Stardew Valley | Steam

Buy Stardew Valley on Steam

Stardew Valley on PC is a game that allows players to get away from the hustle and bustle of their daily lives, whether at school or work, and see what it's like to take over a slightly run-down farm, work to grow crops, raise money, give gifts to neighbours and much more. It's a farm simulation game, a role-playing game, although the action is gentle and focused on farming, rather than the usual RPG combat tactics.

About the game

Players are given an online diary in which their current tasks are recorded: successfully completing each one allows you to claim your reward - it's so satisfying to click to claim it! - and see the next task displayed.

On the extremely simplified calendar, there are four seasons, each lasting around twenty-eight days. During each season, certain tasks need to be carried out and certain crops can be grown. It is impossible to grow produce out of season without the greenhouse. Use your diary as a guide and a to-do list to make sure that you water what needs watering, plant the crops that need planting in that particular month-season and harvest those that are ready.

Make sure you don't become too exhausted when you leave the farm without food to hand. If you start to run out of energy, you'll need to spend a considerable amount of gold to send home to recover. A large amount of gold and a number of your precious inventory items will also be taken, which should be enough of a warning for most people not to do it more than once!

The benefits of multiplayer mode

While this game works very well as a single player, the addition of multiplayer some time after the initial release was a great idea. You and your real friends can form a community of farmers online, working alongside each other, offering each other surplus produce and craft items and working the land to create what feels amazingly like a real community in which everyone works hard and benefits from friendship and extra treats when you need them.

Stands the test of time

Sometimes these farming simulation games (or building games, etc.) can be great at first, with a lot of commitment at the start, which sooner or later fizzles out into boredom doing the same things over and over again, creating the same items and growing the same crops. Stardew has cleverly avoided this by keeping immersion levels high in a number of ways:

Go on a date: the village is full of amazingly realistic characters, some of whom will like you, while others will avoid you and have to be chased in order to have a conversation with them. In this game, you can date an NPC, woo them and get them to live with you on your farm.

Bridge building: As you progress through the game, previously broken bridges are repaired, giving you access to new areas of the game where you can forage, clear land and generally explore a bit. There are also other ways to develop - don't overlook the old bus station!

The gold mine: Finding a sword takes your character into a mine, where he's better off finding increasingly powerful enemies as he goes deeper into the mine. By hunting down the enemies in the mine, you obtain metals that you can use for new craft items, some of which are surprisingly sophisticated.

Keep farming: The routine work continues, with your trusty diary giving you a helping hand whenever you need it, but there are also new crops to plant, new techniques to master and new recipes to gather ingredients, so you can keep coming back, day after day, to feed the chickens, plant the seeds, harvest the crops...