Farming, mining and socialising with the many different NPCs are some of the amazing experiences that you can have in this cute little game. However, as peaceful and calming this game is, there are some things that make this game a more stressful experience then it may need to be.
For a lot of us gamers we like to take our time and that we are using our time effectively, but Stardew Valley’s days are faster than a Formula 1 race on its third cup of coffee. From getting your farm ready, making sure you get to the shops in time, and spending some time with your favourite villager this game can seem like quite a lot to juggle when you have such little time available. When we add mining into the mix things just get frustrating. I was spending one day doing something like mining or farming making sure that I was doing as much as I could but my progress in either felt very slow. There was a sense that I was missing lots of different parts of the game.
Stardew Valley only allows you to complete a certain number of actions per day as your energy bar will deplete with each action done. Swinging your axe, chipping away at stones, clearing grass and fishing all deplete your energy. There are food items and medicines that can grant you more energy as well as ones that will fill your health, but these will cost money if you don’t have the materials to make them yourself.
Further to this, the mining system, as amazing and innovative that it is, comes at a cost and that cost is your day and your health. To get to an underground level that you get valuable resources you need to ensure that you get your mining skill high enough so that just clearing the rocks and finding the stairs to the next level down doesn’t drain all your energy and almost kill you, which in your early days it more than likely will. With monster hunting quests, only a chance to get the minerals that you need and a chance to be completely obliterated and lose your mining progress, this mining feature can be seen as the most stressful section of the game.
Now we get to the part of the game that is actually my favourite but going into the game I had no idea was possible; a dating sim and a possible family life. Not all surprises of this game were bad to me, especially this one (not that I got to experience it all myself). To find out that playing either as a male or female you could romance a large portion of the villagers was a nice touch that gamers all over deeply admired the studio for adding. Having a family on a farm, where you can have a child, partner and pets sounds like the best thing in the world when you take out the need to make money by farming, mining and attend community events.
Stardew Valley is a nice game when you can manage all the different aspects of it and take in the experience of all the different features that it has to offer. If you can’t then there are so many streamers on Twitch are playing Stardew Valley which will allow you to experience the game second hand without worrying about the shortness of the days and all those community bundles that are still incomplete.
