Stardew Valley

More than just a cozy farming sim, eight years of updates have grown Stardew Valley into a modern classic with an endless list of enticing activities to complete and a deeply satisfying time management challenge to take on.

Mastering farming and earning the affection of your special someone in Stardew Valley are fulfilling journeys filled with surprising and rewarding challenges.

A modern indie classic on PC finds in Nintendo's Switch the perfect platform.

Stardew Valley's blend of pixel charm and gentle pacing makes for an excellent little escape.

It’s unclear whether there’ll be a massive 1.7 update in the future. Barone has been developing a different game, Haunted Chocolatier, since 2020, and while that’s currently on pause to get 1.6 bug-free and available across platforms, surely at some point Stardew Valley will be left to its own devices. But even if it doesn’t get any more major updates, its unshakeable core, long tail, and rooted community mean that it’s bound to stay at the center of the ecosystem that grew up around it for a long while to come.

Stardew Valley is a fantastic game that's much more than its farming simulator sales pitch suggests

Stardew Valley is the rare kind of imitation that breaks free of the boundaries of its inspiration, becoming more than just a clone but an experience that thrives independent of its origins.

Stardew Valley is a game that keeps on giving. There is so much I haven't even explored yet that has my giddy for the future. The core mechanics and relaxing aesthetic merge so well together that players will sink in to the experience and never want to leave.

Stardew Valley offers its players a chance to live a second life – one where you can forget the troubles of the real world and get excited over finding a particularly rare carrot. It is a truly magical experience; games can often be enjoyable but they don't all manage to be as captivating as this. This is the sort of game that ideally requires a significant amount of time to be invested; the enjoyment doesn't necessarily come from the day-to-day actions you perform, but rather from the general growth of pride, satisfaction, and sense of security as the days go by. Fans of games such as Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing will be right at home here and, for those who aren't, there is a decent chance this game might just surprise you. For the asking price the risk couldn't be more worth it.

The distilled quintessence of everything you love about the Harvest Moon games.