WARNING: this is yet another writeup in the series of "holy shit, waverider37 is playing another video game three or so years too late and it hasn't been written up yet, so here it is". As a result, there are spoilers ahead. Not quite as bad as some of my previous writeups, but there's still spoilers. Proceed with caution.
This is such a small town. You can't avoid meeting everyone.
Stardew Valley is a 2016 sandbox-style RPG developed by Eric Barone, known by his tag ConcernedApe. The player assumes the role of a person who, sick of their desk job, moves to their grandfather's run-down farm on the outskirts of Pelican Town in the middle of Stardew Valley. The player meets the townsfolk and embarks on the remainder of their journey through life, earning money by farming, finding forage, fishing, fighting, and... fossicking. They are helped by the townsfolk, hampered by monsters who (mostly) live in mines and caves, and are both helped and hampered by some bits and pieces of magic. One of the biggest objectives (and one that is largely focused on by many players) is to complete the rebuild of the Community Centre, with the help of magical sprites called Junimos, or with the help of large corporation Joja - rewards and playstyle vary depending on which path the player chooses. The game was originally released for PC but has since been ported to Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo consoles as well as iOS and Android.
If you were to ask me to TL;DR this game, my immediate response would be either "it's the lovechild of Minecraft, Animal Crossing, and Farming Simulator" or "a simultaneous improvement on, and homage to, Harvest Moon". Though there are (mostly fetch-type) quests and the eventual endgame does make itself apparent, the way to complete those quests and said endgame is almost entirely up to the player. Make profit by growing a heap of stuff on your farm? Check. Decide instead to farm cattle or sheep? Check. Find berries, mushrooms, and yams in the forest instead? Check. Fish the rivers dry? Che... ALMOST check (the supply of fish is, thankfully, infinite). Though the game is an RPG and does include a levelling-up system, this element of the game has been downplayed to focus on the other mechanics and quest decisions, as well as interaction between the player and NPCs in probably one of the most saccharine, but more importantly wholesome, ways a video game can present said interaction (although there are a few deeper quotes, and a few environmental messages).
It's a measure of the quality and depth of the game that it quickly developed a large fanbase and, as of January 2020, has sold over ten million copies. The game continues to have new content added, though with ConcernedApe being the sole developer and designer, said new content does (understandably) take time - although v1.5 is reportedly in the works, according to ConcernedApe's Twitter feed released, and with masses of content. The time is mostly made up for by the community, who have developed mods for the game on PC platforms - the most notable being Stardew Valley Expanded, by developer FlashShifter. The community has also picked apart every aspect of the game down to core mechanics, and has many dedicated speedrun categories to the point where GDQ must surely be thinking on including it in their repertoire. In short... it's pretty deeply loved. Upon the insistence of my sister I gave it a go and... well, let's just say it didn't take me long to see why people love it. Especially when COVID-19 hit the world, people turned to it as a means of escape, as a means of gaining control over their life when it got irrevocably changed.
As for the gameplay: my sister has sunk over 300 hours into the game and I'm not at all convinced she knows all its little secrets. The game is deep. Though at first glance it may seem repetitive (and in fact it is for a little bit, while you're trying to get your foot in the door, as it were) there's definitely enough variety to go around and to keep players hungry for more. In fact, it seems that just as one part of the game gets exhausted, along comes another part - its mechanics are different (like the arcade games) or it's harder and more rewarding (Skull Cavern vs. the Mine), or both. Additionally, the game's pace prevents too much repetition from happening, unless the player makes several conscious efforts. Its pacing is similar to that of Minecraft - an in-game day lasts about a quarter of an hour, give or take. I've noticed that an in-game day passes by quickly enough that you can tell time is passing, but slowly enough that you don't realise how much real-world time has passed. More than once the game has kept me up at night. And the mechanics - the game in general does not fall into low-skill-floor-high-skill-ceiling games that I have a glowing fondness for, but it's easy enough to pick apart the numbers in the same way one would pick apart the numbers in Pokémon. The low skill floor is present, but while the skill ceiling is also rather low it's made up for by the aforementioned depth of the remainder of the game.
It's clear that ConcernedApe had fun writing and designing the NPCs. Most every one of them has development, albeit relatively minor compared to other games (you could comfortably call the NPCs an ensemble cast of small-town folk), and a lot of the cutscenes range from heartwarming to outright hilarious. Interaction isn't strictly limited to "say hi to a person, hear their NPC garbage, move on" as the player's relationship level with NPCs vary based on their interactions, including gifts that can be given to the villagers. Relationships can, in some circumstances, even progress to marriage (and beyond!) - there are, at present, twelve eligible marriage candidates within the game, each with their own storyline. And yes - even though your gender is asked for at the beginning as a strictly binary choice, your marriage partner could be any of the twelve choices. Like in real life, it depends almost entirely on whether you're putting in the investment and who you're putting it into.
- Graphics: 8/10 It's entirely pixel art, but it's good pixel art.
- Sound: 8/10 The sound effects are reminiscent of games like Earthbound, adding to the retro feel of the game, but the soundtrack is quite well crafted.
- Playability: 8/10 Some of the PC controls can feel clunky, but no doubt on a console they feel more intuitive.
- Lastability: 10/10 This game will last for hours. Weeks. Months. Multiple save-files. It instills the same mentality as Sid Meier's Civilization and its "just... one... more... turn..." idea into its players. Set yourself an alarm.
- Plot: 7/10 Though the overall plot is lacking, individual mini-plots and arcs thrive in their abundance.
- Overall: 41/50 = 8.2/10 Stardew Valley is yet another testament to what a single, very dedicated developer can do with enough time and resources.
It's so nice to live by the river. I fall asleep to the soothing sound of water every night.