Stardew Valley Review

  I have been looking forward to Stardew Valley coming out on the Switch since I heard that it was happening.  In fact, I decided to set my farm with over 75 hours aside to wait for the game so I wasn't burnt out by the time it came out.  Today is finally the day and I basically have shunned off the real world to start a new farm and experience this game on a device I can take anywhere with me.  If you haven't heard of this game yet, I am very happy to introduce you to one of my all-time favorites.  Stardew Valley by Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone is a game that is just very well put together.

The Game:

  Stardew Valley is a farm simulator RPG that takes its inspiration from the old Harvest Moon games.  When they first made Rune Factory I think this is the game they were trying to make but missed.  In the game, you play as your character who is tired of his dead-end job and the city and opens a letter from his now deceased grandpa.  Low and behold you are given a farm and so you set out to your new life.

  The farm is in disrepair and now it is your job to bring it back to life.  You do this by clearing out the land with your tools and growing crops, animals, and trees.  You can also mine and fight monsters in dungeons to get better ore.  Your weapons and tools for the farm can be upgraded via the smith with money and the proper ore.  This will allow each weapon to work more effectively.  Your character has a health and an energy bar so you can only do so many actions a day.   Food will rejuvenate the stamina and health but better weapons and gear will go a long way.

  There is a lot to do in this game beyond the farm and one is building relationships with people around the town.  Each villager has their own rich story that you discover by spending more time with them and you can even fall in love and get married with one if you so choose.  There is also fishing and it's far more accessible on the Switch.

  Not everything is available to you at the start of the game.  Through story and events, you will slowly be introduced to new things all around town.  New areas and new items to craft.  Festivals to go to and contests to win.  The game is full of stuff to do on top of the ever-present goal of creating the perfect farm.

My Thoughts:

  If you ever played the old Harvest Moons you will know what great games they were for their time.  As the games went on they seemed to have lost something special to them in exchange for graphics.  There wasn't the coziness or the feeling of importance to the community.  Some iterations almost felt like the farm wasn't very important at all.  Stardew Valley is the essence of what made these games great mixed with a passion that makes it distinguishable in itself.

  From the very start, you are thrust into a new world that is open and mostly friendly.  There are some jerks in town but you can just ignore them, or nowadays marry them if that is what you are into.  There is so much to do and there are things everywhere to unlock.  There are treasures to collect and skills to build upon.  It's an open play game at its best.

  For the Switch everything is there.  Everything and now portability.  When I started playing today the controls felt a bit weird and took some getting use.  I would like the option to remap them to what I have on the PC but I think I can get used to it.  The save time is also a bit long in this version but the devs have already dropped in on Reddit to say they are looking for a way to improve it. Otherwise, it runs just as smooth as PC and they made the menu options easy enough that nothing is too hard to get to.  It all makes sense and one cool aspect is you can play with a single joycon already.  It works just fine so now we only have to wait till next year for multiplayer...

  The best part of this game is that it was made by a single developer when it first came out.  Eric has had help since then with all the ports and what not but it was his from the start.  I remember picking up the game after hearing about it and seeing forum posts about how you could send him your corrupt game files and he would fix them.  Having a solid developer behind it really makes liking this game that much better.

  The game is still fun and I am glad I held off playing it on the PC till it came out on the Switch.  It has just the right level of freshness to it and I am eager to grow this new farm into the alcoholic capital I know Ibitha can be.  I am also looking forward to rediscovering all the things that made this game great.  I just have to do decide who to fall in love with.  Do I stick with Abigail or should I move onto Leah or Maru.  It's all up in the air.

TL;DR:

  Stardew Valley is a farm simulator RPGs based off of the old Harvest Moon games.  This game has so much content and so much personality its hard not to fall in love with it.  It's a laid-back experience as you turn a rundown farm into the farm of your dreams and maybe build a family along the way.  It's a great title and if you haven't tried it yet, it's worth picking up.