I’ve been playing Stardew Valley for a while now. I first started playing it in 2017 on my Nintendo Switch. This is one of the first indie games I played, and it started my move for indie games as they reminded me of the retro games I enjoyed playing as a kid.

Stardew Valley falls into a strange genre of games started by Namco with the release of Harvest Moon. I have no idea what the genre is called, and the best I could say is that this is a Cozy Game. At some point, I’ll have to revisit Harvest Moon.

This is going to be a little different than what I normally post. This isn’t a review; it is more of a personal blog about what this game means to me. I’ll be going over this game in seasons until I finish everything I want to do in it.

TLDR: I discuss what Stardew Valley means to be as I go through it season by season.

Narrative

The first 28 days of the game take place during Spring. This season is traditionally the season of rebirth, starting over, and when things begin to grow. It ties into the overarching story of the main character leaving their job and moving to a rundown shack in Stardew Valley.

In the game, you inherit the farm from your grandfather. The main character is working a dead-end job and needs to change. They open a letter and take a bus to Stardew Valley. I’m guessing that you quit, but who knows?

When I started playing this game, I was recovering from a broken ankle in 2016 or 2017. I’m unsure when I started playing, but I know it was on the Nintendo Switch, and I had just broken my ankle. I didn’t know much about the game, and the story wasn’t as front and center as it is now.

Initially, the story was very similar to the first Harvest Moon. Your character shows up, and you have three years to do whatever you want. That is one of the things about this type of game that I enjoy. If you don’t want to do something, you don’t have to do it.

Over the years, the developer has made changes and improvements to the game. Some of them have been better than others, and a few have been things I’ve wanted to try, while others haven’t been something I want to do. The biggest change for me was in the narrative.

When I revisited the game in 2021, the story hit home for me. I was stuck in my job and was deeply unhappy with what I was doing. I was stressed out, getting sick all the time, and felt trapped. Much like the main character of Stardew Valley, I needed to make a change.

Now, I didn’t quit and start farming in a small town where the economy solely depends on that farm’s success. It is odd when you really analyze what is happening in the game. I’ve done that with a few events and instances in the game, and I’ll look at a few later.

The story in Stardew Valley and other games in this genre is fascinating because it is player-driven. You can engage with as many of the townsfolk as you want, get married, and choose what to do with the plot of land you’re given.

One odd thing about the story is that you don’t know the main character’s life. Aside from the brief explanation in the opening scene, you don’t know if they had friends and a family. It is implied that they were single, and there are some dialogue options you can choose, which cast some light on it, but it is still a mystery.

This allows you to put your life in place of the main character. It is something I feel that I did while I was playing it recently. Like I was using the game as a sort of therapy to work through the problems I was having at the time.

How I play the game

There is a lot I could do with this section on gameplay. I could tell you the best way to play, how to get a specific crop, or any of the other clickbait articles I loathe. Instead, I’ll tell you how I play the game.

For this playthrough, I chose a layout that favors ranching. This means I started with a Coop and two chickens. This was pretty cool and is one of the newer maps added to the game. It is a nice change of pace from the way I normally played.

Usually, I go with a Wilderness map so I can fight monsters at night. I like this new map and the challenges it offers. There isn’t much room for growing crops, so I have to be a little creative with what I want to grow.

I typically plant my crops in straight lines of nine or twelve squares by three squares. There is a practical reason for doing this, but it also says a lot about me. I like things to be organized in straight lines. It is something I picked up from my Dad.

This is something I never noticed until my mom complained about my Dad placing trees in a straight line. I also realized I did this, and now I know where I got it from. Thanks, Dad, and your construction background!

In the first few weeks of the game, I like to start getting some things set up that will get me a lot of money later on in the game. What I try to do is get set up to make jelly, mayonnaise, cheese, and wine. I love that this stuff is in the game because it gives you more things to give to people, such as presents and sellable goods.

This feels so different than how I am in real life. I’m not as obsessed with money as I am with video games. Giving people gifts is pretty much the same, but I tend to buy things I know people will like or make things instead of giving out bottles of wine.

In the game, the first four weeks are the introduction to the game. You’re given a few quests designed to teach you the game. You have to meet all the townsfolk, explore the community center, go to the mine, and learn about farming, fishing, and ranching.

In my playthrough, I’m probably going to try and marry Leah. In any other context, this would sound crazy and should land me on a list somewhere. For Stardew Valley, it is perfectly normal for the player to pick one of the single people to try and marry. It still feels strange to type out, though.

That is pretty much it for these first few weeks. I didn’t do much during these first four weeks. I love how relaxing the gameplay is in this game. Playing it makes me smile.

Spring Looks Great

This is a beautiful game! I love the pixel graphics. They work so well for a game like this; I find something about them very relaxing. Each season looks awesome, the cutscenes are great, and I love the animations in the game.

On the SNES and the PS1, developers got very good at conveying emotions with the character sprites in pixel art games. It was like playing a cartoon at times. Indie games inspired by the 16-but era took this to a new level.

Stardew Valley is no exception. All of the emotion is conveyed with the reactions from the sprites. They will get happy, sad, embarrassed, etc. Everything in this game looks great!

 Over the years, a lot of cutscenes were added to the game. The intro is awesome, and it adds so much to the game. It isn’t very long, and it doesn’t need to be. It looks amazing, and I love the little touches that reminded me of working in an office, although I did have a window to look out of.

Spring isn’t my favorite season in the game. It looks okay, the crops look nice, and the animals always look good. It isn’t as colorful or as charming as the other seasons. While I like the look of Spring, I prefer Fall. That season looks nicer than this one.

I like that the buildings become transparent when you walk behind them. This only happens on your farm, but it is a nice touch. I try to avoid this happening, but it is nice that the developers put this in the game.

There isn’t anything else to say about the game. Spring looks nice, and it matches what the season represents. Everything is growing again after being in stasis during winter. The game is coming back to life, and your character is starting a new life far away from the problems of their old life.

Conclusion

This is a wonderful video game. Stardew Valley is one of the games that piqued my interest in indie games. Most of the games I’ve enjoyed in the last ten years have been from indie developers.

Since I first played this game, I’ve come across several games that emulate the things Stardew Valley got right. I’ll look at a few of those games in the next few weeks. For now, I’ll keep working through Stardew Valley and maybe try some new things.

I’ll be doing updates on this as I play each season. I’ll get a better format for them at some point, and the updates won’t be this long. Thank you for reading this! I really appreciate it.

If you liked this post, check out my posts on the Best RPGs I’ve Played so far or My Favorite Indie Horror Games so far.