ConcernedApe/Chucklefish Games; $14.99

Note: This review first ran in March 2016 as a look at the PC version of the game. With the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions arriving this week, we thought it would be a good time to revisit this review for the new console audience.

As a long-time fan of the Harvest Moon series (now known as Story of Seasons in North America), I kind of knew what to expect when purchasing Stardew Valley. I was told that it was a similar game – essentially a “spiritual successor” to the series developed by one of its fans – and that if I liked one, I’d like the other. These people were pretty much spot-on. I love Stardew Valley, and I can’t stop playing it.

The scenario itself is also pretty similar to Harvest Moon: the player is given an envelope by their dying grandfather at the outset, which contains the deed to the family farm, located in Stardew Valley. The player leaves their menial job working for the Joja Corporation to start a new life at the farm. When they arrive, they find the farm to be in terrible, run-down condition – totally overgrown from top to bottom, meaning they need to start from scratch. Thankfully, they’re given the tools and resources necessary to get the job done, and are soon on their way to becoming a successful farmer.

The nice thing about Stardew Valley is the open-ended, play-how-you-want nature of it. You can farm exclusively produce, or spend your time raising various livestock, or spend your days fishing for rare catches, or mine for ore and other precious gems. You can date any of the various eligible bachelors and bachelorettes – either are available regardless of the gender of the player, which Harvest Moon still hasn’t done – or live a life of singlehood. A variety of festivals and other events take place throughout each season, giving variety to the day-to-day life in-game. Other areas, including a desert and a sewer dungeon, are also unlocked later in the game, helping to expand the gameplay progressively throughout the story. There’s also a fairly significant choice to be made regarding the run-down community center: you can either help the little forest sprites who live inside it, or you can sell the building to the Joja Mart in town.

It’s kind of hard to explain the appeal of a farming game to people who haven’t played one. It’s easy to dismiss it as tedious and boring, but I assure you, it’s not. There’s a certain sense of accomplishment that you feel every time a new building is erected, or every time you catch one of the special fish available in each season, or every time you ship a new crop. The relationships you build with the villagers of Pelican Town evolve over time; you learn more about all of them and their own lives, and how your intersection with those lives has changed them for the better (or worse).

Stardew Valley’s appeal seems to lie, for most people, in its simple charm. The music helps to add to that, but what’s really nice is when it fades out to just the atmospheric noises – the rustling of leaves in the wind, the sound of footsteps in grass, the gentle clucking of chickens. It’s the atmosphere itself that helps with the immersion and the overall feel of the game, that you’re not just a person playing a game but rather a part of this world.

Though the game itself is a great experience, what’s most impressive is how it was all developed by one guy – Eric Barone, who goes under the name ConcernedApe. Not only did he program the game himself, but he also created all of the in-game art, assets, writing and dialogue, plus he composed all of the music. It’s incredible that such a deep game came out of a single mind, honestly. He’s been working on patching what small issues exist in the game, as well as adding additional dialogue and other events to it. So, Stardew Valley only possibly gets better from here.

In fact, a huge update recently hit the game, allowing for a huge variety in farm layouts to begin the game, plus an extra bachelor and bachelorette too. The change in being able to choose how your farm is actually laid out is really nice; you can now have a river-focused area or a monster-infested farmland. It changes up the gameplay significantly for people who already played through to their heart’s content when the game first launched.

Stardew Valley released on Steam on February 26, 2016. It hits the PlayStation 4 on December 13, and the Xbox One on December 14. At just $14.99 this is absolutely one of the best values out there right now, and I’d recommend it to just about anyone who’s looking for a change of pace in their usual gaming routines.

-Carrie Wood