Stardew Valley Review
Stardew Valley Review
(minor spoiler inside, probably)
“50+ hours later…”
- · Overview & First Impressions
Stardew Valley is a game
developed by Eric Barone (also known as ConcernedApe) and published by
Chucklefish who some of you know for publishing Starbound. This game has been
released on a number of platforms like PC, PS4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PS
Vita (to be released 2018). Some of you might say that this game is close to
Harvest Moon in terms of basic concept and gameplay but upon closer inspection
I say this is akin to Rune Factory since Rune factory has combat and Harvest
Moon doesn’t, but then again both games are basically farming simulators and
Harvest Moon is like the predecessor to all subsequent releases in the same
genre, but I digress. At first I kind of disliked the 16-bit visual
presentation since I prefer the Don’t Starve style of presentation but I came
to terms with it. To be honest this game quite petrifies me since the
progression is so open ended and there are basically so many things to do but
my energy is so low and I am basically poor for at least one full season. As
time goes by I started to enjoy this game and keep playing from lunch to 3
o’clock in the morning which is a good sign of a good game in my book.
- · Story
You play as someone working in
some sort of dystopian office. The game begins as you are given a letter from
your grandfather and told to open the letter should life just feels so bad, and
life after that felt so bad you opened the letter. The content? Land deeds for
your grandfather’s farm on Pelican Town. You go there and start your new life,
that’s it. The story by itself is pretty open for you to create whether you are
a great miner or great forager and many more. If I want to make a comparison
then of course Harvest Moon springs to mind as both games started with you
taking care of your grandfather’s abandoned farm. Nothing much to say actually,
since this is not Rune Factory where a central plot point is present as you open
more places to explore but for me it’s okay as I sometimes crave for a more
simple story in a game.
- · Controls
I played Stardew Valley on PC so
I can’t really say anything for other version but let me give you an advice if
you are playing on PC, use your mouse and keyboard and not a gamepad. My
biggest gripe with the control is that there will be times when you want to
crush something near your crop like woods or rocks around the way but you
accidentally smashed your crop without taking it first (should it be ripe for
the taking). It is not an entirely bad thing but you will be annoyed
nonetheless. I use keyboard and mouse at the time of writing and it felt quite
smooth but if I may go back to my prior argument, the place you put your mouse
pointer can either be a blessing or annoyance. I accidentally smacked a ripe
Melon since my pointer was there even though my intent is to take care of
unused crop spot. Another thing that I have gripes with is combat, again the
spot you put your mouse pointer can be annoying unless you put it far away from
you character. I almost died in the mines because of this but again this is not
a deal breaker, heck I made a lot of mistakes during my time with both Harvest
Moon and Rune Factory years ago and that doesn’t stop me from putting 60+ hours
with both games.
There will be mistakes should i put the mouse cursor in the middle of the screen
- · In-game General Features
This shouldn’t come as a surprise
for those who have played Harvest Moon or Rune Factory but for those who never
played those games and consider buying this game let me give you a little cheat
sheet. There are four seasons each with their own crops and there are ladies or
dudes for you to woo your way into their hearts by giving them gifts and you
are given pretty much 3 years to turn your abandoned farm into something great
or risk getting booted out of pelican town. One thing that make Stardew Valley
differ from the both Harvest Moon and Rune Factory is that modding is available
for this game to make it more… unique to each player to add be it some features
or just change the in-game sprites or something else.
Not Enough! It's never enough! I need more!
- · Playing Experience : Fun or Not? (along with gripes)
As I have played Harvest Moon and
considering that I am an anime enthusiast (it’s okay, you may call me a weeb) I
disliked the character art of Stardew Valley at first and even dropped the game
for a while before I discovered modding since I prefer an anime style of such
art, not to mention both Harvest Moon and Rune Factory are a japanese developed
game but I digress. At the time of writing I have used a mod to make all the
character art feels more “anime” which made me more excited to play. At first I
felt so annoyed as there are many thing to take care of yet I have a small
energy pool but I remembered my days with Harvest Moon and the key to play such
games is to play it one step at a time. I tended to my crops then proceeded to
chop some wood to free up some space, after I get all the space I need I
proceed to woo the girl of my eyes, and then I realized it’s 3 AM in the
morning but I’m in a holiday so I continue playing. Mining and combat is quite
annoying for me though since the enemy gets stronger the deeper I go and I
don’t have that much health or energy to begin with but I learn to just deal
with it on a case to case basis. Don’t fret if you made a mistake here and
there as the game is quite forgiving and you will learn the ropes in time so
take it in any pace you want since that’s how I did it.
The bachelors and the
bachelorette (the characters that you can basically woo) however is quite
disappointing as many of them can be summed up with one stereotypical phrase
like “the jock”, “the girl whose only quality is her face” and many more with
the exception of one or two girls. Many people said that they get better as you
know them but at the time of writing I was poor in-game due to house and tool
upgrades so my choice as who I want to woo was somehow financially limited and
the best way to woo someone is to buy cooked food and give it to them and in
the end I stick to two girls which I had to toss a coin to pick since both girls
personality is simply my type. Oh yeah, you can marry any bachelor or
bachelorette of your choice regardless of your character’s gender so you can be
a straight boy/girl or go the homosexual route and in my case I married a girl
as a girl so go ham!
I literally laughed too hard for this one
- · Conclusion
Stardew Valley is definitely a
good and fun game, but you can’t expect what some people call “instant gratification” and you literally have to work
your way to get rich but the payoff is quite satisfying and with mods you can
kick the experience up a notch or two. Oh yeah, at the time of writing the
multiplayer mode for Stardew Valley is still not implemented yet but it will be
there soon so you can play with your friends too which is nice. It has some
flaws like the controls but that thing is never a deal breaker to begin with as
it only happens in a few situation that can always be helped one way or
another.
This game is for :
- Gamers who want to play with their own pace and take things as they go
- Gamers who is a fan of Harvest Moon series
- Gamers who just wants a light hearted thing while waiting for a big release
This game is not for :
- Gamers who likes “instant gratification”
- Gamers who prefers linear type of games
Final Score and Verdict : 8.5/10
“I lost so much sleep, but it’s all worth it!”
Recommendation Status : Highly
Recommended
You can buy this game on steam
through this link :
Thank you for reading! I hope you
find this small review informative and if you have any thoughts or feedback for
future writing then please put it in the comments as I highly appreciate and
read them!
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