley is initially a little daunting due to a lack of anything other than the most vary basic instructions if you haven't played a Harvest Moon-alike before, though a little experimentation will quickly show you the ropes. There's farming, fishing, mining, cooking, crafting, monster slaying, festivals, livestock rearing, and much, much more... including the potential for marriage with one of the town's ten eligible suitors, regardless of gender. The basic controls are [WASD] to move, and clicking to interact, while hitting [ESC] brings up your menu and inventory. The game is broken up into seasons, each of which has its own special events and things to grow or find, and as you might suspect, they pass a day at a time. You can do whatever you want to fill your days, though most activity consumes energy... if it runs out, you'll pass out, but you can recover it by eating or other activities, or simply sleep in bed, which also saves your game. While you're free to do whatever you like, most of the townsfolk and businesses have set schedules, so don't forget to check what day it is before you go traipsing off into town. Bad weather doesn't mean you should stay indoors, however, since it can bring its own surprises...
On the edge of town you'll find a mine that seems to go on forever, and in addition to valuable ores and minerals, there's beasties about. Combat is a real-time affair with clicking to attack and right-clicking to temporarily block, but make sure to keep an eye on your health. You'll find improved swords and magic rings to increase your abilities, but you'll also gradually gain experience in combat itself, which brings boosts whenever you level up. The same holds true for all your other skills, from fishing to foraging and beyond, so try a little or a lot of everything. Just don't neglect your social life! You may think life as a farmer is all about amassing resources to expand and rebuild your farm, but befriend the townsfolk and they'll treat you right, even if you don't have romance in mind. You can give each person two gifts per week, and they all have their own likes and dislikes. You'll see more events and cutscenes the better you get to know them, and if you take on the random quests that come in your mailbox or that can be found posted on the town bulletin board, they'll like you a lot more for it.
I can remember the first time I saw the original Harvest Moon when it came out for the SNES. It was at the game rental place just a few blocks from where I went to junior high, and I remember laughing at it with the store's owner, an excitable German woman who looked like somebody's grandmother/librarian and really really loved Final Fantasy. The concept of a game that revolved around repetitive chores with no real conflict or fantastical elements seemed ridiculous to us... and yet that very weekend, I and two of my best friends stayed up until five in the morning each day brushing our fat pregnant cows, plucking weeds, and repairing fences. Stardew Valley's entire tone and gameplay casts me back to that time with alarming ease... it's endearing, it's vibrant, and it's addictive in that "just one more day" fashion that makes the hours fly by. Its pixel artwork is absolutely lovely, filled with subtle environmental effects and little details that make it feel alive, and while the characters are simple, they're varied and cute, if more than a little frosty and dismissive initially. Don't want to find romance or friendship? There's plenty to do otherwise, like finding out what's at the bottom of the mine, where the bus goes, tracking down legendary fish, and much more. Stardew Valley has a great sense of discovery to its gameplay that means you're never short of things to do and see as long as you avoid getting stuck in a routine of your own making.
The downside is that Stardew Valley feels like it's spread thin in some areas. Combat is simplistic and clunky, click-detection to use or give items in certain locations (usually immediately above you) can be spotty, characters recycle their scant dialogue so often and have such a limited handful of scenes that they feel robotic rather than fleshed out, and why, oh why, is there no option to make the soundtrack loop? These are the things that started to leap out at me after a few seasons, and while they're hardly critical, and in fact are even issues Stardew Valley shares with many Harvest Moon titles, they may mean the game will start to feel stale for some players sooner rather than later. The developer has already issued a patch that expands and improves on married life in the game by giving spouses some more unique dialogue, but spending weeks throwing presents at someone who cycles back and forth between two lines of dialogue (most of which can be frosty or rude in the beginning) feels a little hollow. On the other hand, part of the reason why these nits can drive you to pick at them so much is allowing yourself to get stuck in the rut of a schedule. Stardew Valley feels most alive when you're really exploring it, interacting with everyone all the time, and the more people you're friends with, the more you'll see, especially when you focus on completing side-quests and objectives, so don't let yourself turn the game into a nine-to-five with a schedule.
None of this means Stardew Valley is a bad game, of course, just that some aspects are a little more engrossing than others. It's actually very, very good, and its ambition is pretty tremendous. Everything about it, from top to bottom including music and visuals, was made by a single person, which makes me want to lie down and stare at the wall and contemplate my life a little. The developer plans to add some pretty substantial free content updates in the future, including more marriage candidates and unique events and even multiplayer, but what exists is pretty gargantuan. There are new areas to unlock, challenges to complete, things to repair, and much more in addition to turning your sprawling, debris-ridden land into a massive functioning farm. The crafting elements are a nice touch in that they make everything feel useful, and give you a lot more freedom to customise your building and growth. It's a game that's expansive and impressive, yet at the same time feels comforting and nostalgic without resting on the laurels of those that came before it. If you love life simulations, Stardew Valley is an easy recommendation, and it's only going to get better from here on out.
Windows:
Get the full version
Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.
OMG I found this game a couple weeks ago and I have become obsessed with it! This is NOT just another repetitive farming game!
Some tips for beginners -
Explore Explore Explore! At all times of day!
Go worm hunting.
Go wild with your hoe.
Don't throw your trash away, you'll see why later...
Keep one of everything you find, just in case...
Don't buy chickens until you can feed them.
Also, after you've played some, check out the modding community! There's simple atheistic stuff like making your cat into the Nyan Poptart cat, and changing your horse into a Chocobo or Deer. There's mild cheat-ish stuff like changing the weather. There's also stuff that are WAY cheat-like, like item spawning and a couple for people like me that absolutely SUCK at the fishing mini-game.
PS DOWN WITH JAVA CORP
Here are some more hints and tips to expand on Allayna's. :)
- You can get fodder for livestock (chickens, cows, etc) by cutting grass (not weeds), but ONLY if you have a silo. A silo is fairly cheap at the Carpenter, at 100 gold, five copper bars, 100 stones, and ten pieces of clay, so prioritize building one if you plan to have animals, and try not to cut any grass until you do so fodder isn't wasted.
- Most of the optional quests you can pick up from the message board in town have two day timers, but most of the quests you'll get via your mailbox tend to always be unlimited, so always take the latter even if you don't have the item to fill it right away, and complete it later at your leisure.
- Make improving your axe a priority. A lot of building projects take hard wood, which is only available from stumps and fallen logs, which can't be broken with the basic axe.
- Avoid death! If you die in a dungeon, you'll wake up in the clinic, but minus a fee AND five random items from your inventory, which can mean losing valuable items or equipment. Retreat is always an option!
- Cooking tends to yield greater health and energy gains than simply eating basic food items. You'll need to learn the recipes first, but once you get a cow and a chicken, things like fried eggs or scrambled eggs can give you a lot of healing for dungeon delving for only milk and/or eggs. Of course, high-quality forage can still be helpful in a pinch!
- Upgrade your pack as soon as you can. You need to be able to carry a lot to make those dungeon trips worth it, and it's frustrating to be unable to pick something valuable up because you have no space.
- You can only give people gifts twice per person per week, so, once you've figured out what someone likes, make sure you don't waste the opportunity.
- To romance someone, you need to have them up to ten hearts, and then to have purchased the bouquet from Pierre's store to give to them. This isn't the same as marrying someone, which requires you to find a different item after the bouquet!
- Pay attention to the crafting recipes you unlock. While you'll gain some items as rewards for quests, most of the most useful items (such as mayonnaise and oil makers, kilns, forges to smelt ingots, and so forth) are built rather than bought. To ensure you always have the ingredients you need, build chests to store things and keep a supply of just about every resource. All of it is useful!
- There's a special caravan that comes by the forest past the big tree to the West below your house twice a week. The woman driving it sells random items, most of them at a BIG markup, but they can be useful for completing quests, or even finding rare items.
- Pay attention to the TV every day. In addition to learning recipes from the Queen of Sauce when it's on, or about any special events (like blackberry season) from Livin' Off the Land, you can also learn your daily fortune. If it's a really good fortune, that means you can expect to find higher quality items, and more frequently, so it might be a good idea to make a trip to the dungeon when you're lucky!
- Practice makes perfect. Don't get frustrated early on... the more your character farms, forages, fishes and more, the better they'll get at it. When they level up in a skill, they'll usually get a bonus and a new crafting recipe, but every few levels you'll get to pick between two perks, such as the chance to harvest double forage.
- Fishing can be pretty tricky, and requires a quick, but light, touch until you level up and get better equipment. Tap the button rapidly to reel the fish and keep the green bar behind it rather than holding it down... this allows you to react faster to the fish changing direction, and if you let your bar drop too far on its own, it can bounce on the bottom of the water, costing you valuable time.
- Don't stress festivals. The items you can get by winning the various competitions are nice, but not necessarily game changers, so don't get too upset if you don't take first place.
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