Recent reviews by Lore

When I first heard about Stardew Valley, I knew I was going to love it. I mean, who doesn’t want Harvest Moon for the computer? And when I picked the game up, I was right. I absolutely adored it, and I still do, 40 hours later. That may not seem like a lot of time, but it’s a full work week just spent playing a video game. And the best part is, it isn’t just Harvest Moon but for the computer. It’s even more than that.

My favourite part about the game is its setting and characters. The Valley itself is gorgeous, and the sprites are extremely well made. The grass colour hurts my eyes just a bit after a few hours, but it’s something I easily overlook when I talk about the game. The whole world is extremely vibrant and colourful, and really comes alive with the various seasons. And the people that populate it are the same way. No two villagers are alike, and their personality really shines through their sprites. Joja Co is a little cliche, but most villains tend to be.

There’s a wide variety of crops to plant, animals to raise, fish to, well, fish, and monsters to smash. There’s a style of gameplay for everyone, especially with the new farm maps introduced in 1.1. I personally prefer fishing as a source of making money, because I find the minigame particularly entertaining. Overall things tend to get a little repetitive once you hit your second year, especially if you aren’t interested in making huge amounts of cash. But because nothing ever goes the same way twice, I’m perfectly content to just start a plethora of new games every time I start to get bored.

There’s also a huge modding community, provided you know where to look. It really disappoints me that mods for Stardew aren’t available on Steam - it’s my most trusted resource to find good mods. It’s really the most negative point about the game for me, which probably isn’t saying much considering how easy it is to find the official forums. The mods that are offered have a huge variety, from simple cosmetic stuff to mods that let you cheat to a ridiculous degree.

Overall, I fell in love with this game the moment I picked it up. There are a few things I’d change, such as the grass colour, the repetitiveness, and the stereotypical nature of Joja. It’s still one of my absolute favourite PC games, and I’m looking forward to playing even more of it as it grows and evolves.