I don’t think it will ever fizzle out. I do a playthrough of it at least once a year and I’ve convinced at least 7 other people to buy it or I’ve bought it for them. It’s honestly timeless and has been since I bought it day one. Even without the updates and added content it would be and has been my favorite game and I’ve bought it at least 10 times for different platforms and for friends. It’s the kinda game that somehow makes you feel nostalgic from the first time you play it to the fifteenth. Even talking about it makes me wanna go play it again even though I’m in the middle of Ghost of Tsushima.
It’s the warm blend of its cozy art style, ambient audio, and the unparalleled soundtrack. You go through the grandpa intro and observe his strangely thin bed all over again. Then the Jojamart corporate hell scene. You open the letter and reading it even for the fifteenth time gives you an immediate sense of peace and relief, because you know you’re going back to the valley. It’s all good vibes from here.
The music fades away and you’re greeted with a quiet scene in the mountains, watching a grumbly coach bus speed past the sign, and you’re left with a moment between you and the countryside. There are a few trilling birds and one lands in the sign. You arrive at your stop and immediately that uplifting little song starts playing and Robin’s cute-ass face appears, probably with wood shavings in her bangs, and she still has that voice you crafted for her in your head after all these years. The mayor will too. She’s an old friend.
She ushers you away to your first long view of the farm. Now, you’ve already been here several times in the last decade, but that music. That warm, orangish pallete. That overgrown little cabin on that rugged patch of land. The music grooves on and right away you get butterflies in your stomach over the prospect of getting to be here everyday, cleaning it up and carving your own little life and operation. There is a sense of joy and freedom, and a million possibilities laying under that brush-strewn mess that used to be a field. It never fails to bring you right back and feel that magic again.
It’s like the developer perfectly captured our most innocent human desires in a tiny bottle.
For sure. The pixel graphics and great soundtrack alone mean it will age beautifully, I can see myself playing it 20-30 years from now. Not to mention mods, Skyrim survived that long thanks to those and stardew’s modding community is super active!
My wife has played it through 6 times and still going dam auto-petter!
Me and sibling are playing it again, and the very first chest I found in the skull caverns was an auto petter, we went off when I found out! I wish your wife all the luck finding many auto petters!
Stardew Valley is a beautiful love letter from Eric Barone’s soul. I don’t want to see it fizzle out either. I’m a straight male but I would marry that man based purely on the gift he gave us.
I literally never even played it but what a cool project that guy has. (after reading article)
It’s really worth playing and often available for a very reasonable price. I don’t think it’s a genre that ever seemed like something that would appeal to me but I’ve found it very enjoyable.
It really isn’t for everyone. I tried it and hated every minute of it, super-stressful and tedious and returned it (one of only a handful of games in my Steam collection of a few hundred) because it was advertised as relaxing when it is anything but.
That’s funny, I didn’t like it because it was too relaxing. I like games that take a lot of focus and concentration, but stardew valley didnt do it for me.
I mean judging by the comments people get when they say it is too stressful it could also be considered too relaxing. They always claim everything is optional and that somehow makes the game relaxing but even if I try to do just one of the things I could do the energy and slow walking and passing out mechanics still make it about as relaxing as getting something done in another game while some PvP griefers keep sniping my character randomly in the middle of tasks. At that rate not playing the game is infinitely more relaxing than playing it and just not doing anything at all.
Very cheap price for such a good game and available on all platforms too. Like wtf. It’s too good to be real. But it’s real.
I don’t think it will ever fizzle out. It’s an amazing game with a simple premise.
I do worry that the desire to not let a game be done could lead to burnout from the audience though. I left minecraft behind because every update added less and less of substance, and asked me to come back and do something that didn’t really enhance the experience of my “completed” survival world.
I understand that minecraft has not slipped in popularity for the masses, but for me it’s enough of a pain that I don’t play any more.
Stardew Valley is great, and the updates we have received add a lot of content to the game, but it’s all stuff that makes an 11/10 game… still an 11/10. I would love the effort to go into Haunted Chocolatier, or other great projects.
Yeah, stardew will be remembered as a great game irregardless of its updates. Even if it was left at the release update people would still think of it the same way in my opinion. Look at how many people before stardew still went back and played early harvest moons to play them yearly.
In fact for me. I’ve not played it in a long time I think purely because I’d rather start a new game with all of the new content. But new content keeps coming out so I wait.
You make a good point. I haven’t gone back to minecraft because I know there’s going to be more changes made in the imminent future, and I’d rather play a complete game. I picked up Stardew about a month before the Ginger Island update, so it really felt like a complete experience.
Yeah i think that’s why i don’t go back to Minecraft either. Since when i payed regularly i remember new updates breaking world gen so you got these ugly walls when exploring new areas. I’m certain that doesn’t happen any more but it also makes me not want to explore because when new places are added I’ll have to explore even further if i explore a lot initially. So now I just don’t bother.
