‘Stardew Valley’ is more than a farm simulator

With the newest update for “Stardew Valley” finally being released in the past few months, I thought it would be a great time to review my absolute favorite game of all time.

Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone independently created “Stardew Valley” in around four and a half years as its sole designer, programmer, animator, artist, composer and writer.

Originally released in 2016, “Stardew Valley” is a single- and multiplayer farm life simulation game where the player inherits their grandfather’s farm after he passes and leaves a corporate desk job to clean up the dilapidated property.

The property is located just outside of a town named Pelican Town, where the very company the player worked for is threatening to run small, family-owned businesses into the ground.

On the surface, “Stardew Valley” seems like just a simple farming game. Once you actually start playing, however, you get to experience so much more.

You, the player, are completely free of obligations if you choose to be — you don’t even have to farm in this farming simulator if you don’t want to. You might not experience the game to its fullest if you do this in solo mode, but that’s the joy of multiplayer games!

When I play this game with my best friend, Ryan, he typically goes to the mines to fight monsters or goes fishing while I take care of the animals and farm our crops. While he progresses one side of the story, I progress the other and we meet in the middle.

There is also a whole dating sim aspect where you earn “hearts” with eligible bachelors and bachelorettes in Pelican Town, earning special items and cutscenes throughout.

At the time of writing this, I have collectively logged almost 2000 hours into “Stardew Valley” across multiple platforms — mostly Nintendo Switch and PC, but a fair amount of hours on my Xbox and Playstation, too.

While I could go on and on about playthroughs I’ve done of this game, (I was heavily debating talking about my 100 percent save file) I’m going to focus more on what I’ve played of the newest major update (1.6) for this review.

Though update 1.6 went live on March 19, 2024, I have probably only played around 12 hours since then. But I absolutely love what update 1.6 has brought to the game. I’ve only gotten to play on the new farm layout and check out a few of the cosmetic features, but the quality of life updates are quite nice. One of my favorites right now is the ducky fishing bobber.

One of the most major parts of this update that I’ve gotten to play is the newest farm layout: the Meadowlands Farm.

This farm type is ideal for me because it starts your farm with a chicken coop and two chickens — one of my favorite ways to earn money.

Instead of starting the game with parsnip seeds, you’re gifted 15 pieces of hay and a lot of grass already growing to feed your chickens.

This farm layout isn’t ideal if you want to maximize your available crop space, but it’s perfect if you focus more on raising animals (like I do.)

With this new update you also get a whole new section on your player menu that indicates what animals you have, and whether or not you’ve interacted with them that day. This will be a huge game changer when you have multiple animal buildings with max levels of chickens, cows, goats and even ostriches.

I’m not even through spring yet on this playthrough, and I’m eagerly anticipating some of these other updates I’ve seen in the changelog:

— Trout Derby and Squidfest Festivals

— The “Mastery” system

— Additional Skull Cavern chests and Hard Mode

— Books Of Power, which grant special perks

— Additional secrets and Easter Eggs

Considering I spent around $15 on this game almost a decade ago, and the fact that it’s STILL holding my attention and the creator is frequently updating it (for free! No paid DLC here!), it’s absolutely worth every cent.

“Stardew Valley” has a 10/10 rating on Steam, with overwhelmingly positive reviews. According to Steam, of the 574,017 reviews on the game, 98 percent are positive.

“Stardew Valley” costs around $14.99 (it frequently goes on sale) and can be purchased on Steam for Windows and Mac, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Playstation 4, Android and iOS.

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Breanna Hanley is a reporter for The Express.