I bought this game from somewhere... the dev's site maybe? Anyway it's one of the most addicting games I've ever played. I spent many hours just tinkering with mods and playing the game. That endless mine dungeon will make you miss sleep lol.
Alright first off -- I've never played this game through completely, getting all the stuff you can and making friends with everyone and all that. But I love this game so much. It has so much to it yet it is pretty simple and you can pick it up and play it for an hour or a month straight and you'll still love it. Incredibly relaxing... never thought I would have so much fun clearing land and planting crops... :)
Stardew Valley is a surprinsingly good and complete game. It is far too easy to get lost in playing this game. In this game it is not just about farming, fishing, taking care of animals and getting rich in the mean time. The best part is just interacting with the inhabitants of the Valley and Pelican Town and getting to know them. It is such a meaningfull interaction, just getting to know them and they unique stories.
The time aspect almost stopped me from trying this game since I have played many Harvest Moon games and always felt stressed, but in Stardew Valley, even though time flies here as well, you somehow can get more done and still have time left to just wander about if you want, or visit the mines or doing some extra work on the farm. There is so much to do, but there's not really a time limit for completing things so you can choose to take your time and work slowly, and you won't miss anything. If you prefer a more hardcore gamer approach that is possible as well.
Stardew Valley works in a very intuitive way and not restricted like in the Harvest Moon games. You can decide much of how you want to play and what you want to do and how, and it's easy to learn how to play. Whenever I first tried things, for example growing crops, I didn't have to read any manuals to not mess up, what I felt was the logical way to do things turned out to be how it actually worked, so I didn't feel annoyed at any point while playing.
Also, the character customization is great. You can be either male or female and both genders share all hairstyles and clothes, so players can pick what they want with no restrictions! There are more than 100 shirts, 20+ skin colours, and you can change the colour of your eyes, hair, and pants with sliders so they can be any colour you want. A randomize button will get you set quickly if character creation isn't for you. There are also different farm maps to pick between, and they have different pros and cons.
The NPCs have personality and all the lil stories and Heart Events can be funny or sad or just sweet, and gives the town people life. It's not all cute and sweet either. People here have problems and worries and they grow and change as you get to know them, and you learn about their troubles and try to be a good friend to them.
The style of the game is that of old-school SNES games and looks really beautiful. A wonderful world of lush colours! The music is amazing and relaxing and I sometimes start the game just to listen to it.
And one last thing: It seems like the game can be modded so that things look different or work differently, so it's really a game where you are free to play as you want!