At it's heart Stardew Valley is like any idle game. You buy stuff to do stuff faster to get money faster. Unlike most other idle games, there are many ways to do so, many hidden stuff to explore. It also has interesting characters to get to know. It has alot of content. But the base structure of the game is deeply flawed. There are many game mechanics to wrestle with, you can find yourself spending a fair amount of game time wrestling with poorly designed game mechanics and not enjoying the game so much. And the interesting stories of the characters? You'll have to memorize them all because the game doesn't keep a log of any of it aside from what gifts they like and dislike (and even that is in a completely separate screen one has to keep going back to) I would not recommend the game as now. Though I would note I rated it lower than I might have otherwise to counter the excessively positive reviews from others.
The game is centered around a gimmick, moving across the board to a beat. If you don't move at the same time as the beat, you don't move at all. And there's a clock you have to beat on each map. It's a fun gimmick. But strip that away and you aren't left with much. For a rogue lite game it's just lacking The biggest thing it's lacking is depth. Not just lack of depth of interesting mechanics/items/enemies outside of the beat movement. Rogue games are about making decisions and risks to survive and grow stronger. But each game is very short, maybe 3 levels or so. Which goes against the ideas of a rogue-like that make them fun. So the programmer decided we didn't need any ability to save, which makes the game a pain for anyone who wants to be able to stop playing when they need to.. There is a option to go on longer runs, but again no ability to save. Instead each run unlocks things that make you stronger, but it doesn't take long to unlock everything. This unlock is the only thing the game saves.
I played this game on Steam when it was available to try for free. There are basic issues in it's mechanics. The pipes and wires you need to connect to stuff don't always connect where they should. Dome connection tunnels and pips and wires block each other. One needs to play a bit, then restart after learning the games pesky idiosyncrasies about where to place things, and even then you might need to trash stuff occasionally because a placement was bad for what the game wants for its pipes, wires, and tunnels. The game requires preplanning for placing everything and offers you no aid in doing so. Plus you got to even research the tech to actually clear a wrongly placed structure. You can trash something for some of your resource back, but its husk still blocks construction, both inside and outside the domes. So you need to thoroughly plan your city before you put anything down which requires knowledge you only get from playing. Sorting and selecting mechanisms for choosing colonists and such sucks, making it much more of a chore than it should be. Tracking down colonists you need is similarly a pain. Finally once you get past the first part of the game and you don't screw yourself with placement the game doesn't like or accidentally use resources you need for getting other resources. Like oops you sold the rare metal you needed to make the plastic factor for some basic construction. Time to restart. Once you get production of everything you need going, there is normally no risk or challenge afterwards. There is some semi-interesting events that appear randomly, maybe requires expansion, but the games lack of proper explanation strikes here too. Like It gave me 3 options with pros and cons but one of those options was grayed out saying I need a mayor to use it. Another event had a option grayed out saying I needed a politician or was it governor, to use it. But neither of those are citizen specialties! How do you get them?!?
It's a very good game, The factions are somewhat interesting with their own personalities. I don't remember AI misbehaving too bad Exploring the map and finding resources and alien pods always fun. Being able to customize any and all units based on what tech you've learned was really well done and can be pretty fun. It provides default blueprints for those who don't want to bother and spend the time. The best thing about this game compared to other Civilization games is how it handles the aliens. See alien worms appear out of the fungus and attack you. The worms don't have a tech level or att/def to speak of, instead they have experience level. Your own troops can also gain experience and get stronger. But the key thing is, against the alien worms tech level is irrelevant. Experience is the only thing used in battles against the worms. So it doesn't matter much if you've blasted ahead in the tech tree or are lagging behind, the worms can still give you a run for your money. These random danger encounters are pertinent for much of the game till you can terraform away the fungus. But battling the worms can also be a way to train your troops. Also there is alien tech you can learn to get more from fungus, but you can simply replant it then. Troops can even get in helicopters and fly to the enemy from what I recall. This game has lots of big and little details that make it fun. But there are also some drawbacks. At it's base it's a old Civ game and suffers from the problematic Civ mechanics that were especially prevalent back then. I always hated how in Civ food turns into people. SMAC has that issue alot. Furthermore as your city grows, its growth dramatically slows. And there is no attempt at mechanics to punish you for having too many cities. So essentially the winning strategy is to simply spam cities with a few guards and focus on spots with a bit of food. Even if it means cramming them in. And of course lots of cities means lots of stuff to manage.
