LogFAQs > #950352329

#56 Stardew Valley (PC, 2016)


My experience in these outdoor life sims is a bit limited. I actually played Harvest Moon 64 for 18 in-game years, but I couldn't get into any of the other games in the series that I tried. It might be a stretch to call the Animal Crossing games similar due to farming being replaced by light gardening, but I have played and enjoyed several games from the series. I also own games like Slime Rancher and My Life at Portia but have yet to play them. I don't know what I was expecting when I got into Stardew Valley several years ago, but I definitely wasn't expecting it to grab me like it and make me addicted to it.

You play as a character who was working a mundane 9-5 job who then inheirited a farm from their late grandfather. You choose your gender, appearance, and pet and basically do whatever you want from there. There's plenty of activities and logs/stats to fill up. In my first year, I basically focused on fishing and exploring the mines while also making healthy progress rebuilding the town's community center (which is sort of the main objective of the game and you do it through donating various items you get through normal activities). In my second year, I focused on wrapping up the community center, building up my relationships with people, while finally committing to some minor farming.

I am on my third year and with over 90 hours put into the game, and if my character's grandfather could see what I've done with the farm, he'd roll over in his grave. I have a pair of like 5x5 plots with a scarecrow in the middle and a couple of barns/coops clustered in a corner with weeds growing all around the buildings so I don't have to worry about feeding my livestock outside of winter. There's no fences or cool designs or anything. I have such a sad looking farm, which just goes to show you how much content there is and how much I love what I've done if the core principle of the game is something that I've barely touched with nearly triple digit hours played.

That also means that this has a chance to climb up the rankings by a fair bit through more play. With more time and effort into farming, possibly consider starting a family (my first choice is married and off-limits), and trying out all the new features that have been added to the game since a few years back, who knows where this game could land.

---

KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
If you smell what the rock is cooking he's cooking crap - ertyu