I enjoyed every single minute of this short, beautiful game. The premise is simple, but engaging, with gorgeous artwork, atmosphere by the bucket load, interesting and fun puzzles and a fabulous soundtrack. At the outset, I had no idea of how it all worked and how to solve (what turned out to be) easy problems - each of the tools to get to the goal were introduced at a good pace. In retrospect, I think this was the best way to enjoy the experience. I'm not sure about replay value. I'll probably leave it a year or two, and then try again ... perhaps next time with a bottle of wine, on a dark winter's evening. Probably the best gaming experience I've had since Stardew Valley, despite all of the AAA games I've played since then.
I've tried this game 3 times over the last couple of years, and each time uninstalled it after a few hours. It looks pretty, but it is tedious to play, and it is a logistical nightmare to manage characters, skills and inventories. There won't be a fourth time.
Clearly developed by someone who remembers what made the games industry so popular in the first place. This game is an absolute blast to play, and has some of the best gameplay mechanics of its type that I have seen for years. It is a game that wants to be played, and rewards the gamer generously for their time, rather than trying to beat them or trick them. The hours just fade away as I go about my daily farming/animal husbandry routine, built up from scratch, while occasionally breaking away for some NPC interaction in the town, mining, fishing, foraging or dungeon looting. Now and again there is a festival of some kind, which means you only have time for the bare essentials on the farm. My only criticism would be that these festivals are extremely repetitive, and are a carbon copy year on year. NPCs say the same thing, the mini games dont change etc. It spoils the immersion just a little bit. The game has a brilliantly thought-out pace, and I STILL haven't unlocked all of the secrets after over 120 hours of playing. There is just so much to do, and so little time to do it in. It is one of those games that you intentionally slow down playing, so that it will last as long as you can get it to. Whether it has much replay value remains to be seen, but I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Stardew Valley, and hope the developers invite us back for more of the same in the future. An absolute gem, and thoroughly recommended.
Pretty to look at, easy UI and with a very polished exterior (given its origins). However, there isn't much going on under the hood to make this worth playing more than a day. Story is drivel, characters are shallow, combat is enfuriatingly clumsy, lore is superfluous nonsense and character development is weak. The AI, if there is one, is probably the worst thing about this - enemy tactics are an utter mess. Very disapointed in this, and uninstalled after 12 hours. Note to self: don't fall for the hype next time.
This is a real shame, because early on it appeared to have all of the perfect ingredients to make a really engaging, atmospheric and fun game. The opportunity was missed by some really poor mechanics and insane gameplay that makes the gamer feel hated by the developers. Other poorly designed games give you at least SOME tools to have fun and beat the bad guys ... this game gives all that to the bad guys, and leaves the gamer feeling increasingly impotent. I enjoyed the unique turn based gameplay, which once you get the hang of it makes perfect sense. I also liked the character creation, the crisp feel of the opening act, and the premise of the storyline. I was willing to grind , trying to make each level-up make a difference to my character, even though it never felt like it really did. Killing a woodland wasp took around 20 arrows, 90% of health, and several in-game days of killing thugs that respawned if I tried to get my health back up through resting by camping. What made me ultimately quit and uninstall this game wasn't the Amiga 500 style graphics, nor the annoyinging soundtrack, nor even the repetitive water torture drip, drip, drip of resting ... killing the inevitable thugs that appeared while sleeping ... resting .. killing the inevitable thugs that appeared while sleeping ... resting ... killing the inevitable ... well, you get the idea. Nope, none of that. The reason I simply gave up, and can only rate this game 2 stars is because ... it felt like I was going nowhere. My character could never find enough loot to pay for even anywhere near enough arrows/ potions needed to last a level without copious amounts of death. It all felt like too much hard work, and less and less fun with each hour. I originally bought book II and III to play them as a trilogy, but I can't be bothered to load the other 2 games up, because this was eventually so mind numbingly dull. A genuine shame that such a good idea was so badly spoilt by terrible gameplay design.
Nice work, Devs. Note to self - always pre-order/buy any CD Projekt Red games on GOG in the future.
