Stardew Valley (PS4) Review
Date Released: 26 February 2016
Date Played: 8 November 2021
Stardew Valley is considered by many to be the crown jewel of the farming/survival video game craze that has been going on for over a decade now. With the wild success of Minecraft, Farmville, Don't Starve, Animal Crossing, and the like, it was only a matter of time until someone delved back into the Harvest Moon games to create the ultimate rural life/farming/relationship game. A quick internet search will have you quickly finding message boards and forum threads touting this as one of, if not the best game of all time. It's on countless best games lists and is loved by the community and the critics alike. More surprisingly than that, the game was created by only one person, Eric Barone. What he has accomplished with this game is absolutely incredible and his success is well deserved. It's certainly obvious that he poured all of his heart and soul into this game and you can see the mark of his personality running throughout the game. In my humble opinion, I think he absolutely nailed what he attempted and did actually create one of the best farming sim games of all time. Unfortunately, I don't find this particular genre of game to be all that engaging or worthwhile to play. Despite all of its accolades, it only served to drive me further away from this genre rather than bring me closer to it.
You play as either a male or female protagonist who has had his/her fill of the banal minutia of life in the city and working in the corporate world. You discover a letter from your grandfather that tells you to open it when you've had enough of that way of life. Inside is the key to the family farm in Stardew Valley. You throw off the shackles of modern life and head to the country to start your new life as a rural farmer. You arrive in the quaint town to discover it in a bit of disarray and it's your job to revitalize the town and build relationships with its inhabitants through growing, building, herding, mining, and all other sorts of chores you would encounter running a farm. It's really nothing new, and these ideas were all well explored in the Harvest Moon series and Animal Crossing games over the last couple of decades. Although this game does borrow heavily from the games that inspired it, I feel like it has surpassed them in almost every way.
The game is presented in a charming 16-bit retro aesthetic. You have freedom of movement and can explore the town and surrounding areas at will and are only limited by the hours in the day. Initially, you find the farm to be run down. But, you'll soon find yourself cleaning up the debris, planting crops, tending live stock, foraging, and gathering materials to either sell or use as ingredients for new items and buildings. As you tend your farm, you'll be asked to perform favors for the town's residents. This will improve your relationship with them until you finally fall in love and decide to get married. At this point, your partner will move to the farm and help you maintain everything. There are also town events, spooky mines to explore (where the game's only combat exists), mission objectives, and other activities to spice up the repetitive nature of the game. The game does have a lot of content and there are certainly many things to keep you busy. Unfortunately, while there is plenty to do, there's there's no real objective or ending of the game. The town has a community center that's haunted by some little forest sprites. Each room of the center has a list of items they want you to create on your farm and then turn them in. This will unlock special items to help you upgrade your farm even more. You can max out your relationship status with everyone in town, fill the museum with all of the relics, and purchase every single item for your farm. But once all of these tasks are completed, you're free to just continue managing your farm and living out your day to day life with no conclusion.
...and I guess that's my problem with these types of games. There's no REAL ending to work towards to the game and it really just serves to pass time while you repeat the same tasks over and over. You awaken, water your plants, harvest crops, go buy supplies, tend to the animals, explore the mines, and sell your wares to get more money to expand you farm more. Then, you just rinse and repeat this ad infinitum. It all feels like a big waste of time to me and as a long time gamer, I'm shocked at this current trend in gaming. So many modern games are created to go forever. You collect stuff, and build things, and try to survive... but there's very little story and the games never really go anywhere. It's like being given a toolbox and being told to go make your own fun. I don't want to do that. I want to experience a well thought out and constructed narrative or unique gameplay loop created by a developer who wants to make a complete creation. I want them to craft a fun experience with their expertise and not rely on me to make my own content. Maybe it's just because I'm too old now, but I use games to escape from the day to day tasks that I have to do. If I'm going to spend my free time in a game doing a bunch of chores, I might as well just do those chores around the house in real life. Why spend 30 minutes in a game cutting grass when I could go outside and do the same thing for real? It's extremely addictive playing these sorts of games and before you know it, you'll have sunk dozens of hours into the game with little to show for it but a larger farm and even more chores to do than you started with. It's a big cycle that never ends...
As for the presentation, the game looks fantastic and has remarkable sprite work. Everything is very colorful and light and it's fun to watch the seasons change as you're playing through the game. The characters in the game are mostly likable but pretty superficial and rarely have more than a few cursory words to say to you. It's nice to see how the town's residents interact with the various town events as well as each other but it never feels like there is any urgency or weight to what's going on. Growing your relationships with them can be fun, but at the end of the day just boils down to more fetch quests and chores to do. The music is very nice and subdued and suits the game perfectly. It helps give the game an even more relaxing feeling that it already has. I encountered no bugs or crashes in the game, but what do you expect for a game that looks like it came out almost 30 years earlier?
I mentioned Stardew Valley being relaxing... and I guess that's what the big draw of the whole game is in the end. Just like the opening of the game, it's a way for people to escape the doldrums of everyday life to sit down and passively tend their farm and forget about the troubles of the day. If that's what you need in a game, then this is the game for you. If on the other hand, you're looking for an interesting story, innovative gameplay, or a unique experience, then this is not a game you want to invest your effort into. The amount of time that it requires to reward you for your hard work is extensive and the game is designed to be played for years. Every time I put down the controller after playing this game, I felt like I had wasted my time and that isn't something I ever want to experience. On the bright side, I learned that farming simulators are just not for me and I was able to remove several games from my wish list.
Stardew Valley turned me off to an entire genre of video games. I'm not saying it's a bad game, but it's just not at all what I'm looking for and I will steer clear of anything like this in the future. If the sorts of games that I normally enjoy are akin to a good novel, Stardew Valley, Minecraft, Animal Crossing, etc. are more akin to a crossword puzzle. The game gives you the tools you need to create your own fun, but it's a big time investment and totally reliant on you to get out of it what you put into it.
Final Status: Played (for many hours)
Final Score: 7/10 (Good, but not for me)
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