For a handful of reasons, the farming simulator genre has a tight grip on the wallets of gamers across the world. Whether it’s because of the pride derived from growing and selling crops, the nurturing love felt when raising cattle, or the simple satisfaction of a job well done, becoming a virtual farmer has been popularsince the originalHarvest Moon’s release in 1996. Plenty of farming games have come out since, however, nothing has captured the hearts of farming sim lovers quite likeStardew Valley.
Stardew Valleyfirst released in 2016 and wears its inspirations directly on its sleeve. In recent years, fans of theHarvest MoonandStory of Seasonsseries have been disappointed in the decline in the quality of the games.Stardewcreator Eric Barone explained that he felt a similar way about the series which caused him to create a game that fixes the problems he had with them. From there,Stardew Valleywas born and has since sold over 10 million copies. So, what made it so popular? And why hasn’t any farming simulator been able to emulateStardew’s success?
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Respecting the Player’s Time
So much ofStardew Valley’s success is based on what it’s fundamentally about as a game. It is unflinchingly honest about the game it wants to be by respecting its players' time. It’s a farming simulator that’s as deep as the ocean, that’s also connected to a challenging dungeon crawler and a thoughtful dating simulator. What the player does once they’re given the farm from their grandfather at the start of the game is completely up to them. The grandfather tells the player that he’ll be back in two years to evaluate their progress which can be interpreted by the player however they like.
Essentially, the player gets to choose which elements of the game are interesting to them and ignore the ones that they don’t care for. Obviously, most elements are interlocked and necessary for advancement than others (such as certain plants are needed to be grown in orderto impress the player’s lover) but those things are done in the name of reaching specific goals and can be chalked up to simple side activities. The onus of choosing which parts are fun is put on the player inStardew Valley. Want to farm? Go right ahead. Want to explore the mines? That’s cool, too.
Other farming sims definitely have aspects to them besides farming, but they’re often far less developed and don’t feel like essential parts of the game. Most certainly don’t have enough depth to them to be considered almost standalone aspects to the base farming sections. Some absolutely do, but the significance of the way thatStardewtreats its players with the responsibility of the game cannot be understated. It’s also worth mentioning thatgames trying to simply copy theStardew Valleyformuladon’t find the same popularity and success becauseStardewis already so solid that any imitators just don’t measure up.
Solo Dev’s Care
The game’s solo developer also clearly cares a lot about the integrity of the game. Plenty of games give free content updates now, but Barone’s updates are usually extremely expansive and game-changing. In the years since its release,Stardew Valleyhas received a multiplayer mode, new islands to explore, new NPCs and plenty of new character encounters.
The game’s expansion doesn’t feel forced and is done because of the passion of the solo game maker. That sort of clear passion and willingness to create high quality, free content for the fans of the game has created a community that just can’t get enoughStardew Valley.
Stardew Valleyis available on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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