星露谷

Any game that has a checkpoint system AND forces you to go through a whole in-game day before saving gets an automatic thumbs down from me. I don’t care how good a game may or not be; that’s a lousy game mechanic to put in, and one that kills my interest.

Time sink, repetitive chores. Fishing is janky until leveled up. Not really loving it.

I have logged over 200 hours on this when I has the steam version, but abaondoned steam and switched to gog due to steam's unsafe games and bad policy ethics. I love everything about this game from the music especially the fall and winter themes. The people have realistic dialouge instead of anime tropes which is a big relief. The ability to choose either sex for a romantic partner was a very smart move on the creator's part because it leaves you with freedom of choice and open mindedness. My favorite part is exploring the mines. I already reached the bottom but can go even futher down with staircases. Some of the crops that make a lot of money take a long time to grow but it's worth it in the end.. And best of all, the game has so many secrets that you will spend months trying to find them all. If you want to immerse yourself in another worls, then Stardew Valley is for you.

Yes, it's a rather tired thing to say by now, but Stardew Valley is basically not much more than Harvest Moon and Rune Factory for PC. That's both good and bad, as it's certainly not a "must-have" when you play both series already. But on the other hand, it's great if you don't have any consoles. In any case, it's not just a "poor man's version" and certainly doesn't have to hide behind its influences. Like Harvest Moon, it's mainly focused on farm work. Growing crops, raising animals and making money off them. Both are easy to do, if sometimes tedious (like, when you have many fields that need to be tended to), so they don't hog your time and nerves too much like in certain simulator games. Other activities are chopping trees and rocks (which is also necessary to make space for crops on the shabby farm) to get wood, stone, ore and other resources, fishing, fighting monsters in the mine (although that part is rather low-key compared to Rune Factory),where you find better ore and minerals the deeper down you go, interacting with other people, fulfilling fetch quests for them (which is better than in other games, if only because it fits your role as a "provider" and collecting stuff (often for rewards). Not to mention saving up to upgrade your house, your farm, your tools. Especially in that regard, the game has the tendency to hook one in. The presentation is very good. The graphics are nothing special, but are well done and the music is very good and especially gives the seasons a nice feel. There are some bad points, however. The fishing minigame is more frustrating then fun and difficult for all the wrong reasons. The player character moves pretty sluggish, which is no problem normally, but makes fighting unnecessarily awkward. Progression in the mines is utterly random and you can waste a lot of energy trying to find the way to the next level. I also found the NPCs uninteresting. But they're also less "anime-like", which can be a plus if you don't like that.

Buy it. Get blown away. About 50 hours of gaming before you can even think about playing something else. Awesome developers who listen to the fanbase and patches frequently.