Looking for a relaxing and immersive game set in an idyllic countryside? Stardew Valley has been out since February 26th, and it’s sensational. It’s a farming sim with an 8-bit art style, a clone of the old SNES game Harvest Moon.
You start out in the city, trapped in a cubicle, when your grandfather leaves you an inheritance of his old farm plot. When you get to the farm, it’s a mess. But with perseverance and hard work, you can eventually manage to clear the entire plot, open up the mines, catch the fish that got away, and even get your character married to the individual of your choice.
There’s no predetermined ending: You can take as long as you want about anything, and the game will never judge you for it. There are sections for farming, foraging, mining, combat, fishing, and exploration. In addition, the social factor is a huge part of the game. You make friends by giving them gifts, and gifts on birthdays are especially great. Each character has their own particular likes and dislikes, and part of the fun of it is figuring out which is which. There are ten bachelor/bachelorette candidates, each with their own particular story. As light and fluffy as the gameplay is, the stories range in human variety. Each story is different, and after marriage, relationships must be maintained or risk losing them.
Eric Barone started working on this project about four years ago to teach himself C# and then kept going, working as a theatre usher while living with his girlfriend and designing all aspects of the game from the ground up. Its success was mind-blowing: 425,000 copies were sold in the first twelve days. He continues to be the sole developer on this project with future plans for multiplayer and Xbox as well as adding more story to the game.
The success might go to some people’s heads, but Barone seems to be taking a down-to-earth approach. “My strategy with the community is simple: no strategy at all!” he said in an interview. “I think that, as an indie developer, you should just be yourself and be a real human. I try to act online like I do in real life: treat everyone with respect, and be as honest and straightforward as possible.”
I’ll leave you with 10 tips for playing the game:
1. Plant in 3×3 squares whenever possible. No spoilers, but try it!
2. Don’t forget to check the TV! You’ll get information on the next day’s weather, your luck for the day, and occasional tips about cooking or farming that you would otherwise only get from the wiki.
3. Each season has its own crops, goods for foraging, weather, festivals, fish, and birthdays. They each last about 28 days. Check the calendar by Pierre’s General Store for details as well as quests!
4. Festivals are a lot of fun, but also very optional. There are items and cutscenes here you won’t be able to access at any other time.
5. As soon as you can, invest in preservers and a charcoal kiln. The charcoal kiln will bump up your ability to produce coal, and the preserves will bump up the profit you get from fruits and vegetables.
6. You can give gifts to villagers twice a week to raise hearts. On weeks with birthdays, you can give three gifts if you’ve already given them two. Villagers who are your friends will send you supplies and recipes in the mail.
7. Talking to villagers nets you 20 friendship points a day, and not talking to them will lose you 2 friendships points. Hearts are worth about 250 friendship points, and you can gain up to 10 of them normally. Your spouse will eventually have 12.
8. Clear away debris and trees in foraging areas to open up more room for foraging products and gather supplies!
9. Chests, chests, chests. You can leave them just about anywhere and store anything in them. Chests are your best friend so that your inventory doesn’t fill up before you can invest in backpack upgrades.
10. Check out the Community Center! You can complete bundles there, which will open up new areas and other goodies. Unless you got the Joja Mart Membership, in which case it is now the Joja Warehouse; then you can just buy it all with money.
There you have it! Have fun, and let us know what you think in the comments below!