Stardew Valley
- Genres : RPG, Simulation
- Publishers : ConcernedApe
- Developers : ConcernedApe
- Players : 1-4
- Consoles : Nintendo Switch
- Languages : Japanese, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Latin American Spanish, Traditional Chinese, American English
- Release date : October 05, 2017
Today I am starting a new life! Enough with my office job… I want some nature… some greenery! Today, I am dropping everything and I move into my Grandfather’s old farm house, in the heart of Stardew Valley. Let’s go for the adventure!
My first steps as a farmer
I had left my job on a whim and packed my things the second after. And now, I was looking at the scenery unrolling before my eyes with tranquillity as the bus lead me towards Stardew Valley. I remembered the summer spent with Grand-Father in his farm. They were very nice moments and superb souvenirs! At the time, I invented new adventures each day to occupy myself… today I was going to live them… but will I live up to my expectations?
No time to ask yourself any questions, the bus has just arrived and Lewis, the mayor of Stardew and my Grand-Father’s friend came to welcome me. He was accompanied by Robin. Both of them were very warm and seemed delighted to welcome me. However, Grand-Father’s farm was not really as I remembered… the beautiful garden was filled with rocks, tall grass or even trees… But it was late, the garden could wait for tomorrow, I had to get some sleep… I waved the Mayor and Robin goodbye before heading to bed… I was going to have a lot of work to put the farm back in its original shape!
The day after, I woke up early, ready to move mountains. My grand-father’s cabin was rustic if not to say rudimentary, but I had had a great night sleep. I got my tools to put this old farm back into working order. I found a few parsnip seeds left as a gift by M. Lewis. It was the perfect gift to start!
I spent the entire morning pulling the weeds, breaking the rocks and prepare the earth to plant my parsnip seeds. Once the seeds watered, I decided to go to the town to discover it. I had always been curious and I didn’t have any more energy to work. I was better off chatting with my new neighbors.
The town is just next to our house. It is with joy that I discovered an enjoyable little town that proposed all the necessary services. I took the opportunity to wander and introduce myself to the other inhabitants. The inhabitants of Stardew were all really nice apart from George. But even with his grumpy personality, I found this old little grandpa quite friendly.
The night came so quickly! I hastily went back to the cabin scared of losing myself. I went to bed tired, but delighted of my first day in Stardew.
The following days, I worked in my garden planting anything in my garden. I was full of enthusiasm! I wanted to try everything like a child growing a flower for the very first time.
An impromptu routine
As I began gathering my first vegetables, the JoJa society finished clearing the entry of the village’s mine. I took my pickaxe to explore this new playground. But the mine’s galleries were not safe… I wasn’t alone… the monsters were by!
I discovered I was quite talented with a sword and spent my days in the mine’s galleries killing slimes and other insects attacking me. It was only at around 8 pm that I went back home with my pockets filled with different ores. I walked around a little bit before going to sleep and then back to the cave when it rained.
Spring went by quite quickly to a new season and new gatherings. I was really motivated, but this time I had fixed my objectives. I wanted to build a barn and a hen house to raise small animals!
With my spring gatherings I had nearly enough money to build the hen house, a little more work and I would be able to have little chickens!
At the end of the summer I had diversified my activities: I had two cows, four hens and was brewing beer and making jams. I had spent enough time gathering materials in the mine to gather the ores necessary for upgrading my tools. My work was getting easier!
At the end of the autumn I realised something
I worked hard during the two last seasons and I had managed to upgrade my farm gears quite far. I had a field with 5 automatic sprinklers, that really help me save a lot of time and energy. I had a barn, a hen house and a silo filled with fodder. And I was producing canned food, cheese and beer…
Thanks to those diverse activities and my work, I was in the process of having a kitchen built. And in prevision I had bought and learned tons of cooking recipes that I was impatient to try out… but during the village’s party, I asked the fortune-teller to tell me more about my future, she predicted that I was going to be sick and that only one of the villager would worry about me…
That is when I realised that I was completely isolated from the rest of the village… I had no friends in Stardew… I was so occupied in upgrading my farm that I hadn’t taken the time getting to know the inhabitants of the village… I was cut off from the world… I was really nervous going to bed that night. But all was not lost… or so I hoped.
Back to civilisation
The day after I decided to spend the day in the village to save or recreate the links with my neighbours. I talked with all passers-by then at around 7 pm I entered the village’s bar. As I went through the door of the establishment I realised I hadn’t even taken the time to go and drink a coffee there… I was ashamed of myself!
But all the inhabitants were nice and welcomed me superbly. Thanks to them, I spent a wonderful evening and decided to come back and chat with the villagers regularly.
Winter went by slowly, the calmest season for me and so I took it as an opportunity to visit my neighbours. In only a few days, I managed to catch up on the lost time and make friends with many of the inhabitants of Stardew. What a pleasure to learn a little more about them!
I also took the opportunity to try and remodel the community center of Stradew. I managed to put back two rooms in their original state. My work was at each time praised by the juminos. Funny little beasts.
Winter quickly went! I liked talking to Robin, Leah, Sebastian, Lewis and even Marnie who had all become friends for me. Even granny Evelyn was really nice! Christmas came and I was happy to see the entire village during this party.
I could start the New Year serenely. I still had a lot of projects for my farm but this time it was out of the question to become unsociable! I was going to take the time and do things right!
Conclusion
I love this game! I pushed a little too hard on the optimisation of my farm and it took a toll on my in-game social relations that are also really important. But thankfully I made up for it and I really found the social aspect of the game fun.
The game is really complete between the agriculture, the husbandry, the craftsmanship, the fishing… It’s really super diversified! Furthermore, there are a lot of events and novelties that bring rhythm to the game and it’s really nice!
The mine allows you to gather ores as if you were exploring dungeons filled with monsters. It offers the possibility of letting a bit of steam off during your life at the farm. It is really a part apart from the game.
The development of the relations with your neighbours is pretty simple to remember and keep… don’t forget to wish them an Happy Birthday.
The energy management is really well managed. It presents itself under a gauge form that empties as you perform actions. But you will always find things to do that won’t empty it. If you do too muc, you will faint, but it’s really if you have ignored the warnings from the game.
The game is very complete even the first year, new things will come spice up your life at the farm: discovery of new zones, new equipment, new quests, new vegetable to grow…
The multiplayer side is also really nice and allows one to have some fun during your games.
Honestly I have nothing to reproach to the game maybe only the menus which are a little weird in managing. But it’s really a detail, I am completely addicted to the game. And for 12/13 euros it is really nice, it would be a shame to go without it.
