Have you ever played Harvest Moon? What about Minecraft or Rune Factory? If you have, then you'l know 70% of this games mechanics and you'll now right away if you like this not.  If the words Harvest Moon don't make you think of video games, then thats what this review is for. This is a port of a popular PC game, and I'll list the differences between them, as I own both copies.



I'll just throw this out there. This is a game with farming; growing crops for 3 seasons, or maybe you just want to make a bunch of chicken coops and get eggs. But there's also foraging, exploring, fighting monsters, fishing, crafting, minigames, making friends with your neighbors, maybe getting in a relationship, finding secrets, and magic.

After picking your gender and the way you look, your name and what you want to name your property, youre thrown in the game. You've just inherited a farm from your kind, but recently deceased, grandpa. It comes at a good time, as you are currently a stressed out worker in the big city, wanting to get away from the drudgery and make a clean break to a different way of life.  Once you leave behind your old company, Joja, you might find they are so big they are even in the country, and you'll have choices to make if you take conveinance and higher prices over the towns general store and quirky hours. The farmland you now own is very large, but it kind of got away from him, meaning its run down and you'll have to fix it up if you want to make the farm work for you. Full of weeds, trees and rocks. But you have a lovely little house on property, and a lot can be added if you want - by paying the carpenter a sum of money and giving her some resources of wood and such. If that sounds daunting, its not. One thing this game does very well is theres no pressure. Seriously. This is not a game that gets hung up on rules. if any of that stuff above about fighting monsters or fishing or whatever doesn't appeal to you, you are never made to do it.

Graphics: 7
Sprite-based, small but full of detail. Closeup portraits of each villager when you talk to them. Cut scenes, little emotes that tell you when someones happy without having to ask them. Every couple of days you see your crops change as they grow. Everywhere you walk there are small touches of nature; butterflies fly out of some trees when you begin to chop them down, woodpeckers fly down to do some work of their own, wild rabbits darting out from the mountain path ahead of you, wild berries growing in the forest, until you can eventually pick them. The game is quite similar to Starbound's graphics, if you are familiar with that. The animals are a bit of a mixed bag, perhaps because I was used to Japanese developed Harvest Moon's super adorable cows, but most are good. The small, squat animals, like chickens and pigs look great. There is a few secret animals that graphically look a little strange, but decent. Your main character is customizable, and can obtain small items like hats and such to accessorize later. You do pick up gear for monster fighting, but other than the weapon, they are not visible.

One thing I did notice missing from the PC version was a zoom feature. and that was really nice to catch all the detail in some of the close ups.



Sound: 9

This soundtrack is amazing. Its hard to believe one guy coded all the art and gameplay and had time to make all these songs. Each season has several different songs to play, including some more unique tracks for special areas and the festivals that take place twice each season. Its not a bunch of twangy, country music - I think this is probably one of the most peaceful soundtracks I've heard. Great to do homework too, lol.  The town bar has a jukebox you can listen to all the tracks at your leisure. Many characters also have special themes. The cows moo, the ducks quack. If you get bunnies, they do not make noise, and neither does your horse, which is a bit sad. But at least your dog/cat is always happy to see you.

Anything bad about the sound? Not really. At night, when the only sound is soft owl hoots and crickets, your footsteps when running seem really loud. But thats about it.


Addictiveness: 9

Its very addictive. The days are long enough to get a lot done, but not long enough you can get everything you want accomplished. This is one of those things if you start to play for 15 minutes, you might just be on there for a couple of hours. Unlike Harvest Moon, I found myself with lots of distractions. Everything accomplishes something, even if you're doing it for fun. Example: Me personally, I love going into the mines, and Clint the blacksmith became a quick buddy of mine since I was always having him open geodes to see what rare stones were inside. Those you can sell to Clint or give to the museum for prizes, which lost its entire collection recently in a tragic incident. Either way you get something for your trouble.

As you use your skills: foraging, fishing, mining, combat, farming, forestry - you level up, and can get different bonuses.  You can keep track of that information from a detailed menu in game, as well as track requests on a bulletin board, and look at birthdays and events on calender. There are also many people to make pals with or even marry (6 guys and 6 girls), and no rival marriages. So if  you want to focus on making tons of money in game, then 10 years in decide you want a girlfriend/boyfriend, no problem, they don't move away or anything.


Story: 5

There isn't much in this game, but thats not to distract you from doing what you want. Join Joja corp again, or enter the mysterious, abandoned town hall and work with the little spirits inside (these little things are quite cute), each again is moving you forward. You can fix your farm, but there is also the general area of Stardew Valley that needs to be helped. The broken bridge to the quarry, the broken bus station, all of these things you can fix and immediately get a reward in being able to use them. The bus takes you to the desert, which has all new plants, a new store, new fish and more. You can let Joja fix it (with cold hard cash) or let the spirits do it by giving them what they ask for from your farm. By helping restore the Town Community Center, you will get a lot of free rewards, but it takes time to get some of the items. It starts out easy enough, get all the spring wild foragables and bring one of each (4) to the town center. Easy! 

The story doesn't get much beyond getting you into town, and then if you want to help the area and get neat stuff and see new areas, great. If you get married, your spouse does help around the house, but generally doesn't do very much. I was a bit disappointed, but its nice they have lots of new dialog, and their parents also take notice if you are married (which in some games like this, they ignore). And don't try to be a flirt when you're married. Youre gonna make your spouse mad, trust me.


Depth: 8
There is a ton of things to do, and many of them are quite fleshed out and feel great. The cavern exploring, the different weapons, the crafting. All great. But there are some things that feel like the developer did that need some polish. Things you can do or get to, but then there's not much substance to them. Take the slime hutch, for instance. Its a massive fort-like building you can make, and instead of raising farm animals in it, you can raise slime monsters like you find in the caves and woods.  You have special tools to make and all they eat is water, but you get attacked by them every day (and killing them is essentially killing your profit). And the rewards.... well, are not great. I'd have to say there's not much point to it, but you can let all your slimes out and let them run amok in the town, LOL.

Theres some areas you work to unlock, but they seem lackluster. Its nice they are there, really, but ... eh, theres like 2 or 3 secrets and two things to do there. Take the train station. You wait for a rock slide to clear the path, and when you get there, the big station is deserted. I was expecting a small stream of occasional visitors, maybe a rare merchant or quirky character. But no. The only thing the train does is sometimes you can follow one along the tracks and pick up the small objects that fall off it. Its not worth it, and the window to take advantage of this is quite small. There is also a sauna by the station to restore your energy but its too far away to be useful. A bit of a wasted opportunity.


Difficulty: 3
No one should ever rage quit this game. If missed giving the Jumino a pomegranate to complete your Community bundle, there's always next fall to grow one. One would almost have to set their own challenges to add great difficulty. That being said, the fishing minigame... is a bit of a struggle. It gets easier the more you level up your fishing gear and rank, but honestly, in the beginning is when you need the most help. It takes time to get it. On PC, there was a patch to make this easier, but on console... well you're stuck learning the hard way, sorry. Its not impossible. but some of the fish are downright hard to catch. 

This version is almost on the nose to the PC version, only suffering from a slightly longer load time when saving the game, and lack of zoom feature or customize mod to make fishing simpler.  Stardew Valley is a fantastic love letter to fans of Harvest Moon or ainmal lovers and those seeking a break with a nice chill out game. I was impressed at the amount of dialog in the game, and at how many secrets the developer put in. There is a lot to do here, and what that is, well its up to you. Have fun.

Oh Darn! I was going to review this game! But, in all honesty I do love reading your reviews. I enjoy playing this game however I play this game on steam as it was out there first before it got to the xbox and the PS4.

Eniitan : Its a great game, I'm on Year 4 in Steam. I love the developer has been so thorough and humble through it all. What are your thoughts on the alternate farms?

endings : Yeah I know the game is very additive trust me I know lol. It was great the way they made different kind of farms to your liking. For me I am on year 7 already married to someone and about to have child as well.